The exchange about HBO began when Simon was discussing how the connection supported his acclaimed struggling dramaThe Wire.
I remember we got terrible numbers for season 3, and they never came back, Simon said.
I remember calling [then HBO executive] Carolyn Strauss and saying, Are we canceled?
Credit: HBO
and she said, Oh, its a cute little number.
Dont worry about numbers.
Has it never been on TV?
Is the story worth telling?
Those days are I havent experienced that since.
And thats what happened at HBO.
He was no longer free to do that because there were too many corporate entities at stake now.
I dont want to suggest theres not really good work being done at HBO, Simon said.
Its happening becauseGame of Thronesis subsidizing all of us.
But its also happening because [Show Me a Herois only] six hours.
They understand thats not going to be the nextSopranos.
Joked Fontana: I told you to put a dragon in that show, but you wouldnt listen.
I had been pitching a show about prisons constantly, he recalled.
And youre like: What happened to that guy who went to prison?
you might imagine going to CBS and pitching this prison show.
And I was like: Theyre going to let me do anything I want.'
Entertainment Weekly is on the scene at ATX in Austin, Texas.
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