My Favorite HBO Shows
This piece is of interest to exactly 5 people in the world
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HBO holds a special place in my heart. When my parents finally got DirectTV, it was in the early heyday of HBO programming. Sex and the City, The Sopranos, Oz, The Wire, all of those were running hot. I’m not ashamed to say that I consumed all of that filth at a young age and it forever warped my expectations of what small screen entertainment should be. And those expectations were largely unmet until recent years, with the advent of Netflix, Hulu, Apple, and other streaming services and their original content.
But HBO is still king over them, I say. And here’s my ranking of my favorite HBO series over time. I’m using this Wikipedia article as my main source, so I appreciate any addendums anyone can make that would round this out more fully!
I’m also not delineating between series that have ended and those listed as still running, which obviously means that some adjustments may happen as series reach their endpoint.
Drama Series
- The Sopranos
- Game of Thrones (literally up to the episode Hardhome)
- Boardwalk Empire
- The Wire
- Deadwood
- Westworld
- Big Little Lies
- Succession
- The Leftovers
- Big Love
- Carnivale
- Lovecraft County
- …And Just Like That
Comedy Series
- Veep
- Silicon Valley
- Curb Your Enthusiasm
- Flight of the Conchords
- Sex and the City
- Barry
- Mr. Show with Bob and David
- The Righteous Gemstones
- Eastbound and Down
- Girls
- Entourage
- Vice Principles
- Hung
- Ballers
- Our Flag Means Death (fairly certain this one will move up after I watch more than the first 10 min of episode one)
