With a new drama premiering, HBO continues its tradition of championing prestige TV. Now, we have Netflix, Showtime, AMC, FX and a million other creators of edgy, thought-provoking television, but that all started with HBO. The effects of the channel have been sprawling, from launching careers to influencing pop culture trends. We picked 16 of HBO’s most significant shows and mapped out their wide-reaching implications.
Oz (’97)
The origin of HBO as we know it
Sex and the City (’98)
A show that brought every sexual topic to the forefront of conversation and completely permeated pop culture. The early seasons subverted societal norms, and we can thank the ladies for making liberal nudity a thing.
style=”font-weight: 400;”>Sarah Jessica Parker
style=”font-weight: 400;”>Moving to New York to be a *writer*
style=”font-weight: 400;”>Producer Michael Patrick King
style=”font-weight: 400;”>The Carrie Diaries
style=”font-weight: 400;”>Referring to yourself as one of the four women
style=”font-weight: 400;”>Referring to a guy as your “Mr. Big”
style=”font-weight: 400;”>Graphic nudity as a common cable TV occurrence
The Sopranos (’99)
Widely agreed to be the beginning of “The Golden Age” of television, this drama launched the trend of the antihero. The DNA of Tony Soprano exists in Don Draper, Walter White and countless other protagonists you love to hate and hate to love.
style=”font-weight: 400;”>James Gandolfini
style=”font-weight: 400;”>Edie Falco
style=”font-weight: 400;”>Writer Matthew Weiner
style=”font-weight: 400;”>The “antihero” trend
Curb Your Enthusiasm (’00)
Took “Seinfeld’s” schtick and ran with it, making Larry David a pop culture phenomenon.
style=”font-weight: 400;”>Larry David
style=”font-weight: 400;”>Expanded Seinfeld’s “bad people” TV show
Six Feet Under (’01)
Regarded as one of the best television shows of all time, this show boasted stellar writing and acting and has one of the most critically acclaimed finales in TV history.
style=”font-weight: 400;”>Peter Krause
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style=”font-weight: 400;”>Creator Alan Ball
The Wire (’02)
The show that perfected the art of “literary television,” or TV structured like a novel. Each season tackled a different broken institution of the city of Baltimore.
style=”font-weight: 400;”>Dominic West
style=”font-weight: 400;”>Idris Elba
style=”font-weight: 400;”>TV as “literary novel”/Tackling cultural problems via television
Entourage (’04)
Produced by Mark Wahlberg and inspired by his early career, this show might have started as a sharp critique of Hollywood masculinity but eventually inspired much of “bro culture” in the mid aughts.
style=”font-weight: 400;”>Bro culture
style=”font-weight: 400;”>Jeremy Piven
style=”font-weight: 400;”>Kevin Connolly
Lucky Louie (’06)
This show only saw one season before getting canceled, but it laid the groundwork for Louis C.K. to create “Louie” and his later successful stand-up specials, which have influenced dark comedy in recent years.
style=”font-weight: 400;”>Louis C.K.
Big Love (’06)
A complicated drama about a polygamist Mormon family. Nominated for Golden Globes and Emmys alike.
style=”font-weight: 400;”>Amanda Seyfried
style=”font-weight: 400;”>Ginnifer Goodwin
True Blood (’08)
A dark fantasy series that made vampires about sex and violence rather than teenagers and abstinence. Also served as an allegory for minorities fighting for equal rights.
style=”font-weight: 400;”>Alexander Skarsgard
style=”font-weight: 400;”>Anna Paquin
Boardwalk Empire (’10)
With a pilot directed by Martin Scorsese and a killer lead performance by Steve Buscemi, it’s no surprise that this series won 20 Emmys over the course of its run.
style=”font-weight: 400;”>Bobby Cannavale
Game of Thrones (’11)
This juggernaut brings HBO ridiculous ratings and made fantasy cool. It pushes the boundaries of graphic nudity and violence, but it also created a trend of killing off main characters to spark plot development. All men must die.
style=”font-weight: 400;”>Emilia Clarke
style=”font-weight: 400;”>Sophie Turner
style=”font-weight: 400;”>Natalie Dormer
style=”font-weight: 400;”>Fantasy being “cool”
style=”font-weight: 400;”>Unexpected deaths of main characters on TV
Girls (’12)
A polarizing think-piece magnet that played against the New York fantasy established in “Sex and the City” and made Lena Dunham a big cultural player and Adam Driver a star.
style=”font-weight: 400;”>Lena Dunham
style=”font-weight: 400;”>Adam Driver
Veep (’12)
This political comedy has been Emmy-nominated for four consecutive years. Julia Louis-Dreyfus plays Selina Meyer, the third character to win her an Emmy for Best Actress in a Comedy Series.
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style=”font-weight: 400;”>Anna Chlumsky
style=”font-weight: 400;”>Subverting the “Washington” drama stereotype
The Leftovers (’14)
An ensemble drama that you know as “that rapture show starring Jennifer Aniston’s dude.”
style=”font-weight: 400;”>Justin Theroux
True Detective (’14)
Brought upon by the “McConaissance,” this show demonstrated that movie stars could show off their acting chops on prestige TV. Alas, its second season was a hate-watch phenomenon.
style=”font-weight: 400;”>“McConaissance”
- Margot Robbie
style=”font-weight: 400;”>Those Lincoln commercials
style=”font-weight: 400;”>Hate-watching