‘The Last of Us’ is HBO’s third largest debut of the streaming era

If you enjoyed HBO’s take on The Last of Us, you’re far from alone. WarnerMedia has revealed that the video game adaptation racked up 4.7 million viewers on conventional and streaming TV for its January 15th premiere, making it HBO’s third largest debut of the streaming era. Only the Game of Thrones spinoff House of the Dragon rated higher with a crowd topping 9.9 million, and Boardwalk Empire‘s 4.81 million-viewer launch from 2010 (when HBO Go arrived) was only slightly stronger.

The Last of Us “nearly doubled” the audience for Euphoria‘s season two opener, WarnerMedia says. While it’s not yet clear how well the game series will fare in the long term, the company notes that Sunday night viewing for an HBO show tends to account for 20 to 40 percent of the total gross viewership per episode.

The strong initial performance isn’t surprising. On top of the long hype campaign, The Last of Us has well-known names (including Pedro Pascal, Bella Ramsey and Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin) as well as the benefit of an established fan base from Naughty Dog’s game franchise. Include HBO Max availability and a good early critical response and there were many people willing to tune in.

It’s too soon to say if The Last of Us will be the most popular game-based TV series to date. It has to compete with successes like Netflix’s League of Legends series Arcane, among others. However, the initial viewing data suggests this bet on a lavish production has paid off for everyone involved. In that light, it’s easy to see why Sony was willing to commit to TV shows for God of War and Horizon. As with rival shows like Halo, this is a chance to expand interest in a franchise to many more people.

The latest ‘Mandalorian’ season three trailer is all about redemption

Disney+ has released a new trailer for The Mandalorian during the NFL Wild Card Game on ESPN and ABC Network. It shows Pedro Pascal’s character Din Djarin and Grogu reunited and going on their next adventure. Din also reveals in the trailer that he’s going back to the planet Mandalore in an effort to redeem himself after removing his helmet and showing his face to other people by the end of season 2. As revealed in previous episodes, Din is a member of the religious sect Children of the Watch that views removing one’s helmet in the presence of others a serious transgression.

While Din is dealing with the consequences of his decision, the New Republic is struggling: “There’s something dangerous happening out there,” Captain Carson Teva warned. “And by the time it becomes big enough for you to act, it’ll be too late.” The trailer also shows Grogu exhibiting better control of the Force after leaving with Luke Skywalker in the previous season to train at his Jedi Temple. 

Disney released its first teaser trailer for the show at last year’s D23 Expo, showing us that everybody’s favorite Star Wars family will indeed get reunited for season 3. Now this newer trailer gives us a taste of what Din and Grogu will encounter. Not that we have long to wait for the next season to drop — season 3 will be available for streaming on Disney+ starting on March 1st.

Twitter opens early access signups for organization verification

Twitter is now accepting signups for those who to be among the first to access the verification for organizations program. It was previously known as Blue for Business, the company said in its announcement, along with a link to the sign-up form. Organizations will have to submit their names, Twitter usernames and websites to be considered for the waitlist. They also have to indicate their size and the expected number of affiliated accounts. If you’ll recall, Musk previously announced that the website will roll out a feature that will give organizations the capability to identify accounts that are actually associated with them.

His announcement came after a rather disastrous launch of Twitter’s paid verification system, which gave rise to a bunch of verified trolls impersonating companies, celebrities and other high-profile personalities. This upcoming feature is meant to help address the issue and ensure that users claiming to be part of a specific organization are who they say they are. 

Musk also announced back then that the website will offer checkmarks in different colors: gold for companies, grey for government and blue for individuals. That will make posing as a company or a government agency difficult for random users. The company ultimately had to pause Blue’s initial rollout due to the influx of impersonators before relaunching it in December with an $11-per-month price tag. 

Twitter will publish its “tweet recommendation code” and will make tweet and account status visible “no later than next month,” Musk has revealed, as well. Presumably, that means users will know if they’ve been shadowbanned and their tweets aren’t showing up for other people. “Transparency builds trust,” he added. In addition, he announced that the website is moving the bookmark button to the tweet details page and is fixing its image auto-cropping feature next week.

Formula E has its version of ‘Drive to Survive’ and it’s a great primer for the new season

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Netflix inches further into livestreaming as it snags the SAG Awards

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Facebook and Instagram will limit ads targeting teens based on gender (updated)

Meta is taking more steps to limit potentially harmful ad campaigns. The company is placing more restrictions on advertisers’ ability to target teens. From February onward, Facebook and Instagram will no longer let marketers aim ads at teens based on gender — only age and location.

In March, Meta will expand the ad preferences in Facebook and Instagram to let teens see fewer sales pitches for a given topic. Teens could already hide the ads from specific advertisers, but this gives them the choice of automatically downplaying whole categories like TV dramas or footwear.

The social media giant has put ever-tighter restrictions on the content teens can access. In 2021, Facebook and Instagram barred advertisers from using teens’ interests to target ads. Instagram also made accounts private by default for teens under 16, and this year limited sensitive content for all new teen users. Meta has likewise limited the ability of “suspicious” adults to message teens on both platforms.

This is the second major ad policy change in a week. Just a day before, Meta rolled out an AI-based system meant to reduce discriminatory ad distribution. The technology is launching as part of a settlement with the federal government over charges that Facebook let companies target ads based on ethnicity, gender and other protected classes.

As with those earlier efforts, Meta has a strong incentive to act. The attorneys general of 10 states are investigating Instagram’s effects on teens, while the European Union recently fined Meta the equivalent of $402 million for allegedly mishandling privacy settings for younger users. Governments are concerned that Meta might be exploiting teens’ usage habits or exposing them to threats, including content that could lead to mental health issues. The new protections won’t solve these problems by themselves, but they might show officials that Meta is serious about curbing ads that prey on teens.

Update 1/10 2:39PM ET: Meta says it already prevents ads from targeting teens based on follows and likes. We’ve updated the story accordingly.

HBO’s ‘The Last of Us’ successfully trades hordes of monsters for emotional depth

I’ve been captivated by The Last of Us since I first played it shortly after it was released for the PS3 way back in 2013. Its ruined, dangerous but somehow beautiful post-pandemic world was compellingly rendered by developer Naughty Dog, and the tense combat driven by stealth and a need to conserve your resources felt more brutal and realistic than the Uncharted series the developer was known for.

But the relationship between protagonists Joel and Ellie is the true heart of the game. The story of a broken father reluctantly taking responsibility for a child who ends up becoming a surrogate daughter isn’t wildly original, nor is the game’s post-apocalyptic setting. But the development of Joel and Ellie’s relationship is filled with humor, hope, sadness and conflict, and it was brilliantly written by creators Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley. Performers Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson, along with the entire Naughty Dog team brought it to life, and the game has stuck with me ever since.

It’s the kind of video game that’s been begging for some sort of on-screen adaptation. Now, almost a decade after the game was released, HBO’s The Last of Us series will premiere on January 15th. The first season is led by a deep and talented cast (headlined by Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey as Joel and Ellie) and an equally strong creative team, including Druckmann and Craig Mazin (best known for his outstanding Chernobyl mini-series, also on HBO).

Anna Torv and Pedro Pascal in HBO's The Last of Us.
Anna Torv (Tess) and Pedro Pascal (Joel)
Photograph by Liane Hentscher/HBO

I’m happy to report that The Last of Us should satisfy fans of the game, and might even bring in a fresh audience. It deftly walks the line between paying loving tribute to the source material while not feeling overly devoted to it. The structure of the show is essentially identical to the game: Joel and Ellie meet in a Boston quarantine zone some 20 years after a fungal infection destroys the world as we know it. Circumstance shoves the pair together on a cross-country journey that spans the better part of a year, as Joel tries to safely get Ellie to the Fireflies, a revolutionary militia that’s been trying to find a cure for the infection.

If you’ve played the game, you’ll be familiar with the season’s nine-episode arc. But in each act of the story, Mazin has smartly identified where to expand the narrative and what to leave out. The biggest thing missing are many of the huge action set-pieces that come up throughout the game. It’s an unsurprising change, as it wouldn’t feel realistic for Joel and Ellie to survive the number of battles they face in the game; it also wouldn’t make for compelling TV. There’s still plenty of action in the show, but it’s meted out more carefully and generally only when it moves the story forward.

Unsurprisingly, everything about The Last of Us reflects the high-budget, flagship status the show seems to have at HBO. Sets and environments are epic in scale and detail, and the combination of prosthetics and digital enhancements bring the Infected to life in terrifying fashion. Although there seems to be less of an emphasis on encounters with these creatures than in the game, seeing them on screen is distressingly memorable. Details like cinematography and music (composed by Oscar-winner Gustavo Santaolalla, who scored the games), are also masterfully executed; this is a show that oozes quality and attention to detail — much like the game itself.

Nico Parker in HBO's The Last of Us.
Nico Parker as Sarah Miller in HBO’s The Last of Us
Photograph by Shane Harvey/HBO

More interesting is how The Last of Us expands on the world and its inhabitants. We immediately get a more extensive look at the pre-pandemic life that Joel and his daughter Sarah inhabit. The showrunners give us more backstory and a better understanding of the different ways people survive: cooped up in a dreary Boston quarantine zone, fighting the government in a Kansas City lost to a violent militia group, or a peaceful settlement out west. The world feels a lot more nuanced than the one in the game, where almost everyone is an enemy to be overcome. Don’t get me wrong — most of the inhabitants of HBO’s The Last of Us will shoot first and ask questions later – but most encounters are about tension rather than brutal violence.

A lot has been written about the show’s two stars, Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal, both of whom have some big shoes to fill. Finding two performers with on-screen chemistry who could successfully embody their respective characters was surely not an easy task. But Pascal and Ramsey’s performances both immediately connected me with the original characters while also feeling vital and essential on their own. Fans of the game should immediately find things to draw them in, while those new to the series should be quickly won over by the pair.

Pedro Pascal in HBO's The Last of Us.
Photograph by Liane Hentscher/HBO

Pascal’s Joel has a lot more emotional depth than Joel the video game character. Part of that is due to scripts that put more focus on his vulnerabilities and insecurities, but Pascal skillfully portrays a broad range of emotions. He’s able to show the cold, violent and skilled survivor side of Joel who’ll do anything to get what he needs while also embodying the broken spirit of a man who’s spent 20 years doing whatever it takes to stay alive. Watching Ellie bring out Joel’s more vulnerable side, and seeing how that conflicts with the hardened survivor, is at the heart of Joel’s character journey, and Pascal simply nails it. Joel is both more vulnerable than ever — and also more terrifying.

Meanwhile, Ramsey charms from their first moment onscreen as Ellie. We’re afforded a little more of Ellie’s backstory in the first episode, and it’s a great introduction to the character that immediately shows her brazen attitude toward anything that gets in her way. Much of the humor and levity comes from Ellie, and Ramsey’s performance captures the innocent resilience that only a 14-year-old could have in the face of abject horror and seemingly inescapable doom. The weight on Ellie’s shoulders grows throughout the series, and Ramsey is always up to the task of taking Ellie to the brink of breakdown before she comes back to the sense of duty she feels to care for the people she’s chosen to let into her life. Ellie’s naivety and sense of wonder gets bruised time and time again throughout the series, but both Ramsey and the scripts never let her lose it entirely.

Bella Ramsey and Anna Torv in The Last of Us.
Bella Ramsey (Ellie) and Anna Torv (Tess) in The Last of Us.
Photograph by Liane Hentscher/HBO

While both Pascal and Ramsey deliver excellent performances in their own right, the magic really happens when the two are playing off each other. Naturally, the characters start out skeptical of one another, with Joel straight-up calling Ellie “cargo” to her face. But Ellie’s fascination with seeing the world beyond the quarantine zone she’s been stuck in slowly breaks Joel down. Pascal does a great job flipping between those two sides of the character, offering up hints of compassion and concern for Ellie as a person, only to retreat into an emotionally distant protector role.

Meanwhile, Ramsey embodies the spirit of Ellie as she opens up to Joel, and seeing this side of Ellie’s character is a delight. Ramsey’s ability to convincingly show Ellie’s goofy and rebellious exterior is masterfully done; it’s the tool Ellie uses most to try and win over Joel, as if she knows he’s going to give in with a smile or laugh sooner or later. Watching Pascal slowly warm to her brings out a host of different ways for the two actors to play off each other. But Ramsey is also just as convincing when demonstrating Ellie’s drive for survival is just as strong as Joel’s. That leads her to some dark places, and Ramsey shows their range as the series progresses and the challenges facing Ellie and Joel mount.

The rest of the cast doesn’t get as much screen time, but they all contribute to some compelling plot lines. The stories of Bill and Frank (played by Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett) as well as Keivonn Woodard’s interpretation of Sam are two of the finest examples in the series where Mazin and Druckmann deviate a bit from the original text to do something that might not work in a game but is extremely successful in a show. Their episodes are undeniable standouts, and probably the best examples of why The Last of Us is such a successful adaptation.

Photo from the set of HBO's The Last of Us.
Photograph by Liane Hentscher/HBO

The show whiffs a little bit on the pacing, as the back half of the season feels rushed. The pace naturally accelerates throughout the season toward the story’s climax, and the last two episodes are among the shortest in the season. I wish that some of the many dramatic moments near the end had more time to breathe. I don’t think a whole additional episode is necessary, but an extra ten minutes in each of the final episodes might have made things feel less constricted.

Also, it’s worth remembering that The Last of Us was an extremely violent video game, and the show does not shy away from brutality and occasional gore. It’s less overt than I expected, but each episode generally has at least one moment that’s not for the squeamish. That said, much of the human-on-human violence is pared back. With a few exceptions, it’s not too gratuitous or graphic, and a lot is implied. Regardless, I respect that large swaths of people might not be in the mood for a violent and often grim post-pandemic drama after three-plus years dealing with a real-life pandemic.

Despite those concerns, the end result is the best kind of adaptation, one that’s faithful to the spirit of the origin that also makes smart changes to fit the medium. In that way, it reminds me a bit of Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, another personal favorite. While those movies made numerous deviations and changes, Jackson always framed them as a way to make the story work as well as possible in the film medium.

I feel the same way about The Last of Us. It’s not a one-to-one retelling, and I’m thankful for that – it wouldn’t have made for good TV. Instead, Craig Mazin took his love for Druckmann’s story and converted it to a show that many will enjoy, regardless of whether they’ve played the game. And for those of us who already love The Last of Us, this adaptation stands toe-to-toe with the original. There are tons of stunning moments that bring me directly back to what I love, but each episode also has a number of moments that surprised and delighted me, even though I know the overarching plot inside and out. It’s more than I could have hoped for, and I’m very excited that people who don’t play video games will get a chance to experience Joel and Ellie’s story through this excellent series.

CES 2023 Day 2 recap: Sony, Google and a Ram 1500 concept

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