How HBO Became Our Favorite Channel
Posted by junger | April 4th, 2008
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We never had HBO until last year. We've always been big movie people, but it never seemed worth it to pay extra to Comcast for a bunch of flicks that we could have watched on DVD months earlier.
Then came The Sopranos.
Yeah, you think you know where this is going … but hold on.
We got started on The Sopranos way late. My dad was a fan, so for one of his birthdays we got him the first few seasons on DVD. As it turned out, we ended up watching them instead.
We finished the first five seasons (and a half? six? whatever) right before the final half of Season 6 and decided it was worth to subscribe to HBO — and haven't looked back.
From Big Love to Entourage to Curb Your Enthusiasm to Ali G, HBO has the best original series on TV.
We also watched this show Tell Me You Love Me, which was basically softcore porn with a plot.
Now we're watching John Adams, the mini-series based on David McCullough's book of the same name, starring Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney. It's a fascinating look into the birth of our country, no matter how inaccurate the depiction of their teeth.
(I'm kind of hoping Giamatti says something about merlot at some point during the series, but I'm not holding my breath.)
For people who watch a lot of TV — like we do, yes, I admit it — HBO is worth it. We've been entertained way beyond the $10 or $15 a month we're paying for it, and we haven't even started The Wire, Extras or Rome.
When you think about paying $30 for two people to spend one night at the movies, a month of HBO is a steal.
And that's how it became our favorite channel.
I agree 100%, but for the same reason I don't stay subscribed all year. When the shows go on hiatus, so do I. The best part is that most providers give you the first month free when you sign up. So a few minutes of your time to sign up and cancel pays off.
I cancelled HBO when it was clear Deadwood was, uh, dead. Big Love and Entourage don't do it for me, but I caught a few (free) episodes of In Treatment that I enjoyed. Before we moved, we had Showtime for $5/mo. Never watched a single movie, but LOVE Dexter. It's the best show on television. Well, Burn Notice too.
The Wire was the best TV drama of all-time, yet the ratings were lackluster. Any other network would have killed the show.
That's the thing that's great about HBO — they don't have to follow the ratings as religiously as the networks do. For people who are going to pay for quality entertainment, HBO is a good way to go.
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