Up until the advent of streaming services, HBO was considered the pinnacle of television. Boasting innovative series like Sex and the City and The Sopranos, the channel billed itself as the absolute premium television experience. For years, it’s only real competition was Showtime.
But even the greats fail from time to time, and HBO is no exception. While the network has created cultural phenomenons like Game of Thrones, they’ve also offered many shows that have been completely forgotten. Some are hidden gems that are worth looking into, while others are best left forgotten…
Forgotten Classic: Tales From the Crypt (1989-1996)
Tales from the Crypt was a horror anthology series where each episode was like its own mini-horror movie. The show’s host, the Cryptkeeper, has turned into a popular and recognizable figure. In each episode, he would introduce audiences to the upcoming story, and from there, the episode would begin.
The show was able to attract talent like Christopher Reeve, Blythe Danner, Ed Begley Jr., and Steve Buscemi, among many others. It’s remembered fondly by fans who watched it on HBO or who rented the show’s many videos at rental stores in the ’90s. Throughout the 2010s, many reboots were attempted, all of which failed for various reasons.
Forget: John From Cincinnati (2007)
To this day, no one is really sure what this show was about. John From Cincinnati follows the story of the Yost family, famous for their surfing talents. Then a guy named John shows up. He’s sort of magical, and there’s perhaps some kind of religious metaphor happening. Then there’s a guy who buys a local motel, and the motel seems to take on a sinister role. Also, Ed O’Neill talks to birds and Luke Perry is there too. That’s literally the plot summary of the show. As you can imagine, immediately after the first season concluded, HBO canceled the series.
Forgotten Classic: Enlightened (2011-2013)
Enlightened stars the ever-fabulous Laura Dern as a mentally unstable woman who loses her job at a large corporation. She manages to get rehired, but in an extremely diminished role. From there, she discovers the corporation’s illegal secrets and decides to take down the company herself.
The show garnered numerous Emmy and Golden Globe nominations, including a Globe win for Dern. Despite this, low ratings led HBO to cancel the show after the second season. Luckily, the ending of season 2 was a perfect place to conclude the series, and the show feels like a complete story.
Forget: Treme (2010-2013)
Treme is named after the New Orleans neighborhood, Tremé, a center for the city’s African American and Creole heritage. The show followed life in the Crescent City after Hurricane Katrina, and the injustices the minority community faced. The series started off with great reviews, with many in New Orleans praising the show.
Unfortunately, as time went on and America’s views on race and privilege began to change, the reality of Treme became obvious: the show was extremely white, extremely preachy, and ultimately, clueless. Reviews in the final season were very different from the first, and HBO had no choice but to drop the show.
Forgotten Classic: Big Love (2006-2011)
Big Love follows a polygamist Mormon family who has to hide their relationship from the world. The show starred a talented cast including Bill Paxton, Chloé Sevigny, Ginnifer Goodwin, Mary Kay Place, and Amanda Seyfried. Throughout the series, many tough questions were asked, including what is morality, what is a marriage, and the show even explored the differences between the Latter-day Saints and Mormon fundamentalism. Throughout its run, Big Love was nominated for numerous awards, was the subject for many academic papers, and received critical acclaim.
Forget: Carnivàle (2003-2005)
Carnivàle follows a traveling carnival through the Great Plains during the Depression. A runaway with magical powers joins the circus and soon finds himself up against a demonic priest. The show was praised for its art direction, music, costumes, and opening credits. However, it was also criticized for its lack of plot, aimless storyline, and general incoherence.
HBO learned that a bad story, even if put inside a pretty package, is still a bad story. Audiences grew tired of every episode becoming more and more cryptic, asking far more questions than they answered. There was a growing feeling that the writers had no idea what they were doing. Carnivàle only lasted for 24 episodes before its cancellation.
Forgotten Classic: Fraggle Rock (1983-1987)
After the raging success of The Muppet Show, Jim Henson was tasked with creating the next great puppet series. Surprisingly, he found a financial ally in HBO. Fraggle Rock turned out to be a great success and ran for 96 episodes.
Whereas the Muppets were purely for entertainment value, Henson wanted Fraggle Rock to tackle real issues and make them understandable for a younger audience while still being entertaining for parents. The show is still fondly remembered by fans as one of Henson’s greatest accomplishments.
Forget: How To Make It In America (2010-2011)
This show from executive producer Mark Wahlberg followed the lives of trendy youths as they attempted to become successful in New York’s fashion scene. The series was meant to be Entourage meets The Devil Wears Prada, but instead it was nothing more than petty and boring. Parties, drinking, drugs, sex, women…every generic “cool” cliche imaginable was used episode after episode. Audiences were bored from the start and the show received poor reviews from critics. It’s one of HBO’s mistakes that is best left in the past.
Forgotten Classic: Mr. Show (1995-1998)
Mr. Show was a sketch comedy show starring Bob Odenkirk and David Cross. The series was known for its unique sense of humor. Whereas SNL was made for the mainstream, Mr. Show was sometimes offbeat, sometimes surreal, and sometimes offensive. It was the kind of sketch show you could only get on HBO. Throughout the series’ run, it was nominated for four Emmy’s, as well as a Golden Globe. Both Cross and Odenkirk went on to have massive careers in comedy, and the show even found itself a brief revival on Netflix with W/ Bob & David.
Forget: Camping (2018)
Lena Dunham decided to revamp the British show Camping for HBO after she concluded her long-running hit Girls. Unfortunately, Camping wasn’t able to recapture the raw humor and realism of Girls and instead plays like a bunch of melodramatic people having a catfight in the woods. Currently, the show only holds a 27% on Rotten Tomatoes — and the audience score is even worse, at only 18% — and after eight episodes, Camping was canceled.
