“Rome” (2 Seasons, 2005-2007)
It’s been rather superseded in the HBO pantheon since, but back in 2005 if there was one single show that pointed the way for “Game Of Thrones,” it was definitely the BBC co-production “Rome.” Immensely costly, for the time (and for any time, really with the first season’s 12 episodes budgeted at north of $100m), the John Milius co-created show was also very successful, with HBO’s practice of airing each episode multiple times goosing the viewership figures per episode to an estimated 7m, not to mention an additional U.K. audience brought in by its first run on BBC2. And not just in expense and lavish historical recreation did it prefigure ‘Thrones,’ its swords-and-sandals backdrop (with added grit), battles and political intrigues, as well as its pulpier side, also seem like precursors, especially to ‘Thrones” desert sections–we can only imagine how much closer in look it might have been had the mooted future seasons, due to take place in Egypt and Palestine, actually played out. But we can only imagine, because the cost of the show, which knit two fictionalized version of real characters (an odd couple of Roman soldiers played by Kevin McKidd and Ray Stevenson) into the tempestuous historical events that occurred during Julius Caesar and then Caesar Augustus’ reigns over the newly established Roman Empire, proved prohibitive, especially for the BBC whose reluctance to foot their share in the face of waning viewership figures led to the series’ cancellation. The hammer fell midway through season 2, which accounts for the last episodes being so rushed and unsatisfying, which in itself also partially accounts for the show’s somewhat tarnished reputation now. And indeed while it was remarkable at the time, it really doesn’t have the depth of characterization, outside of its main cast and Ciaran Hinds’ excellent Caesar, that future HBO blockbusters like ‘Thrones,’ ‘Boardwalk’ or ‘The Wire’ would boast. Perhaps most telling, the show was originally pitched as a miniseries, and perhaps it would have been better had it stayed as such, with a sense now that the sprawl and scope of the endeavor simply got away from the show’s makers and financiers both. Still probably nobler that they simply ended it when they did than allow it to slide into a kind of cheapie historical soap opera–cable viewers in 2007 would have Showtime’s “The Tudors” for that instead.
“True Blood” (7 Seasons, 2008-2014)
With a small handful of exceptions (“Sex & The City” being the most prominent), the first couple of decades of HBO shows were original material, developed specifically for television, but that’s changed over time, with adaptations becoming more and more prevalent on the network. And that’s partly because of the enormous success of “True Blood,” which took as its source material Charlaine Harris‘ “The Southern Vampire Mysteries” series, made up of thirteen novels released between 2001 and 2013. Though they diverge significantly, both book and series focus on Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin), a waitress who discovers a Southern Gothic underworld made up of vampires, werewolves, witches, faeries and much more besides. “American Beauty” creator Alan Ball, an HBO darling after “Six Feet Under” (one of HBO’s most seminal shows, but not one which shares much DNA with “Game Of Thrones,” it should be said) was the man responsible, and created something rather divisive: the show has a huge fanbase, landing handily at the same time as vampire phenomenon “Twilight” and being placed as a sexed-up, more gory version of that for adults, but TV critics have mostly (and, we’d say, correctly) dismissed it as campy, unevenly acted and sloppily plotted. But after a slow start, it grew hugely, and became the networks’ biggest show since “The Sopranos.” Which, crucially, opened the door for “Game Of Thrones.” “Carnivale” aside, genre fare hadn’t been popular with HBO commissioners: there was almost the feeling that the network was above such childish things as vampires and wizards. But “True Blood” demonstrated that taking it on and giving it a veneer of class from an Oscar-winner like Ball could lead to blockbuster ratings, especially when it came with lashings of nudity and sex, and with a pre-existing book series to help draw in existing fans. This was HBO gone Comic-Con, and the successful results spoke for themselves. “Game Of Thrones” was actually in development before “True Blood” hit screens (Benioff and Weiss pitched the idea of adapting the books to the network as far back as 2006, and work began in earnest in 2007), and it’s always possible that HBO would have pulled the trigger had Ball’s show never existed. But it certainly must have helped to have a precedent like this one.
“Boardwalk Empire” (5 Seasons, 2010-2014)
So, how fast can George R.R. Martin type? He better pick up the pace, because with “Boardwalk Empire” officially ending this year (the fifth and final season will start to air in September) we’re not going to have anywhere else to go for our expansive, expensive, lovingly detailed, character-driven ensemble drama fix. Which is not to say ‘Boardwalk’ isn’t a very different beast from ‘Thrones’—its drama is slower-moving, and it is more anchored by a central character, in the person of Steve Buscemi’s defining Nucky Thompson, than ‘Thrones’ ever was (except maybe briefly with Nedd Stark and we all know what happened there). ‘Boardwalk’ has become a fixture for many of us Playlisters, but part of its character (and possibly part of its snob-value) is that it’s not quite the mass-appeal blockbuster that ‘Thrones’ has snowballed into: its viewership figures, reaching a high of around 3m in seasons one and two, have declined in the last two seasons to around 2m, so safe to say it won’t be troubling “Game of Thrones’ ” recent levels of 7m and climbing. Which makes it something of a connoisseur’s treat, and indeed, even at it most dramatically inert (we’re fans, but the series has its fallow moments even for us) there is a huge amount to admire and enjoy in any given episode. From the start, the Martin Scorsese-shepherded project (he also directed the pilot—his first TV project since an episode of Steven Spielberg’s “Amazing Stories” in 1986) has been so rich in period detail it almost feels like “Game of Thrones’ ” alternate universe—they say the past is another country, and this show has always felt both exotic and immersive, as only a lived-in world can. Series creator Terence Winter’s stately, absorbing writing has become the show’s stock in trade and rarely does the dialogue hit a bum note, especially coming out of the mouths of simply one of the finest ensembles ever to grace the small screen. Aside from Buscemi, the show has given Gretchen Mol, Michael Pitt, Shea Whigham, Michael Shannon, Stephen Graham, Michael Stuhlbarg (oh how we love Arnold Rothstein), Kelly Macdonald (admittedly more in earlier seasons than now), Bobby Cannavale and Jack Huston legitimate watershed career moments, and they have all torn into them with relish. But perhaps the most lasting way ‘Boardwalk’ laid ground for ‘Thrones’ is almost by way of cautionary tale: while episode for episode it provided some of the meatiest, richest TV you could ask for, with graphic sex and violence that definitely pushed the boundaries back, that slow decline in viewership suggests that perhaps the cinematic nature of its storytelling actually counted against it. In fact often, an episode would leave you so replete that there wasn’t that same sense of “I wanna binge!” appointment-to-view urgency around the next. It’s a lesson ‘Thrones’ has learned well, with its clever cliffhangers and shock-and-awe tactics, but we can’t help but wonder which show, in the fullness of time, will be the one that will most reward rewatching.
Honorable Mention: As we said, these are the shows that seemed to be the obvious forerunners to “Game Of Thrones.” But HBO’s had plenty of other quality series over the years, all of which played some small part in the show. You might not be able to see the obvious DNA match from “The Larry Sanders Show,” “The Storyteller,” “Six Feet Under,” “Entourage,” “Big Love,” “Tell Me You Love Me,” “John From Cincinatti,” “In Treatment,” “Hung,” “Bored To Death,” “The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency,” “Eastbound & Down,” “How To Make It In America,” “Luck,” “John Adams,” “Band Of Brothers,” “The Pacific” or “From The Earth To Moon,” among many others, but the veneer of quality they set up helped establish the brand name in a big way. What was your own personal favorite HBO show? Let us know below. — Oliver Lyttelton, Jessica Kiang
