HBO programming chief, Michael Lombardo responded to an onslaught of questions today at the Television Critics Association (TCA) Summer Press tour. HBO just received 126 Emmy® Award nominations, holding the record for the most nominations thus far. But that didn’t stop the press from hitting Lombardo hard with questions about violence in Game of Thrones, the quality of the second season of True Detective and more.
Lombardo predicts that Game of Thrones will end after eight seasons, or at least that is the current plan under discussion. He admitted he had heard and read all of the complaints about the violence in the top-rated drama, but that he supports his showrunners (David Benioff and Dan Weiss).
“This show has had violence as part of one of its many threads from the first episode,” Lombardo said. “I can’t speak to any single person’s particular taste … I think the show is phenomenal. It hit 20 million viewers this year … And I’ll be honest you with you, I think there are no two showrunners who are more careful about not overstepping what they think the line is — and everyone has their own line, I understand — but doing things that are critical for the storytelling and I support them fully artistically.
He was also asked about the fate of the popular character in the series, Jon Snow. Lombardo grinned and replied, “In everything I’ve seen, heard or read, Jon Snow is indeed dead.”
Lombardo has read all of the comments that have not been favorable toward Pizzolatto’s True Detective series. Lombardo himself is quite pleased with what he has seen and he feels that his 12 million viewers tuning in each week must be satisfied as well. “Nic Pizzolatto is one of the best writers working in television and motion pictures today,” Lombardo says of the series’ creator/showrunner. He then teased about the finale, “I think he takes a big swing. I think the show ends with as satisfying an end as any show I’ve seen.”
Lombardo was asked about whether or not there would be a season 3 for True Detective and Lombardo said that the decision was up to Pizzzolatto.
‘Curb Your Enthusiasm‘ has been another HBO fan-favorite. Lombardo then told of a story during his visit to Broadway to see Larry David in Fish in the Dark. David pointed to a notebook and told Lombardo that it was the next season of Curb Your Enthusiasm. Lombardo did not look at the notebook, nor has he spoken to David since the encounter, but he is hopeful they will be able to sit down and bring back more of Curb. “I don’t think it’s out of [Larry’s] system,” he said, before adding: “I think he wants to have something to say.”
David Chase will be bringing on a long-in-the-works project which will center on the formation of the Hollywood film industry. Lombardo and his team recently saw a two-hour sneak peek of the “phenomenal” material. Chase is continuing to write for the project. When asked about the delay of the project, Lombardo explained, “I think it’s really challenging to come back to television after having a show like The Sopranos, a show that really hits on all levels like that.”
David Fincher’s Gillian Flynn Utopia is giving HBO a bit of a struggle when it comes to figuring out how to move forward with the project. HBO is at the same time trying to salvage House of Cards creator’s 1980’s music-video comedy Video Synchronicity. Production of Video Synchronicity was stopped June 11, the cast being sent home at that time, a Hollywood Reporter source revealing that the show was still moving forward, but with undergoing some script changes and to give the writers time to catch up on scripts.
Lombardo confirmed that Video Synchronicity “isn’t dead” despite the two-month time period of being out of production. “When we both saw the third and fourth [episodes], we realized we needed to go back and do some work on the scripts,” Lombardo said. “David’s attention at that point — he is someone who likes to be hands on, on everything — got diverted by another project [HBO’s Utopia]. [He’s] not good at letting us go ahead and do what we needed to do on Video Synchronicity while he was working on Utopia. I texted with him today, we’re going to turn our attention soon back to Video Synchronicity and figure out the path forward. But I fully expect we’re going to be able to finish that up.”
Video Synchronicity was picked up to series on May 4 and has completed four episodes in which the first two were directed by Fincher. Lombardo still has high hopes for the series and said,”There’s too much good stuff for us not to figure it out. We’re going to figure it out.”
Lombardo admitted that HBO is “struggling right now trying to figure that out” when discussing Utopia. He continued with “We’re at the moment, trying to figure out if there is a path forward or not for Utopia.” Rumor has it that the project is already way over budget.
Lombardo was asked about how streaming services, such as Netflix have impacted his decision-making. He said that first his team does not program defensively and second that the competition is not just streaming networks, but other cable and broadcast networks. He acknowledged that there is a paradigm shift underway and bringing quality will continue to be paramount from HBO, and that networks are rethinking the length and format of everything that gets aired.