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In Depth March 20, 2008, 5:00PM EST

HBO: From Hitmen to Hitless?

(page 4 of 4)

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

Mad Men took off. John from Cincinnati didn't.

John wowed some critics, but viewers were mystified by the dysfunctional surfing family at the heart of the show. Ratings slid with each new week. Inside HBO, support began waning, especially when costs soared to $4 million an episode, about a third more than it cost to shoot other hourlong shows. HBO executives say they were frustrated, too, because Milch was delivering scripts late and often rewriting them on-set. In August, HBO canceled the show after 10 episodes. No one appears to hold a grudge. Milch hopes to do a Deadwood movie for HBO and is developing a cop drama set in '70s New York. "Writing is a blessing," he says. "For that, I am grateful to HBO."

In November, Hollywood writers went on strike, shutting down production at HBO and every other network and studio. The timing was inauspicious, but Plepler and Lombardo had an opportunity to consolidate their power. The two programming chiefs began assessing which Albrecht-era projects were HBO-worthy. Linda Bloodworth-Thomason (of Designing Women fame) was producing a comedy about Texas royalty called 12 Miles of Bad Road starring Lily Tomlin. Five episodes had been shot but Bloodworth-Thomason hadn't shown them to HBO. When Plepler and Lombardo finally got to see 12 Miles of Bad Road, they decided it had strayed from the original concept and told Bloodworth-Thomason she could shop it elsewhere.

They also took a pass on a project brought to them by their old boss, Albrecht, who now runs a new entertainment unit at talent agency IMG Worldwide. IMG co-owns a British show called Secret Diary of a Call Girl. Albrecht thought it could find an American audience. Plepler and Lombardo say it was too heavy on soft porn and too light on Big Themes and decided to pass. (Showtime CEO Matthew C. Blank grabbed the show to build a relationship with Albrecht.)

"NERVOUS ABOUT A NEW BOSS"

All the while Plepler and Lombardo had been pressuring Strauss to hire a senior programmer to add more firepower. She balked, say insiders, and tension between Strauss and her new bosses intensified. Finally, she was out—leaving her former colleagues feeling uneasy, even though she was offered a production deal with HBO. David Simon, who created HBO's critically acclaimed The Wire and is developing an HBO show about New Orleans, says he was "absolutely shocked" when Strauss told him she was leaving. "She's the reason I'm still in television," says Simon, who acknowledges feeling "nervous about getting a new boss."

Now, with Strauss and Albrecht gone, it is the Plepler-Lombardo show. Among a slate of upcoming shows, one they're pinning their hopes on is True Blood, a one-hour drama about vampires in Louisiana (which they greenlighted after seeing a pilot that was approved by Albrecht shortly before his departure).

True Blood, set to air in September, has one thing going for it. Its creator is Alan Ball, the man behind Six Feet Under. Ball got the idea for the show after discovering novelist Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire Mysteries series in an airport bookstore. True Blood, now shooting in Los Angeles and Shreveport, La., centers on modern-day vampires who live openly in society because they can feed off new synthetic blood. Anna Paquin, who played the daughter in the film The Piano, stars as Sookie Stackhouse, a waitress mind reader smitten with a vampire.

Plepler and Lombardo were ecstatic to work with Ball again. And they're careful to keep Albrecht's light touch. "Alan certainly doesn't need a lot of handling," says Lombardo. "It's his pen, not ours, thank God." While HBO asked Ball to recast one actor, it has requested minimal script changes. "They allow you to focus on the work," he says.

True Blood is undeniably a risk. A show about vampires could have a limited audience, however brilliantly realized. But Plepler echoes the Albrecht mantra: True Blood, he says, haslarger themes that will resonate with a mass audience. "We see the vampires as a window into the disenfranchised in America," says Plepler. With Six Feet Under, he adds, Ball examined how death is treated in the U.S.—and he'll deliver Big Themes with True Blood, too. If the show is a hit, maybe HBO will bury The Sopranos, once and for all.

Lowry is a senior writer for BusinessWeek in New York.

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