In 1999, HBO fired the first shots of the TV revolution. With The Sopranos, the cable network kick started the golden age of television and left traditional network programming in the dust. The life and times of Tony Soprano then led to an olympic run of smash hits. Across the early 2000's, HBO was home to heavy hitters like The Wire, Six Feet Under and Deadwood, all while lighter fare like Sex and the City and Entourage balanced out the drama. If binge-watching had been possible in 2005, HBO subscribers might have crashed the American economy.
Viewers truly had their pick of the litter, and for the first time in TV history, they were inundated with movie-quality television in the comfort of their own homes. Today, the greatness continues. After six stunning seasons of Game of Thrones, an unforgettable first showing of True Detective, miniseries like Show Me A Hero and the crime drama, The Night Of, HBO continues to outpace the competition.
We've already published a ranked list of Netflix series, but let's take a look at the first cable channel to offer high-quality TV series that you couldn't find on the networks. Here's Screen Rant's take on the Top 25 HBO Original Series, Ranked.
25. Ballers
After the success of Entourage, HBO sought to replicate the formula by retrofitting Hollywood glamour into NFL stardom. From the perspective of financial manager, Spencer Strasmore (Dwayne Johnson), Ballers takes you behind the scenes of juicy gridiron drama. Though Spencer is retired and nursing his many pro-football injuries, he manages the exorbitant wealth of current football stars alongside his business partner Joe (Rob Corddry). As with Ari Gold in executive producer Mark Wahlberg's Entourage (who also produces Ballers alongside Peter Berg), the show is ultimately about damage control in highfalutin situations.
If you haven't seen Ballers, don't expect particularly challenging material. The show is as easily consumed as a can of Pringles, and to be clear, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. The NFL lifestyles are alluring, the women are beautiful, and the ing cast will keep you in the game. With Andy Garcia on deck for the Season 2, Ballers may prove an even stronger presence in the second quarter.
24. Sex and the City
Without Sex and the City, brunch would still be an activity reserved for holidays like Easter. Thanks to the posh lifestyle of Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) and her retinue, Sex and the City helped make "brunching" a weekend activity while defining the metropolitan culture of the early 2000s. Indeed, Michael Patrick King's beloved show succeeded in part because each of the four women held such unique world-views. Their differences helped define the show's trademark conversations about sexuality, friendship, dating and more while living in the Big Apple.
Though two-big screen showings of Sex and the City left many fans disgruntled, the series lives on. For better and for worse, the HBO series perpetuated the highly fictionalized concept that life in New York City is best traveled in Jimmy Choos. While the show set high expectations for countless New York City migrants, it remains a fixture of the conversation. Just imagine if Tinder had existed in 1998.
23. True Blood
In the height of True Blood descended upon audiences. Based on Charlaine Harris' novels of the same name, True Blood explored the Gothic mysteries in the fictional town of Bon Temps, Louisiana. A viscera-soaked soap opera, True Blood followed Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin), a small-town waitress with telepathic talents. Her friends and lovers are equally gifted, like the shape-shifter Sam Merlotte (Sam Trammell), vampire Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer), and the 1,000 year-old blood sucker, Eric Northman (Alexander Skarsgard).
Led by creator Alan Ball, who previously worked on HBO's successful Six Feet Under, True Blood presents a clear allegory for the marginalized and underrepresented in society. With the theme of vampires "coming out of the coffin" in the Great Revelation that frames the series, True Blood shares similar themes X-Men who either integrate with the world or spend their days warring against it.
22. Big Love
Not only did this solid drama clean up at awards shows and earn critical praise, it also managed to infuriate the church of Latter Day Saints. Big Love depicts the polygamous life of Bill Hendrickson (Bill Paxton) and his three wives, Barbara (Jeanne Tripplehorn), Nicki (Chloe Sevigny) and Margie (Ginnifer Goodwin). Showrunners Mark Olsen and Will Scheffer infuse the show with gravitas by never mocking the Hendrickson's alternative lifestyle, instead portraying them as if they were a typical suburban family in the Midwest.
Big Love premiered in 2006 as The Sopranos entered its own sixth season (along with The Wire in its prime). This may have been the apogee of HBO's cable reign, with three distinct programs portraying vastly different lifestyles and communities. The performances in Big Love were consistently enthralling, particularly with Bill Paxton front and center. By the end of the show's five seasons, you may find yourself accepting polygamy more than you imagined possible.
21. Entourage
As the guy's answer to Sex and the City, HBO's Entourage delivered seven seasons of the life of a Hollywood movie star. Modeled after Mark Wahlberg's own experiences with his east-coast crew, Entourage follows the ups and downs of Queens-born actor Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier). Alongside his best friends, Turtle (Jerry Ferrara) and Eric (Kevin Connolly), and his has-been half-brother Johnny Drama (Kevin Dillon), Vincent steadily climbs his way up the Hollywood ladder. While "E" becomes Vince's manager, Johnny and Turtle ride their superstar friend's coattails for as long as possible.
Though the four friends always kept us coming back for more, Vince's agent, Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven), was the real driving force of the show. An undeniable force of nature, super-agent Ari lives and breathes for success. The more ruthless he became, the harder we laughed, especially whenever he fired his employees. With 96 episodes to its name (and a feature-length movie), Entourage may have ended in 2011, but its memory will never die.
20. Getting On
Mark V. Olsen and Will Scheffer hit a home run with Big Love, and in 2013, they got back on base with Getting On. Though the setting could not be more distant from Mormon polygamy, Getting On follows the ridiculous antics of the Billy Barnes Extended Care Unit in southern California. Based on the BBC show of the same name, Getting On had the comical cinema verite trappings of The Office situated in a somewhat depressing hospital.
Though the morbid undertones of the show can't be avoided, particularly with elderly patients knocking on death's door, Getting On is a black-comedy of the highest order. The cast of Laurie Metcalf, Alex Borstein, Niecy Nash and Mel Rodriguez light up the room, particularly when they try to phonetically interpret a Cambodian patient's plea for help. The show is filled with ridiculous scenes that always manage to feel rooted in reality, no matter how absurd they become.
19. Silicon Valley
Though creator Mike Judge set the series in the tech jungle of northern California, Silicon Valley is basically a buddy-comedy with an app-design backdrop. Led by Thomas Middleditch, TJ Miller and Zach Woods, three titans of the sketch comedy circuit, Silicon Valley absolutely nails the vibe of the tech industry's hysteria and the kooky characters inhabiting it.
While the show occasionally descends into bland exposition, Silicon Valley succeeds because of its talented cast. In addition to scene-stealer Erlich Bachman (Miller,) Bertram Guilfoyle (Martin Starr) is the lovably cynical Satanist that complements his coding co-worker, Dinesh Chugtai (Kumail Nanjiani). When the whole Pied Piper team unites for a common purpose (like the time they used a phallic algorithm to fix their app), the show is at its best. When the plot turns circular and loses its narrative footing, as happened in the early episodes of Season 3, Silicon Valley starts to stumble.
18. Oz
HBO has long enjoyed the lack of FCC regulation on its content. To be sure, Home Box Office is a far cry from the run of the mill shows on basic cable. Yet, no matter how graphic Game of Thrones may be, no show can rival the brutality in Tom Fontana's prison drama, Oz. The first hour-long drama in HBO's history, Oz follows the struggle for power in the Oswald State Correctional Facility, a level 4 maximum-security prison. In the "Emerald City," men of all races and backgrounds coalesce to create a truly diverse world. In prison as in society, however, rival factions form.
From the "Homeboys," to the Muslims, the Latinos, the Aryan Brotherhood and more, this correctional facility is a high-octane cultural melting pot waiting to explode. As the show's title and tagline clearly state, riffing off Frank L. Baum's Wizard of Oz, this prison is "no place like home."
17. John Adams
Long before he directed The King's Speech, Les Miserables and The Danish Girl, Tom Hooper led the charge for John Adams. Alongside executive producers Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman, the British-born Hooper helped create one of the most enthralling recreations of early American life. With Paul Giamatti filling John Adams' shoes, this seven-episode miniseries did wonders to increase our understanding of this crucial period in western history.
Rather than glorifying the Founding Fathers as demigods, however, John Adams shows Benjamin Franklin (Tom Wilkinson), George Washington (David Morse), Thomas Jefferson (Stephen Dillane) and the eponymous hero as honorable men that carried all of the insecurities and doubts of regular citizens. Though dressed to the nines, riding in stagecoaches and wearing wigs, each of these men move away from historical caricature and approach something much more authentic. John Adams showcases HBO's dedication to preserving our past, as they will do once again with their series, Lewis & Clark.
16. The Newsroom
It's a shame The Newsroom isn't still in HBO's lineup. Though Aaron Sorkin's most recent TV venture accrued many fans, it failed to establish the loyal audiences The West Wing once conquered. Following the happenings of the Atlantis Cable Network (ACN), The Newsroom centered on the hot-tempered news anchor, Will McAvoy (Jeff Daniels). After he blows a gasket at a public event and exposes his true political beliefs, McAvoy's gig as an unbiased anchor disintegrates. Thus begins his transition into full-on commentary assisted by ex-girlfriend and current producer MacKenzie (Emily Mortimer).
The rest of the news team stars John Gallagher Jr., Allison Pill, Olivia Munn and Dev Patel, all of whom prove more than capable of handling Sorkin's verbal flourishes. Most of the twenty-five episodes (across three seasons) deal with real news events, like the assassination of Osama Bin Laden, sarin gas attacks and NSA spying. Though some found The Newsroom to be heavy handed with its social and political diatribes, it remains a solid entry in the HBO canon.