Michael Lombardo Talks About his HBO Regrets
Former Head of Programming, Michael Lombardo, talked about his recent regrets at HBO.
The transition from Michael Lombardo to a new head of programming (Casey Bloys) was a swift one. HBO didn’t want a major position to go unfilled for too long, and it’s possible that Bloys’ name was floating around for a while. This is a move that had been in the works for some time. Lombardo oversaw some of HBO’s most successful projects, but he was also involved in some high-profile failures.
The Hollywood Reporter spoke to Michael Lombardo about what the future holds for him and his past few years at HBO. While he is rightfully proud of the work that he has accomplished, he also has a fair share of regrets.
Lombardo spoke about some of the projects that haven’t panned out, including Vinyl and the canceled David Fincher shows:
"“Do I wish Vinyl was welcomed in a bigger way? Yes, I mean, come on, I put my heart into this stuff…Do I think with the team in place it has the chance of blowing people’s minds? I do… I really loved working with David, we just couldn’t figure out the budgets.”"
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Vinyl has been an expensive failure for HBO, not to say that they won’t be able to turn it around in season two. Lombardo’s answers come off more as someone trying to get a topic out of the way, rather than someone who actually wants to speak in-depth about what happened. That’s understandable, yet also a little frustrating.
It’s also possible that he’s not actually allowed to say more. Michael Lombardo may be stepping down, but he’s still sticking with HBO and Vinyl is a project that is still in active development. It would also be inserting to know more about what went wrong with Fincher, since we know he’s not averse to doing a series — see House of Cards.
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There also isn’t any talk about True Detective, a show which might not be coming back for a third season. Lombardo was an outspoken supporter of the show, but Bloys may feel differently. Here’s hoping a deeper interview comes around at some point.