If its premiere episode is anything to go by, Halo is poised to become one of the most cringeworthy and disappointing video game adaptations of all time, but at least it’s giving the marketing department of Paramount’s fledgling streaming service something to work with.
According to the streamer, the Halo TV series is off to an exceptionally good start, with its premiere episode having set a new record for Paramount+ as the streamer’s most-watched series premiere in its first 24 hours of release on March 25. While no numbers were shared (sus), the previous record was held by Yellowstone’s prequel, 1883, whose first episode managed to draw in 4.9 million viewers.
Human Covenant? Laughable action sequences and CG? No Sergeant Johnson? Master Chief removing his helmet? There are all sorts of things wrong with Paramount’s Halo TV series, but any complaints to Amblin and 343 Industries have clearly fallen on deaf ears, as the show has already been renewed for a second season. Halo’s first season reportedly cost over $200 million, although it’s unclear where the money really went.
I’m not gonna watch the Halo show because watching something you know is gonna be bad just boosts their numbers and gives them a reason to make more of the fucking terrible shit, but good god I’m loving the clips on Twitter.
— Rimmy (@Rimmy_Downunder) March 25, 2022
Dude throws a gun and then a CGI gun lands. https://t.co/Xyohi0Jjh7
“Bringing Halo to life as a streaming series has been one of the most rewarding efforts for Paramount+ to date and we could not be more thrilled at the massive fan response to the series’ debut,” said Tanya Giles, Chief Programming Officer at Paramount+. “Along with our phenomenal partners at Showtime, 343 Industries and Amblin Television, we cannot wait for fans to experience more of this incredible universe.”
‘Halo’ Sets Premiere Viewership Record For Paramount+ (Deadline)
As usual, no numbers were provided; for reference, the record-breaking 1883 series debut on Paramount+ also drew 4.9 million viewers in a promotional linear airing behind Yellowstone on Paramount Network. We will get a sense of the scope of Halo’s viewership when Nielsen’s streaming rankings for this week come out. A Paramount+ original has yet to crack the Nielsen Top 10.
Dramatizing an epic 26th-century conflict between humanity and an alien threat known as the Covenant, Halo stars Pablo Schreiber as the Master Chief, Spartan-117; Natascha McElhone as Dr. Halsey, the brilliant, conflicted and inscrutable creator of the Spartan super soldiers; and Jen Taylor as Cortana, the most advanced AI in human history and potentially the key to the survival of the human race.
Halo is produced by Showtime in association with 343 Industries, along with Amblin Television. The first season is executive produced by Steven Kane, alongside Steven Spielberg, Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey for Amblin Television in partnership with 343 Industries, Otto Bathurst and Toby Leslie for One Big Picture, and Kyle Killen and Scott Pennington for Chapter Eleven. Kiki Wolfkill, Frank O’Connor and Bonnie Ross serve as executive producers for 343 Industries.
Discussion (15 replies)
Join Discussion →We waited until the weekend to fully watch it. We mostly enjoyed it and feel that the show has potential. I'm glad that Paramount+ streamed it in 4K Dolby Vision/Atmos. That really made it easier to appreciate the attention to detail they've put into the props/costumes/etc.
How did the initial story feel?
Exactly as you'd expect from showrunners who think not knowing the first thing about Halo games or lore is a good thing. It used to be that being familiar with the IP was a prerequisite for landing a job like this. Now it seems the bigger anti-fan you are the better your chance of getting the job.
Since I played zero Halo games, I thought it was a very good first two episodes.
I'm enjoying it so far.
I get where fans of a franchise can come from since I've been living that with cartoons/TV/movies for comics and book stuff for over 35 years now. If something aligns I feel that's great. Otherwise, I just hope that I experience a sense of quality, and can relax to enjoy it. I did with this.
Angry Joe hated it so much that Paramount got one of his vids blocked on YT. He's a hardcore Halo fan, so since this Halo show has nothing really to do with the Halo games, figures.
I was briefly watching those a few days ago. I only briefly watched a few seconds(just because I didn't have the time to spare right then), you could tell he was not happy.
Ep3 very good also. Assuming there is story in those games (as mentioned I haven't played Halo), I do get the frustration, and I do get how some can't shake it off. Perhaps if producers are going to deviate too much in a project, they should just call it xyz- inspired movie/series, something like this.
Good to know. We'll be watching it tonight.
If Aliens were made today, the marines would be the bad guys and the aliens would rescue mute from them. At least this is what they are doing in the Halo show apparently.
Why can't we just have evil aliens be evil aliens who kill humans for reasons beyond our understanding?
And don't get me started on the pointless violence for the sake of violence, that is enjoyed by even the so called protagonists in most 'progressive' shows and games. Just because a character thinks they have a righteous cause doesn't mean they need to enjoy killing in the name of that cause, unless they are written as psychopaths. Literally every 'progressive' hero is dexter morgan, without the writers realizing it.
I never really got into the Halo games much, so I have little interest in this series.
I watched the first episode. I'm out. It's a dumpster fire. Visually, the show is spot on in terms of everything looking right for the most part. Sadly, it's a CGI shitshow. Beyond that, they got the Masterchief's character wrong. I can understand taking some artistic license with the story and even the characters to some degree. However, they are so off the mark its almost unrecognizable.
It's Halo fan-fiction. It's trash.
Bummer. I know you are a die-hard fan and I truly respect you on that. This, and Mass Effect, are two games I know that you have an incredulous amount of time and energy invested in so I trust everything you have to say on it. For what it's worth, I felt the exact same way about X-Men First Class and Dark Phoenix, even while the former reignited that franchise and the ladder finished it. At that time (First Class), I ranted and raved about all the changes Singer made with the characters that, for me, made them almost unrecognizable.
I think at the end of the day I'm so desperate to see sci-fi I'll give just about anything a shot and since I'm not invested in the game I don't have the background to compare it with. After so many, many, years of TV sci-fi where the majority of the characters are on earth, everything either looks shot in LA or Vancouver, and the cast are all either looking like grunge bands from the 90s, or sporting Gucci suits with blasters and glowing eyes, I've lowered the bar just to see things happen space.
What usually kills it for me is the endless will-they won't-they crap and then the usual sub-plots with obvious conclusions and rehashed season-long story arcs. For those reasons, I rarely make it beyond a 1st season with many shows. For now, we'll keep watching this but who knows how I'll feel by the time it's done. I couldn't even count how many shows we started out liking only to drop a few eps into the first or second season.
We watched the third ep last night and there are a number of obvious twists developing so I'm not sure how long until we get bored. We liked it but you never know when the writers will get lazy for easy ways out instead of going deeper with some concepts. The dynamic between Halsey/Cortana/Master Chief is interesting but that can be a tough beast to write. Sort of like writing to telepaths, and such. One moment they sense everything and the next they can't find an itch to scratch on the $$$.
As I said, they've got the look of the games down. Cortana is the same voice actor as always and from what I've seen, she isn't so different. Halsey in the first episode doesn't seem quite so off either. My biggest problem with this is that the chief is completely unrecognizable.
I read somewhere that we get introduced to Master (a$$) Cheeks in the 3rd episode... because that's what I was missing from Halo. Man A$$