Two major HBO anniversaries occurred this week: on January 10, it was 25 years to the day since the first airing of The Sopranos (more on that in the paywalled post coming right after this one); and yesterday was the tenth anniversary of the debut of True Detective. What better opportunity to stroll down memory lane with a little list? For the purposes of this ranking, I left out limited series (sorry, Band of Brothers) and non-fiction (sorry, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver).
1. The Sopranos (1999-2007)
It’s been almost two decades since David Chase’s brainchild parted ways with viewers, and yet it still remains the foremost example of what the channel’s marketing team meant when they came up with the slogan “It’s not TV. It’s HBO.” Blending violence, humor, tragedy, action and introspection from the get-go, the show deconstructed the stereotypical image of the cinematic mobster by highlighting the exploits of a generation of Italian-Americans raised on The Godfather and oblivious to the real traditions of their culture. A grand tale of two families (at home and at work), with the late, great James Gandolfini at their center as one of television’s most indelible creations, Tony Soprano.
2. Six Feet Under (2001-2005)
What happens when you run a funeral home and one day you end up having to work on your own father? From that gem of a first episode (which still stands out for including those brilliant fake commercials for funeral products which were originally supposed to be a fixture in the series), Alan Ball built a world every bit as messed up and layered as the one he depicted in his American Beauty script: seemingly perfect lives torn apart in an instant when all the underlying ugliness is exposed. Deftly blending formulaic storytelling (every episode begins with a death and obituary-style title card) with the kind of freedom only HBO was granting at the time, the show remains as impactful today as it was 20 years ago because beneath the taboo-busting surface lies a sincere, powerful portrayal of an endearingly dysfunctional family, not unlike the Sopranos.
3. Deadwood (2004-2006)
Poetry and profanity have seldom been so perfectly intertwined as in David Milch’s crepuscular take on the Western, a brutal tale of greed and shifting loyalties where even the nominal heroes come with abundant shades of gray and one of the genre’s most celebrated icons is killed off not even halfway through the first season (this was one of the early proponents of the “list the actor as a regular even though he’s leaving the show after a handful of episodes” strategy). Having already braved the censors with Steve Bochco in the NYPD Blue days, Milch went even further here, and while some scenes feel like self-parody (one moment in season 1 is basically the showrunner checking how many times he can get away with using the show’s main curse word in a single episode), they’re always crafted in such a way the venomous vitriol goes hand in hand with the melancholy musings of a masterful cast of characters discussing the bloody foundations of the American myth.
4. The Wire (2002-2008)
On paper, it was a terrible idea even by HBO standards of the time (a cop show where nothing conventionally thrilling happens until around episode 8 – out of 13). But in the hands of David Simon and Ed Burns, respectively a former crime reporter and police officer, the drug-riddled underbelly of Baltimore became the riveting backdrop of an exquisitely crafted ensemble piece where every single detail mattered. Including one that is arguably the show’s greatest gift to the contemporary audiovisual landscape: putting Idris Elba on the map internationally after he’d already gained some recognition in his native UK. And then, of course, there’s Clay Davis. If you know, you know.
5. The Larry Sanders Show (1992-1997)
Backstage comedy is not a new concept, but the possibility of doing so within the less restrictive framework of a cable channel gave Garry Shandling and his collaborators that extra ounce of inspiration to craft a truly scathing and hilarious portrait of everything that can go wrong behind the scenes of a popular talk show. Shandling, Rip Torn and Jeffrey Tambor were the key ingredients of the ensemble, but the guest stars also gave it their all and then some, most notably David Duchovny as a version of “himself” with a crush on Shandling’s Larry (the actor/comedian reciprocated a few years later with a wonderful self-spoofing appearance on The X-Files). Not the easiest HBO show to track down outside the US, but well worth a look.
6. The Last of Us (2023-present)
I debated whether to include this or not, as it’s still ongoing and has only produced one season so far. And the answer was: why not? When a debut year is pulled off with such confidence, effortlessly following the broad strokes of the original videogame’s storyline while expanding on it in ways the television format allows for (such as the episode focusing on Bill and Frank), one cannot help but admire the achievement and sing its praises. A masterwork in its own right, and a skillful exercise in adaptation. 2025, and the second season, cannot come fast enough.
7. Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000-2024)
Pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty good. After defining one decade of TV comedy with Seinfeld, where every gag was meticulously thought out within the confines of a standard sitcom production, Larry David defined another (and then another, and another) with his follow-up show, which is cheerfully loose thanks to its improvisational nature (and one can make a case for the more structured seasons – 4 and 7 especially – being less interesting as a result) and goes even further in terms of telling the outrageously banal story of people who don’t even try to be likable. And when they do try, we get strokes of genius like the obituary with the most offensive typo in history. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m still not quite ready to say goodbye to Larry.
8. Game of Thrones (2011-2019)
Yes, the final season was not as strong as the remainder of the series. But when the show got things right, it did so on a level most of its peers can only dream of: high fantasy executed on a scale previously unheard of on the small screen, with battles, sets and CGI that could put a lot of Hollywood blockbusters to shame (unsurprisingly, two different Thrones directors were considered, and one of them eventually hired, for Marvel’s Thor: The Dark World). At its most ambitious, it was HBO perfecting what it had tried to do with another series a few years previously. Speaking of which…
9. Rome (2005-2007)
At the time, it was the most expensive series ever produced, requiring HBO to partner with the BBC for the financing (the British broadcaster dropping out after the second batch of episodes is why the show came to a premature end). It’s overstuffed at times (when creator Bruno Heller was told his original five-season plan was off the table, he retooled season 2 to include most of what he had intended to do later), but it’s weirdly fitting for a show about the early stages of Rome’s subsequent imperial expansion: perhaps too bold for its own good, but with plenty to admire. And no disrespect to Shakespeare, but this contains the best dramatization of Julius Caesar’s death.
10. Tales from the Crypt (1989-1996)
Not too long ago, there was talk of M. Night Shyamalan trying to revive the property (albeit on TNT, which has stricter rules on content). That didn’t come to pass, but it was a nice reminder of just how clever and memorable the original was, with its seven-season run based on the comic book of the same name. Its anthology format was the perfect revolving door for major stars to come in and have fun with these darkly humorous stories of wrongdoers getting their comeuppance in the most gruesome ways (the series finale was noteworthy for its animated and gory twist on the classic tale of the three little pigs). And with the seamless blend of puppetry and John Kassir’s voice, the show’s host – the Crypt Keeper – is an icon in the same vein as other key figures in HBO’s history. Wouldn’t you agree, dear boils and ghouls?