What historical era would you most like to see HBO do as a series?

[Gaith]

(And by "series", I include miniseries but not feature-length films, though those are wonderful also.)

So far, we've had...

Ancient Rome: Rome
American Revolution: John Adams
The Wild West: Deadwood
USA, the 1920s: Boardwalk Empire
USA, 1930s/the Dust Bowl: Carnivale
USA, 1930s/Los Angeles:Philip Marlowe, Private Eye
Europe, World War Two: Band of Brothers
Pacific, World War Two: The Pacific
USA, the Space Race: From the Earth to the Moon
Manhattan, the 1990s: Angels in America
The 2003 Iraq War: Generation Kill


(Please let me know if I've missed anything and I'll add it to the list.)




So: what era would you like to see HBO cover next? Here are some of my pics...

- DC, 1861-5: The Lincoln Administration (series)
- Paris, 1919: The Peace Conference (7-8 ep miniseries)
- Germany, 1938-45: The Third Reich's inner circle from the annexation of Austria to the bitter end. Like Downfall, pretty much all the main characters would be villains; unlike Downfall, they wouldn't be experiencing mental breakdowns for the whole running time (though it would, of course, get darker and darker). (series)
- DC, 1933-45: The FDR Administration, from its start and the New Deal through the war, up to Japan's surrender during the Truman Administration. (series)
- LA, 1965?-79 The making of TOS, from pre-production to the release of TMP. (I know it'd never happen, but a guy can dream, no? ) (miniseries)


... Your turn!

 

[Harvey]

You could count Treme, which is set in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina (the pilot begins three months after the disaster). I haven't had a chance to see it yet, but it's David Simon, so how bad could it be?

It's almost contemporary, but since you've included Generation Kill, it seems like equally fair game to me (both were released five years after the events they depict, though Treme, like The Wire, is populated with fictional characters--with some exceptions of cameos, I believe). The details of the historical setting seem very important to those making the show, but with so many fictional characters I'm not sure if you'd count it or not.

As to what HBO should tackle next in terms of history, it's tough to say. A WWI drama might be interesting, though perhaps the events are so grim that Blackadder Goes Forth had the right approach...

Of your suggestions, hell, the TOS show would be fascinating. There's a lot of history there that still hasn't been told.

 

[watermelony2k]

a space race drama that counterpoints both american and soviet space programs, featuring Von Braun and Korolev. Kinda like that BBC documentary about five years back, but with bigger production values and a pure drama (not docu).

 

[Owain Taggart]

How about something set in WWI. There's so much WWII stuff out there (Movies and TV shows and games), but not so much WWI. It's a topic ripe to be explored, with aviation really taking off, pun intended. Even the topic of aviation itself could be tackled, such as the dawn of aviation and maybe the story of the Wright Brothers.

Barring that, Vietnam. There's a lot that could be done with the setting.

A series depicting the Chinese empire and the building of the Great Wall could be interesting. There was a lot of stuff going on during those times, with many different factions vying for power.

I like what HBO's been doing lately by delving into eras of history that we rarely see. I'd like to see more of that approach.

 

[Roger Wilco]

Hm, of your choices I only really like the Lincoln idea.
Paris Peace Conference - I don't know what's exciting about a bunch of old men sitting around a table and talking diplomacy
Third Reich - it's hard to do a tv-show where none of the characters have much in the way of redeeming qualities. Who's the audience supposed to sympathise with here? And this is a topic in general where I'm wary of fictionalisation. Leave it to documentaries.
FDR - I don't know. "West Wing" in the 30s or what? It's definitely an exciting time period, but that concept doesn't appeal to me.
TOS - meh. Sounds like "Mad Men: LA"

I don't have any good suggestions myself spontaneously though.

 

[Admiral Shran]

Of your choices, the Paris Peace Conference one sounds like the most interesting. It would be nice to see a drama based on all of the blunders they made there - mistakes which lead directly to World War II and the Cold War and mistakes that we're still living with today.

But I'd really like to see an HBO miniseries set in the Middle Ages - a time period that a lot people do not know much about, or have a lot of misinformation about. Maybe something set during the First Crusade - showing the conflict from both Christian and Islamic perspectives - something that doesn't judge either side but instead presents the story as objectively as possible.

 

[Roger Wilco]

^^
Hm. "Band of Brothers: The Crusades", that could be interesting (not with that name obviously), certainly plenty of drama there.

 

[Spot's Meow]

I'm tired of all the 20th century based shows. I'd like to see the Lincoln era/Civil War, the Middle Ages, and for something timely and very relatable to our current issues, the Gilded Age.

 

[barnaclelapse]

Germany 38-45 would be interesting.

I kinda want to see something about the New York writers of the 1920's. I know HBO is already spending some time in that era, but I think the whole thing would be a lot more interesting than people think.

 

[Kirby]

The Third Reich show - sort of the other side of the coin of Band of Brothers. I'd prefer to see the German soldier more and not Hitler and his cronies.

I think it would be intersting to see something about the English, Spanish, French, and Dutch in the Caribbean in the 1500 - 1700's.

 

[Admiral Shran]

something timely and very relatable to our current issues, the Gilded Age.

I'm kind of confused as to what you mean here.

The Gilded Age was an era of high employment, a steady increase in the standard of living, increases in real wages, and constant lowering of the price of goods and services.

How is that "very relatable to our current issues"? Or did you mean that the show would be a counterpoint to today?

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

Middle Ages ftw.

I could use a strong reminder that life ain't so bad as it used to be.

 

[Spot's Meow]

something timely and very relatable to our current issues, the Gilded Age.

I'm kind of confused as to what you mean here.

The Gilded Age was an era of high employment, a steady increase in the standard of living, increases in real wages, and constant lowering of the price of goods and services.

How is that "very relatable to our current issues"? Or did you mean that the show would be a counterpoint to today?

I was referring more to the business side of things - the corruption, the mergers, the growth of big business that had a ruthless side to it. I think people would relate to this today because they feel like those kind of business decisions are what got us into the current economic mess. However accurate or not the details are of the comparison, I think that it would entertaining to watch in light of the current focus on economics. I think that the owners of the corporations back then would make great enemies on screen today.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Definitely the whole Civil War is the top of my list. I wouldn't stop with Lincoln. I'd like to see several character threads followed throughout the years. For example, Harriet Tubman was a Union spy during the war. I imagine her story might have some exciting elements.

The Paris Peace Conference miniseries sounds dull but the rest sound good. The Napoleonic Wars would also be interesting and I'd like to see a show about the spread of Christianity in its very early days - preferably starting where the story usually stops, with the Resurrection. It should just be called "AD."

 

[The Habs Fan]

I think it would be intersting to see something about the English, Spanish, French, and Dutch in the Caribbean in the 1500 - 1700's.

I would love to watch this series.

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

I like that idea, too. There was a lot going on out there.

 

[Gaith]

How about something set in WWI. There's so much WWII stuff out there (Movies and TV shows and games), but not so much WWI.

I'm betting you don't live in Europe - they cover it almost as much as WW2, for obvious reasons.

Paris Peace Conference - I don't know what's exciting about a bunch of old men sitting around a table and talking diplomacy

- The centuries-old Ottoman Empire just collapsed, leaving a power vacuum in the most oil-rich areas.
- Speaking of oil, these newfangled automobiles need them.
- It's a sitting American president's first overseas trip.
- It's the first time the US really directly influences European/global matters.
- Clemenceau is shot in an assassination attempt.
- And, it's Paris - lots of drinking, sex, traumatized soldiers, etc.

Third Reich - it's hard to do a tv-show where none of the characters have much in the way of redeeming qualities. Who's the audience supposed to sympathise with here?

Sympathy is not a perquisite for good drama. But while they were monsters, they were nevertheless humans with families, ambitions, friendships, office rivalries... Look at Downfall - there's the secretary, the doctor, the children - lots of people to "sympathize" with, even if few are actual innocents.

Yeah, it'd be hard, more because of knee-jerk pre-emptive criticism than difficulty in finding compelling drama. But most art worth doing is.

Definitely the whole Civil War is the top of my list. I wouldn't stop with Lincoln. I'd like to see several character threads followed throughout the years. For example, Harriet Tubman was a Union spy during the war. I imagine her story might have some exciting elements.

Gore Vidal did a great job in his Lincoln novel of juggling several contemporaneous stories - not just the Lincoln family but Salmon Chase and his daughter, the Army command, the assassins... Unlike Rome's Caesar era, the main players, generals aside, mostly stay in DC, so I think that'd be the way to go - acquire rights to the novel, and adapt it.

What they could do, though, would be to run simultaneous productions - a Harriet Tubman movie, say, with cameos by the DC sets and characters as appropriate. As for the soldiers' stories, I think those've been pretty well told, but who knows, maybe not.

 

[Data Holmes]

I would love to see HBO move out of the "historical setting" camp a little. What I really want to see is HBO tackle a true science fiction show. Not space opera, but true, hard sci-fi.

However, if one must go with the "place in time" idea of the thread, I have two on my list. First would be a show which focused on the Napoleonic wars, specifically the naval component. Basically a big budget HBO "hornblower" series.


Second would be a series set within the cold war, but that would focus on the numbers of small "brush fire wars" that were played out between the US and USSR via proxy nations/people.

 

[Roger Wilco]

Sympathy is not a perquisite for good drama. But while they were monsters, they were nevertheless humans with families, ambitions, friendships, office rivalries... Look at Downfall - there's the secretary, the doctor, the children - lots of people to "sympathize" with, even if few are actual innocents.

Yeah, it'd be hard, more because of knee-jerk pre-emptive criticism than difficulty in finding compelling drama. But most art worth doing is.

I don't know. I'm not convinced. I think there has to be someone to root for in any show to capture the audience, even if it's a psycho like Dexter.

And don't you think it would cheapen the memory of the Holocaust to make a show about Nazis, starring Klaus, the young ambitious SS-Sturmbannführer who wants to make a career in the RSHA and Günter, the seasoned OKW staff officer plotting offensives on the Eastern Front as if that's entirely normal and/or acceptable? I don't know how that balancing act between cheesy judgmentalism and Nazi-apologism could be accomplished.

Maybe some truly ingenious writing could convince me otherwise, but I'm extremely sceptical of that approach.

However, if one must go with the "place in time" idea of the thread, I have two on my list. First would be a show which focused on the Napoleonic wars, specifically the naval component. Basically a big budget HBO "hornblower" series.

I like that, Hornblower was an excellent series anyway already imo (even though I hated the guy playing the main character).

 

[Admiral Shran]

I'd like to see a show about the spread of Christianity in its very early days - preferably starting where the story usually stops, with the Resurrection. It should just be called "AD."

Now that's a show I'd truly love to see.

If it's only going to focus on the very early church, however, where do you think would be a good place to end it?

Personally, I think it would be a good idea to have St. Paul and St. Peter be the main characters and have the show end with Peter's death in Rome in A.D. 67.