HBO: From Hitmen to Hitless?

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True Blood creator Alan Ball (left) with actors Stephen Moyer and Anna Paquin Michael Grecco

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Plus HBO's rivals were starting to steal its playbook. Showtime, in particular, was carving out its own edgy reputation with the pot-selling mom in Weeds and with Dexter, the crime scene investigator who happens to be a serial killer. But Bewkes, the HBO insider, promoted from within. "Simply put," he says, "our people inside were better at programming than the people outside."

Two days after The Sopranos went off the air, Bewkes named Bill Nelson CEO. A Vietnam veteran who had carved out a reputation as a tough negotiator during his 24 years at HBO, Nelson had worked on distribution deals with cable operators and helped acquire the rights to show Hollywood movies, still a huge part of HBO's business. He is, in other words, a suit—everything that Albrecht wasn't.

Bewkes put two people in charge of programming: Lombardo, a lawyer and executive in the Los Angeles office who had lots of experience negotiating with talent; and Plepler, who for years was HBO's top PR guy and had deep relationships with writers and producers. (Chase named Tony Soprano's trauma surgeon Dr. Plepler.) Strauss would report to Plepler and Lombardo, as would HBO veterans Sheila Nevins, the head of documentaries; Colin Callender, chief of original films and miniseries; and Ross Greenburg, who runs sports.

Some industry insiders judged it strange that Bewkes would put a PR man and lawyer in charge of programming. But Bewkes says: "Their ability to move HBO to the next level is better than somebody coming in from some ad-supported programming experience who couldn't understand the advantages and voices of HBO."

A SOPRANOS REPLACEMENT

With The Sopranos over, everyone—fans, moguls, critics—wondered what HBO would do for its next act. Rare is the show that becomes a pop culture classic. And it's probably unfair to expect HBO to top Tony, Carmela, and the gang. "It's a fool's errand to try to shoehorn the zeitgeist," says Plepler. "Anyone telling you that back in 1999 we knew The Sopranos would be a cultural phenomenon is full of sh—. No one knew." And it's true that HBO has aired several well-regarded programs since the Sopranos debuted in 1999. Entourage, the Hollywood goof on stardom and celebrity, is a cult hit. Curb Your Enthusiasm has become a comedy classic. And Deadwood, a dark, violent Western set in 1870s South Dakota, bowled over the critics. But every time HBO rolls out a new hourlong drama, people inevitably compare it with That Show.

HBO tried hard to come up with a replacement for The Sopranos. Maybe too hard. About a year before The Sopranos finale was to air, Albrecht and Strauss approached David Milch, who wrote and produced Deadwood. Milch, who taught English literature at Yale University in the 1970s and later created the cop drama NYPD Blue, was hoping to do a fourth season of Deadwood. But he says HBO pressured him to take his original script entitled "John From Elsewhere and his Friend Tex" about a junkie and a street hustler in New York City and overlay it with a surfing theme for a new series. "They wanted to put something on as soon as the screen went black at the end of The Sopranos," says Milch. Looking back, Lombardo says HBO put Milch in a "very difficult situation."

Despite his misgivings, Milch agreed to take on the project, which became John from Cincinnati. He had less than a year to conceive the show and get it shot to air on June 10, the Sunday after the last Sopranos episode. So compressed was the schedule that HBO decided not to shoot a pilot—when producers often tweak the storyline and hire new cast members.

As it happens, AMC, the classic movie channel owned by Cablevision, was about to air a new show of its own on July 19. Created by former Sopranos producer and writer Matthew Weiner, Mad Men was about the hard-drinking denizens of a 1960s advertising agency on Madison Avenue. HBO executives had earlier passed on Mad Men, saying that while they were impressed with the show's style, they felt it lacked HBO's signature big theme.