HBO talks about its ‘curated’ future
‘GoT’ premiere hinted; ‘Deadwood’ movie set
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. – After years of talks, HBO has greenlighted a “Deadwood” movie that will wrap up the acclaimed Western series from David Milch that aired from 2004 to 2006. The movie is aiming to begin production this fall for a possible airdate next spring, but programming chief Casey Bloys provided no further details at the Television Critics Association summer press tour.
The final “Game of Thrones” season, as previously announced, will air in 2019, but Bloys clarified it will be the first half of the year, which means it would be eligible for 2019 Emmy Awards. The network will shoot a pilot episode next year for one of five potential “Thrones” spinoff series, but has made no commitment to air it. He also defended criticism of “Westworld,” which just ended its second season, saying HBO was happy with it but that the convoluted series is “not for casual viewers; it requires your attention.”
Bloys also tamped down reports that the network’s new parent, AT&T, will attempt to match Netflix’s volume, potentially at the expense of its strategy to “curate” quality series. “There are no plans to dilute the HBO brand in favor of volume of programming,” Bloys said Wednesday. “No one has come to us and asked us to not do what we do, which is curate excellence.”
Speculation swirled after The New York Times published remarks from a town hall meeting held for employees last month with HBO chief Richard Plepler and John Stankey, the AT&T executive who oversees the newly named WarnerMedia division. Stankey did similar damage control on an earnings call Tuesday.
“What I heard in the meeting was someone coming and telling us to invest in programming,” an “exciting” development that Bloys said doesn’t mean “increasing the volume to the point where we lose quality control. We’re not doing a ‘ Love Boat’ reboot.”
He was generous to Netflix, HBO’s biggest competitive thorn, congratulating its executives on beating HBO (for the first time) in Emmy nominations this month, with 112 to HBO’s 108. But “getting four less nominations is not going to change the number and types of programming we produce at all.”