HBO Greenlights Fantasy Television Pilot for George R.R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones

[Guynemer]

I'll take three seasons of Deadwood over none at all. Same with Rome, Carnivale, et al.

[Blaupanzer]

"Carnivale" was deep sixed because of poor ratings. "Deadwood" cost too much. "Rome" was a joint venture with the BBC in a 2 year contract and the BBC balked at continuing (and it was originally supposed to be a miniseries, so the cost would have been ok for that, but spread over a season was too much).

Do you believe these things because the network said so; or are you close enough to the executives to know them to be true? Your sentence in parentheses makes no sense at all in terms of production cost considerations. Many costs are better absorbed over a longer period. Even per episode costs are a wash for the most part, provided sponsorship has been properly handled. If not, then both miniseries and seasonal series can be ruinous.

[Imran Siddiqui]

I believe those things because I read a lot. There are plenty of writers who will call BS on a network if they are spinning something.

The comment about Rome DOES make sense as the BBC was only considering astronomical costs for a short miniseries, whereby it'd be ok to make that expense. By extending it to a 2 season show, the TOTAL costs rise, even if the average costs go down.