This weekend, HBO went into the 74th Annual Golden Globe Awards with more nominations than any other TV network. The subscription cable channel earned 14 nominees for shows as wide-ranging as Westworld, The Night Of, Game of Thrones and Veep, but the funny thing is, the network didn't actually win anything, even with all of those noms. However, HBO President Casey Bloys feels pretty confident that this was only a blip on the radar for the network. In fact, he's confident the programming the network has coming up will have HBO back on track soon.
Here's the good news: We've got Westworld coming back for 2018; Big Little Lies coming up, The Deuce from David Simon, the final season of The Leftovers; I hope people will remember Girls next year because it's a great show and I think it gets overlooked. We also have Jean-Marc Vallee doing Sharp Objects with Amy Adams starring and Marti Noxon writing --- that's coming up in 2018 or '19. We have a lot of great stuff in the pipeline, too: Alan Ball's new show, which we're just casting. We have to keep cranking it out.
While I personally feel that Girls hasn't been quite as exciting during recent seasons, Casey Bloys also mentioned to THR that there are so many incredible programs coming up over the next year or two that he feels the network is setting itself up nicely. Along with the shows mentioned in the quote above, Bloys also mentioned that another season of The Night Of is potentially in the works and that True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto also has some pitches coming down the line.
If you've been keeping tabs on HBO, you should know that the subscription cable network was in a period of transition last year. Other than a solid comedy lineup and the juggernaut that is Game of Thrones, HBO had some trouble producing dramas that were engaging viewers, as The Leftovers fell short of viewership expectations, True Detective Season 2 was a disaster and Westworld's premiere had been pushed back again and again. Network President Michael Lombardo stepped down and Casey Bloys stepped in; he has subsequently worked to get programming like Westworld back on track and into the lineup. The Young Pope is also premiering this week.
While Westworld didn't pull any wins last night, it has been an audience favorite and a ratings winner for the network, and I think anyone who watched would be hard-pressed to say Evan Rachel Wood is doing anything less than she can to make her role a standout. We'll have to wait and see how Westworld goes as it moves into Season 2, but she and Thandie Newton are certainly two actresses to watch.
Of course, we're a long way from next year's Golden Globes and we're an even longer way away from Westworld Season 2 episodes. To find out what HBO has coming up this winter, take a look at our TV premiere schedule.
