Question: I saw a promo on HBO last night, and it looks like they're planning to move their movie night to Sunday. Any idea why? What about those great original shows? What will happen to them?
Answer: There are couple of reasons for this temporary shift — which HBO says will only continue through the end of the year, when movie premieres will return to Saturdays, and multiple series, including Rome, will begin on Sundays starting Jan. 7. First off, though HBO would never admit it, the pay giant has lost the Sunday-night watercooler battle to ABC. (We’ll have to see if Desperate Housewives can truly rebound in the fall, and Brothers & Sisters is still a sight-unseen question mark.) Plus, NBC is going all out with prime-time Sunday-night NFL games. Second, HBO’s marquee drama on Sundays this fall is the ratings-challenged, but powerfully good, The Wire, and HBO figures that the best way to make some noise during the fall will be to turn the night over to high-profile first-run
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Question: Is this the end of the HBO dynasty? I mean, HBO really set the standard for cable programming by having a small lineup of great shows and showcasing them one or two at a time (a formula that FX is using quite successfully). Now I'm wondering if it has fallen asleep at the wheel. While Showtime and FX are preparing shows such as Rescue Me, The Shield, Weeds and Sleeper Cell, HBO seems to be canceling a show every other month. Am I paranoid, or does the channel have some sort of master plan that no one knows about? Because if my math is correct, by the year 2008 The Sopranos, Deadwood, Rome and The Wire will all be gone.
Answer: I think it's fair to say that HBO is in a slump, and with more franchises nearing the ends of their runs, the network does need to step up and create another breakout show or two. I love Entourage, but it seems to lack the cultural oomph of Sex and the City — and I'm sorry, but Big Love is not the sort of show to build a network night around. Even wit ...
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Question: A lot of us Deadwood fans — make that all of them — were shocked to read that HBO had released the actors, portending doom for the show after just three seasons. What is going on? A few months ago, the talk was that they were ready to greenlight a fourth season before the third even aired, and just a couple of weeks ago David Milch was at MIT discussing how he planned a four-season arc for the show and how the third season's plot developments were taking longer than expected. Losing The Sopranos next spring is hard enough. Losing Deadwood so abruptly after this summer will hurt much worse.
Answer: In a busy week full of season/series finales and upfront presentations, the last thing any of us needed was this unhappy distraction. I'm so irked that we can't just enjoy the third season of Deadwood when it premieres June 11 without fretting that there almost certainly won't be more of the story to follow. I got lots of angry mail on this (with most of the Swearengen-style
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Question: I love your column and the rational insight you provide. I have been blown away by Gregory Itzin's performance on 24 — we've seen him swing from an indecisive wuss to an I, Claudius-type schemer. His portrayal and mannerisms also remind me of an obsessed Jimmy Stewart, like in Vertigo. Do you think he has a shot at being nominated for an Emmy for best supporting actor? Though I'd love to see Terry O'Quinn win this year, I wouldn't mind seeing credit given where it is due.
Answer: You and me both. (And loved the I, Claudius reference. They don't make TV like that anymore, though I was jazzed that HBO just made it official that Season 2 of Rome is under way.) The deterrent to Gregory Itzin landing his well-deserved nomination is the strength of the drama field in general, as well as 24's inability up to now to land any acting nominations in the supporting categories, though many have deserved them. Given the media attention Itzin is now enjoying (again, deservedly), he has ...
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Question: When I was posted overseas, I found myself an avid watcher of a Brazilian telenovela called Terra Nostra. Luckily, I know some Spanish and was able to get the gist of the dialogue using Spanish and English cognates. It was a great story and made me realize that I'd like to see a series that had a beginning and an end. My question: Don't you think the telenovela format would be a welcome change from TV shows that you start to get invested in, such as Threshold or Love Monkey, just as they're prematurely canceled? Or do you think it would be more like a longer miniseries, such as Roots or North and South? Of course, Centennial doesn't count because they switched that around so much I lost track of when it was on. Maybe it was too long?
Answer: If the networks' experiments with the telenovela format means a sideways return to the old-style miniseries, I'm all for it. (Actually, I've been saying for a long time that many of HBO's acclaimed dramas, most notably The Wire and Rome,
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