It’s been a decade since Casey Bloys took over as head of HBO, and he had more reason to celebrate his successful tenure on Wednesday: an industry-leading 122 nominations for the HBO Max platform, including tremendous showings for “The Pitt” and “Hacks.”
At the same time, that straight-A report card comes with uncertainty. With the looming acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery by Paramount Skydance, there are still a ton of unanswered questions about the fate of HBO — and whether Bloys will still be at the helm when Emmy nominations come back around next year.
For now, though, Bloys is cheered by his team’s showing. On Wednesday, he spoke with Variety about how “The Pitt” has given the beleaguered Hollywood production community reasons to be upbeat, as well as the record-breaking tally for “Hacks,” which is exiting after five seasons with the most nominations ever for a comedy. Then there’s the surprise success of “DTF St. Louis,” a tinge of disappointment that “Half Man” didn’t score more recognition and the futures of nominees like “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” and “It: Welcome to Derry.” And yes, Boys does address his own fate — as much as he can right now, that is.
I can’t believe it’s been 10 years now since you took over. Time flies. How are you feeling about today’s nominations?
It’s a great morning by any metric, and you know I’m marking 10 years in this position, and I just think it’s such a great validation for the team for how they, develop, how they produce, who they choose to get in business with. Obviously, Emmys are not the only metric of success, but it’s certainly a really nice indicator of quality. I’m proud of the team, and proud of the artists who were all recognized.
“The Pitt” almost doubled its nominations from last year. It continues to be a story that the industry has embraced, what the show means to TV production in general and to production in Los Angeles. How much does that positivity surrounding the show help?
Yes, and it happens to be an excellent show, so there’s that.
And in its final season, how did “Hacks” manage to break the record for comedy?
I was so thrilled for them. Because first of all, doing a good show is hard enough, but to end a show after five seasons, to stick the landing and go out on a high note is incredibly hard to do. I just think that Paul [W. Downs] Jen [Statsky] and Lucia [Aniello] just showed how it’s done.
Now, have you been talking to JPL about their next project yet? I know they’ve been working on something.
We have had conversations. We wanted to give them the chance to finish up the show, and enjoy the nominations that we hoped would come. But yes, we have been talking about what they’re going to do next.
Yeah, it sounds like they’ve already been doing some research trips. So, how much do you know about whatever they’ve got planned?
I’d be excited about whatever they want to do, so I have some ideas about what they’re thinking. But I don’t want to reveal too much, because I don’t know how much they’ve put out there. But needless to say, we’re lucky to be lucky, obviously lucky to be in business with them,
And Jean Smart could potentially make history as well if she wins one more time, tying the record for most wins of a female at the Emmys.
Hopefully, knock on wood!
So, do you have any regret that you didn’t push HBO to be a producer on “Heated Rivalry”?
No, you were early on the “Heated Rivalry” train, but listen, as I think Variety wrote about, it’s a Canadian production, very proudly Canadian. So obviously we have to follow the rules. It doesn’t mean we’re not proud of the show, and they just did well with their equivalent of the Canadian Emmy. So we’re thrilled to have it on on the platform, and looking forward to Season 2.
Among this year’s surprises, it feels like “DTF St. Louis” came on strong as people discovered the show, late in the Emmy season.
I agree with you, I was happy to see [creator] Steve [Conrad] and the cast get the recognition. I would say that is an incredibly original show. So for people saying that as an industry, we’re only producing sequels or whatever in TV and film, I would proudly point to “DTF” as one of the most original shows that I have seen across the board in a long time. It goes deep on male friendship, which I don’t think you see a lot of people doing. I think it just shows how talented Steve is as a writer, director, as a thinker, as an artist. So I was thrilled to see again not only Steve, but the cast get recognized.
On the flip side, one of the biggest surprises of today was “Half Man” only getting one nomination. What do you think happened?
I was glad to see Richard [Gadd] get nominated, because his work was extraordinary, as was all of the cast. Listen, Richard is uncompromising in his vision, which I think makes him incredibly exciting as a creator. And it was an intense show, and we love that. Maybe it was too dark or too intense, but I am incredibly proud of it. I know Richard is, and I’d love to do something else with him. I just think he is a unique talent.
I think the sense was maybe the maybe the word spread that it was a tough watch at times.
Well, this is what you want to see when you’re doing television: things that challenge you, things that are interesting, things you haven’t seen before. I would point to again to “DTF” as something incredibly original, and I would point to “Half Man” as something incredibly original. Sometimes the Emmy gods smile upon you, and sometimes they don’t. But it doesn’t make us any less proud of the association with Richard and the BBC.
So with “Euphoria,” was that a snub? Were you expecting a drama nomination for its final season?
I’m not a big believer in “That was snub!” You kind of have to put the best work out, and hope things get recognized. But I don’t like to go through and make lists of snubs, because obviously it’s not what it’s about. I was thrilled to see Zendaya get recognized, and look, I think the show was terrific, and the cast and Sam [Levinson] all did amazing work. This is how it goes sometimes at the Emmys, but it doesn’t make us any less proud of the work that we put out.
Lisa Kudrow got her nod for “The Comeback,” but that’s another show that missed getting a comedy nomination in a crowded field.
Obviously Lisa getting nominated for what I think is probably a Hall of Fame character in television comedy was really, really nice.
“A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” did well, especially in some of the artisans category. Is the plan to still go three seasons?
We’ll see what [creator] Ira [Parker] is thinking right now. They’re finishing up shooting Season 2, and we’ll see what he and George [R.R. Martin] are thinking. But that was really nice to see the show break through. It’s got a really sweet and unique tone, and it was kind of an experiment in varying the tones on what one would expect between ‘”Game of Thrones” and “House the Dragon.”
What’s the status of “It: Welcome to Derry,” which still hasn’t been given a renewal?
Oh, I said this before: They’re working on on a take for Season 2, and they’re coming up with a take and scripts. I am very inclined to, obviously — the show did very well. They want to be happy with the direction that they’ve come up with. They’re still working on it. They’ll show it to us, but I’m feeling very good about what I’ve heard so far.
Now, the burning question, we know this could be the last Emmy cycle under HBO’s current ownership. What are you thinking, in terms of where are you going to be a year from now? Casey Bloys, are we going to be doing this phone call at this time next year?
Well, as we said when we started the call, it has been 10 years since I’ve been in this job, and I’m so happy for the recognition not only for the artists that we work with, but the teams internally. We talk a lot about the programming team, and obviously, across the board, drama, comedy specials, documentaries, this team is amazing. But it’s also the production team. Over the course of HBO history, we’ve produced, I want to say, 150 shows that we’ve made ourselves. It’s how we produce shows, it’s how we make shows from a business affairs point of view, it’s how we publicize shows, market shows. I’m really proud of the team, how long we’ve been together, how well we work together.
So it would be nice to keep that that group intact, and we’ll just have to see how things play out. There’s not a lot you can get into. As you know, we’re going on our third merger, and there’s not a lot you can talk about beforehand. I’ve had very nice conversations and meals with David [Ellison] and we’ll have to see after close what everything’s looking like. But right now I’m feeling very, very proud of this team.
It sounds like in an ideal world, there would be sort of an HBO island that maintained its HBO-ness, maybe separate from whatever else is going on. Everyone compares it to what John Landgraf has with FX inside Disney. Is that what you would like to see happen with HBO?
I really can’t get into that, because, as I said, there’s not a lot you can talk about. You can’t get into the details, but I would say the team that I have been working with for a long time, and each and every one of them has been at HBO for many, many years. Remember, we started at HBO, we took over HBO Max, we’ve got an international programming production business affairs team running. So, what we’re doing is is pretty far-reaching, so again, we’ll just have to see what the future holds.
Gotta ask, is there a world where you would report to anyone other than David Ellison?
Again, I think you probably know the answer to that, but I really don’t want to get into any of that.
I figured as much. Let me ask you about Emmy telecast itself, because this is the final year of its current deal. Have you had any conversations with the Academy about the show? What do you think may be the best option for them?
I really don’t know. I think that obviously award shows have been trying to figure it out. I think the Grammys have done a really nice job in terms of adapting over the years, and I know everybody’s trying really hard. I don’t know the right answer.
Before we go, let’s go back to “The Pitt.” Now’s the time to announce any spinoffs.
Listen, I think they’re doing what they’re doing really well. Don’t want to mess with success. I leave it to John [Wells], Scott [Gemmill] and Noah [Wyle], but as you said in the beginning, it’s also just a great success story on many different levels. Shooting in L.A., shooting more than eight episodes, annual return. I’m really proud of them, really happy to see a lot of performers get recognized. It was an excellent day for “The Pitt.”
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This interview has been edited and condensed.