Roush on In Treatment
Question: I just read your
Dispatch regarding HBO's summer session with the critics at the TCA press tour. HBO has long been a place where I could consistently find cutting-edge, quality series programming as a welcome diversion from the cookie-cutter, "seen it before" series on many broadcast networks. With the departure of such heavy hitters as
Six Feet Under,
The Sopranos,
Sex and the City and
Extras, I was anxiously waiting to see what new programming was coming our way. With the exception of the phenomenal
In Treatment, what we got were clunkers like
John From Cincinnati and
Lucky Louie. Hopefully, the new pilots you spoke of will fare better. Two shows I've really been looking forward to are
True Blood and the comedy
12 Miles of Bad Road, featuring Lily Tomlin. I was relieved to see in your Dispatch that
True Blood will be debuting in September, but
12 Miles of Bad Road is AWOL. Will it ever air? Was it a casualty of the writers' strike, or is HBO making another huge mistake like it did when it passed on the wonderful series
Mad Men? Could
12 Miles possibly air on another network?
— PKC
Matt Roush: It wasn't so much the writers' strike but a regime change at HBO that crippled 12 Miles of Bad Road, which completed six episodes before HBO decided this very broad Southern comedy from Linda Bloodworth-Thomason (Designing Women) wasn't the right fit. I was disappointed in this call, too. What would it have hurt to give the show some exposure, even on one of HBO's comedy-skewed offshoots? Going "off brand" might not be such a bad idea for this network once in a while. At the moment, the episodes are still in limbo, awaiting a buyer, but not for want of trying, I understand.
