Will Donahue ‘24
Chief Copy Editor
It is now Sep. 22, 2023, one day before the official start of fall – and unofficial start of Over the Garden Wall season. For those who don’t celebrate, Over the Garden Wall is an animated dark fantasy miniseries about two half-brothers who become lost in “The Unknown”, an idyllic autumnal forest harboring some otherworldly secrets. Originally airing on Cartoon Network in 2014, the series received critical acclaim upon release and has since garnered an online cult following. Among said cultists (myself included), it is something of a tradition to rewatch all ten episodes at the start of fall every year. Only this year, we have a slight problem: Over the Garden Wall is GONE!!!
Okay, that’s a bit of an exaggeration. But on Aug. 31, 2023, the series was pulled from HBO Max – now known as “Max” – presumably for cost-cutting reasons. In a just world, removing such a beloved piece of fall entertainment this close to the start of the season would be considered distasteful. Unfortunately, the people in charge of these decisions aren’t concerned with taste. To the executives at Warner Bros. Discovery, beloved shows are merely collateral damage in the fight to preserve the bottom line. And us fall-lovers got off easy here; we can still stream Over the Garden Wall on Hulu. Fans of Westworld, Close Enough, or The Nevers – HBO originals unavailable to stream anywhere else – are not so lucky.
Worse yet, some of these projects never got a chance to begin with. A notable example is the unreleased HBO Max original film Batgirl, which was unceremoniously scrapped for a tax write-off last year. Batgirl had already completed filming by the time it was canceled; it also had a $90 million budget, massive franchise name, and Oscar-winning cast behind it (Vanity Fair). That’s not to say it would have been good, but even terrible movies are products of hard work which deserve to see the light of day. And when CGI horror shows like The Flash are allowed to hit theaters and lose hundreds of millions, I can’t help but wonder why Warner Bros. Discovery is so intent on gutting their streaming library.
But despite the actions of David Zaslav and friends, Over the Garden Wall still exists, and it’s still one of the best animated shows I’ve ever seen. There’s a reason people rewatch it every year; it’s one of those endlessly comforting shows you just want to live inside of. The immersive setting, lovable characters, and striking visuals and music (especially the music) all come together to form a perfect fall fairytale. So if you haven’t already, please give Over the Garden Wall a chance. The whole show can be binged in a couple of hours – and with the amount of shows being pulled from streaming lately, it’s best to watch the special ones while we still can.
Features image courtesy of Google Images
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