Then all that money went out the window on Rome, The Sopranos and Deadwood went away and John from Cincinnati challenged viewers in ways that no one could have imagined (like challenging them not to cancel their subscriptions to HBO) for a full ten weeks.
So with Showtime nipping at its heels and winning acclaim-by-default with one-degree-of-separation-from-FX shows like Dexter and Californication, HBO is now happy to be not TV... but MTV.
Four days after killing John, they've renewed Entourage and Flight of The Conchords.
Sez the HBO press release:
LOS ANGELES, Aug. 17, 2007 - HBO has renewed the hit comedy series ENTOURAGE for a fifth season and FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS for a second season, it was announced today by Carolyn Strauss, president, HBO Entertainment.
Currently debuting new episodes back-to-back on Sunday night (10:00-11:00 p.m. ET/PT), both series conclude their current season Sept. 2, and will return with new episodes in 2008.
"ENTOURAGE is a full-fledged cultural phenomenon, and FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS has quickly become a show to watch," said Strauss. "I'm delighted that we'll be bringing new seasons of these distinctive series to our subscribers."
Talk about singing soprano. And here we thought Entourage took as much of a downturn as Rescue Me this season. You?