With a Little ‘True Blood,’ HBO Is Reviving Its Fortunes

From The New York Times

The slump at HBO is apparently over.

In “True Blood,” the pay cable giant has its first hit since “Rome,” and the numbers indicate it may be the biggest thing on the channel since “The Sopranos.” If that sounds surprising, it may be because few saw it coming — inside HBO or out.

In the three episodes measured so far this, its second, season, “True Blood” has amassed viewer totals that any network, including broadcast networks, would be excited to own: 12.1 million, 10 million and 10.3 million. And HBO has attracted those viewers from an audience base about a third the size of fully distributed networks.

“This is hopefully a long-running franchise for us,” said Michael Lombardo, the president of programming for HBO.

In just about every way “True Blood” is a buoyant story for a network that needed one. Two years ago, the channel removed Chris Albrecht, the company chief executive, who had been widely credited as the creative mastermind behind the string of commercial or critical series successes at the network, including “The Sopranos,” “Sex and the City,” “Six Feet Under” and “The Wire.” (Mr. Albrecht was fired after being charged with domestic abuse in Las Vegas.) Since then, the network has been fending off charges that its once vaunted programming lineup was a thing of the past.

The new creative team, headed by Richard Plepler and Mr. Lombardo, began with a cupboard mostly barren, as shows like “John From Cincinnati” failed to catch fire and one long-running quality drama, “Big Love,” had to overcome tepid support from the previous regime.

Rivals like Showtime, which had their own string of critical successes with “Weeds” and “Nurse Jackie,” began using a new term for the network: “HB-Over.”

read on