Ramy Youssef on why ‘#1 Happy Family USA’ had to be animated; WBD puts the ‘HBO’ back in ‘HBO Max’

The Business

KCRW

Tv & Film

4.6 • 676 Ratings

🗓️ 16 May 2025

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Warner Bros. Discovery has renamed its streaming service once again. Beginning in the summer of 2025, “Max” will be “HBO Max” again. The company dropped “HBO” from its name in 2023, a move which was widely recognized as the company’s attempt to become more competitive with a company like Netflix in its programming variety. The name change signals a renewed focus on the associations between HBO and a certain caliber of TV. What’s next for WBD and the streaming landscape writ large? Kim Masters and Matt Belloni are on deck to talk it through.

Plus, NPR TV critic Eric Deggans talks with comedian and actor Ramy Youssef on creating #1 Happy Family USA. The new series marks Youssef’s first foray into animation. His latest comedy shares a lot of DNA with the award-winning series Ramy — drawing even more inspiration from childhood memories of growing up in a Muslim family in New Jersey post-9/11.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Madeline Brand, host of KCRW's Press Play. I want to update you on what KCRW is facing right now.
0:06.9	The current administration is seeking an end to federal funding for public media.
0:11.9	President Trump attempted to fire board members at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting,
0:17.4	and now Doge and Elon Musk are coming for station funding.
0:41.2	If they succeed, KCRW will lose out on at least $1.3 million a year. And that's a lot for us. So now, more than ever, donating to KCRW is something powerful you can do. $20, $32, and $100 a month are the most popular giving levels. So choose what works for you at kCRW.com slash give. And thank you. From KCRW, I'm Kim Masters and this is the business.
0:53.2	Comedian Rami Yousuff never expected to make an animated series,
0:57.2	but animation freed him up to deal with tough topics in number one Happy Family USA.
1:02.8	His new Amazon Prime Show follows a Muslim American family coping with suspicion in the aftermath of 9-11.
1:09.6	This is an incredibly heavy time period and subject,
1:14.6	and the idea of it happening to and being explored by animated characters
1:21.2	felt like it was going to give it the levity that it needed.
1:27.1	Rami Yusuf talks to Eric Dgans about dealing with third rail subjects for his
1:31.3	irreverent new comedy and playing a tech bro in Succession creator Jesse Armstrong's debut
1:36.8	film, Mountain Head.
1:38.4	But first we banter.
1:39.8	Stick around.
1:40.5	It's the business from KCRW.
1:43.9	I am joined by my colleague in banter, Matt Bellany. Hello, Matt.
1:47.4	Hi there. So you have been running around in New York at the up fronts. And Warner Brothers Discovery has
1:53.7	come up with some news in their presentation. This is obviously the annual presentation by all these
2:00.1	networks and streamers to add buyers.
2:03.8	Warner Brothers Discovery has announced a couple of things, one of which is the streamer, which has been known as Max, which was known as HBO Max, then became known as Max, and now is going to be HBO Max again.
	...

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