Is there room for three great dramas at HBO?

Back when the Thrones pilot was first ordered, it was mentioned that there were about 10 other pilots in the pipeline at HBO and only about 5-6 would be picked up. Looking over the list, there looked to be two pilots that would be in direct competition with Thrones. David Simon’s Treme, about musicians in post-Katrina New Orleans, and Martin Scorsese’s Boardwalk Empire, about gangsters in 1920’s Atlantic City.

Treme was already picked up by HBO and is set to debut in April 2010. Boardwalk Empire has completed filming the pilot and sounds like it is very close to getting a series order. The potential series would begin filming in Sept. with what I imagine would be a fall 2010 air date in mind.

That means that if we want to see Thrones on air, we have to hope HBO is willing to spend the money on all three of these dramas. It is certainly not without precedent that HBO would be willing to have three big dramas on air at once. The Sopranos, The Wire, and Rome were all airing at the same time at one point. And certainly it seems that with the casting going the way it is, HBO is committed to putting out a quality product. There are reports that they are excited about the project. Still one has to wonder, if HBO were to drop one of the three projects, even if strictly for financial reasons, which do you think it would be?

Is there room for three great dramas at HBO? We better hope so.

• Published on 08/07/2009 at 8:14 AM CDT
• Last updated on 10/20/2016 at 4:56 PM CDT