HBO does it again.
Like a good gumbo made for television, ingredients for the powerhouse network’s endless hits include complex characters and copious amounts of sex. But like all good gumbos, the heart of the pot rests with the roux, and HBO’s compelling narrative stews the strong stock of series served by the station.
It’s no exception with HBO’s latest serving, “Mildred Pierce,” a new miniseries staring Kate Winslet and Guy Pearce. The show is set during the depression in Glendale, Calif., where Winslet, a divorced single mom, opens a restaurant business, complicating the relationship with her ambitious and precocious daughter, Veda.
The set intoxicates history buffs with vintage clothing and characteristic cars of the time, but this isn’t HBO’s first time in the kitchen with period pieces.
Last year, Martin Scorsese directed the first episode of “Boardwalk Empire,” a series set during 1920s prohibition in Atlantic City, N.J. The show received the highest viewership of a premiere in HBO history, thanks to the show’s eye for detail when it came to booze, corrupt politicians and loose women. No wonder the rookie show won a Golden Globe for Best Drama Series in 2010.
Other award-winning period pieces by the cable network include Tom Hanks’ babies “Band of Brothers” and “The Pacific.” The miniseries took audiences to the battlefront of World War II and realistically captured tragic events along with characters’ emotional journeys. Both war miniseries served the network ample awards, as well as respect from the veterans and film lovers alike.
Along those lines are presidential piece, “John Adams,” staring Paul Giamatti, and the 2003 social and political drama, “Angels in America,” based on Tony Kushner’s Pulitzer Prize-winner play.
But what about HBO’s original series, or more like where to begin with so many critically acclaimed shows? Comedies like the “Seinfield”-esque “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” crude and quirky “Flight of the Conchords,” Will Ferrell’s love child with Kenny Powers in “Eastbound and Down” and Zach Galifianakis, formerly known as Allen, in Brooklyn-based “Bored to Death” all add essential comedic ingredients to the successful recipe of the cable network.
But HBO’s series also captured a generation ignored by other networks and took risks that other stations, well, couldn’t take.
“Sex and the City” defined a generation of young women and will continue to do so through syndication (but without blow jobs and f-word exits by Mr. Big.)
And of course for the guys, what would a Sunday night be like without the fellows from “Entourage,” who contradict everything Mother said about women and arewhy the show is in production for its eighth season airing this July.
Unfortunately, despite hit dramas like New Orleans-based “Treme” and Mormon love triangles in “Big Love,” the only thing younger audiences seem to watch on the network is the Southern vampire romp “True Blood.” But every successful recipe must succumb to the pungent smell of garlic demanded by the impressionable masses, so thanks, HBO, for at least including good-looking blood suckers who are not afraid to shed their clothes, even in the sunlight.
 
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Contact Jeanne Lyons at [email protected]