Michael Lombardo to exit as HBO Programming President - Polidicks

It's likely that this is the first you hear about this guy, this is a huge news for the industry. Essentially this is the person that made HBO great - pushing for more original content and TV series, he's one of the giants of Second Golden Era of Television that started with Sopranos. He ends his 33 years run in HBO. In 2007 he became the Programming President being personally responsible for bringing to the screen series such as Game of Thrones, True Detective, Veep, Boardwalk Empire and many others. An era of television ends. [img]http://i2.wp.com/pmcvariety.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/michael-lombardo.jpg?crop=4px%2C9px%2C1004px%2C559px&resize=670%2C377&ssl=1[/img] [quote]Michael Lombardo is exiting his post as president of HBO Programming, according to industry sources, ending a 33-year run that made him a major player in the pay TV giant’s growth and evolution. It’s understood that the decision to step down was Lombardo’s. HBO has been under unusual pressure on the programming front in recent months but sources said Lombardo was not pushed. He’s expected to work out a production pact with the network, a shift he has considered making for some time after nearly a decade at the top of HBO’s vast programming operations. It’s not immediately clear how HBO will reorganize to fill Lombardo’s responsibilities. He oversees programming for HBO and Cinemax as well as HBO Films, HBO Sports and HBO Documentaries and Family. He also oversees HBO’s marketing, legal and business affairs departments. During his long tenure, Lombardo spearheaded the team that raked in countless Emmys for such signature HBO series as “Game of Thrones,” “Veep,” “Silicon Valley,” “Girls,” “True Detective,” “True Blood,” “Boardwalk Empire” and “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.” On the longform front, HBO’s major productions on his watch included “The Normal Heart,” “Behind the Candelabra,” “Too Big to Fail,” “Grey Gardens,” “Olive Kitteridge,” “Temple Grandin” and “Game Change.” Lombardo has long been well-liked by HBO talent for his enthusiastic support of the creative process and for his taste in material. But HBO has of late faced some missteps on the programming front. The debut of high-profile drama series “Vinyl” was met with mixed reviews, resulting in a showrunner change for the upcoming second season. The second season of “True Detective” fell flat from a critical perspective, prompting Lombardo to acknowledge that he erred in pushing series creator Nic Pizzolatto to turn around the second edition on a quick timetable.[/quote] [Source: [url=http://variety.com/2016/tv/news/michael-lombardo-hbo-programming-president-1201779881/]Variety[/url]]

Time Warner television essentially exists because this man was able to leverage extremely expensive talent for "cheap" by essentially letting them do that "one project" that they always wanted to do but couldn't. It's very unlikely TW will be able to repeat that in the modern hyper-political environment.

[QUOTE=27X;50361283]Time Warner television essentially exists because this man was able to leverage extremely expensive talent for "cheap" by essentially letting them do that "one project" that they always wanted to do but couldn't. It's very unlikely TW will be able to repeat that in the modern hyper-political environment.[/QUOTE]Doesnt netflix do the same?

Now, sure. Back then the idea of an independent network making better television by leaps and bounds than the big three was the stuff of bullshit.

Is this what friendlyjordies is going to look like in the future?