A few months ago, I wrote in ...
Question: A few months ago, I wrote in to criticize HBO's management for how they dealt with
12 Miles of Bad Road. I still hold my original opinion, but after watching the finale of
Generation Kill, it's obvious that HBO still knows how to put out great original programming. I know that you and many of your colleagues have been hard on HBO since
The Sopranos ended and have no problem praising the lineups of Showtime, AMC and FX. However, putting Nielsen ratings aside, if you compare the networks' quality programming over the past year, I have to give HBO the edge. Showtime is led by
Dexter and
Weeds. Most critics don't seem to be in love with
The Tudors or
Californication. FX has
Damages and the final season of
The Shield. And AMC had two of the best rookie dramas in years, but now the pressure in on to go three for three. I hope the six-part
The Prisoner is up to the standards they've set. With shows like
Big Love,
The Wire (final season),
Entourage (a weak season but still gets Emmy love) and minis like
John Adams and
Kill, I think HBO should be happy that this past year has been considered its worst. I think the constant criticism shows how great the network was four or five years ago, not necessarily how good the competition on cable is. I was also curious on your thoughts of the new season of
Entourage.
Answer: I think you're selling Showtime a bit short here. Beyond
Dexter and
Weeds, there are many champions (and some significant awards attention) for shows like
Tudors and
Californication as well as more offbeat series like
This American Life and Penn & Teller's show, and some of their shows in the pipeline (including Toni Collette juggling multiple personalities in the serio-comic
The United States of Tara) sound very promising as well. Which is just a way of saying that each of these cable networks is distinguishing themselves pretty well, emerging from HBO's shadow, which is as it should be. The more the merrier. It's true that HBO has been more of a target in the last few years, since losing their top franchises of
The Sopranos and
Sex and the City and failing to launch anything new that took the culture by storm. But to ignore the good work HBO does would be foolish. It still produces the best and most ambitious longform miniseries, and
The Wire (now over) was without doubt a modern masterpiece. With
Big Love and the upcoming
True Blood, it provides some terrific guilty pleasures, and
Curb Your Enthusiasm is among TV's more inspired comedies. I'm also happy to report that
Entourage, based on the first two new episodes I've seen, is back in business with a powerfully appealing storyline in which Vince wakes up from his
Medellin nightmare and realizes he needs to take charge of his career again. I'm beginning to like him again, and that's a relief. Bottom line here: HBO is still a giant in the industry, and even at its lowest recent ebb (
John From Cincinnati, the premature canceling of
Deadwood, the tedious therapy dramas) was far from a slouch.
