Costco Connection - February 2012

ing an Emmy Award for Boardwalk Empire If that doesn’t pique your interest, I can’t do better than that for awareness,” he says.

tacked on to the production. “We’re there from the very first kickoff meeting, discussing what will be the DVD or Blu- ray extras,” McGee says. “A happy thing is that we find the actors, directors and producers involved have such a good experience with HBO that they’re more than willing to get involved with the DVD and Blu-ray production.” According to McGee, one show in particular has broken creative ground with the on-disc extras: “On True Blood, the commentaries where the actors talk about a scene, we’ve put them in there as their characters talking with the commentary written by the script writer.”

More new shows in the pipeline Boardwalk Empire is one of the newest entries in the growing lineup of original HBO programs that Sue Naegle has developed since taking over as pres- ident of HBO Entertainment in 2008. Among the other shows premiered on her watch: True Blood, based on the Charlaine Harris series of vampire tales; Treme, set in post-Katrina New Orleans; Bored to Death, featuring the quirky comedy trio of Jason Schwartzman, Zach Galifianakis and Ted Danson; and Game of Thrones, a medieval fantasy played out in the fictional world of Westeros.

Judging the success of new programs is not just a matter of looking at the audience size and makeup as reported by Nielsen ratings—the standard in audience measurement for television shows since the ’50s.

“For HBO, it’s not simply ratings,” says Naegle in
a phone interview. “We look to see if we’re getting a
good critical response, and if [a program] has sort of a
stickiness in the culture—if people are talking about it,
blogging and writing about it; if journalists are paying
attention to what we’re doing. All of that really matters
to us, because it’s a measure of quality. Of course, it
helps to be recognized by the Emmys and the Golden
Globes, but it all goes back to the central message: It
has to be excellent television.”
Naegle is enthusiastic about three new HBO
shows for 2012: Luck, starring Dustin Hoffman and
Nick Nolte in a horse-racing drama created by David
Milch (Deadwood); Veep, featuring Julia Louis-
Dreyfus in a comedy about the first woman vice
president of the United States; and Girls, with Lena
Dunham and Allison Williams in a comedy about a
group of 20-somethings.

And the winner is ...

Will HBO be able to sustain the momentum of its 10-year winning streak? Probably, given that the network seems so adept at picking the right shows to develop. Naegle does recognize that the TV industry is different now.

“The one thing that has changed since 2001,”
she says, “is that there’s a lot more competition in
original programming on cable.”
That being the case, it’s the viewers who win.
They can all thank HBO for raising the bar on the
quality of television programming. C

HBO on disc

For those who subscribe to HBO through a
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For those who subscribe to HBO through a
local cable TV or satellite provider, a new feature
called HBO Go allows subscribers to stream current
programs, back episodes, movies and other HBO
content directly to smartphones or tablets via dedi-
cated apps.

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u
hearing word of mouth about a program or about
But subscription isn’t the only source for the pro-
grams. McGee points out that about 60 percent of
the people who purchase HBO programs released on
disc (DVD or Blu-ray) don’t subscribe to HBO. “But
hearing word of mouth about a program or about
Emmy Awards and other prizes that a program has
won, they are prepared to go out, purchase it and
enjoy it,” he notes. “Certainly the extras add to that.”

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enjoy it,” he notes. “Certainly the extras add to that.”
f s

rh t r
“Extras” refers to the exclusive bonus features pro-
duced to enhance the disc release of a series, minise-
ries or movie. HBO’s research shows that the primary
reason viewers buy HBO titles is to have the program
on a permanent basis, with the ability to access it at
any time. People also report that the extras deepen
both their understanding of and connection with the
program, and are an additional reason to purchase.

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both their understanding of and connection with the
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e

DAVID SCHNEIDER

Those extras are not simply afterthoughts

The winning streak

A partial list of original HBO programs that have won Emmy
Awards, 2002 to 2011. In the last 10 years HBO programs
have received 991 nominations, resulting in 240 wins.