'The Wire' Creators Discuss the Post-'Sopranos' Landscape of HBO
David Simon and Tom Fontana made their start with Homicide: Life on the Street, though Simon's The Wire and Fontana's Oz would be the most memorable of works from the two creators.
“The DNA of what HBO became is right in Oz,” Simon explained of HBO's first ever one-hour dramatic television series, which Simon says inspired him to take The Wire to HBO, rather than NBC.
When asked what it was like to work with HBO during and following its rise to success, both creators agreed on a positive experience. “It was great. A lot of the shows were being done in New York – The Sopranos was, Sex and the City was – so we would constantly be seeing each other. So it became a little bit like an HBO community,” Fontana said.
Fontana did add, however, that “there’s a very bizarre phenomenon that happens on television, which probably happens everywhere, but success breeds fear as much as failure,” Fontana said.
Simon added his voice in. “I don’t want to suggest there isn’t good work being done at HBO. Game of Thrones is subsidizing all of us.”
Source: Deadline
