5 Shows HBO passed on

The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones are two of the biggest shows on TV, and HBO almost had them both. Producer Gale Anne Hurd originally approached NBC, an executive for which memorably commented, “This is awesome. I really love this. Does it have to have zombies in it,” and HBO. Oddly, they said no because of the show’s extreme violence.

The first season of Breaking Bad began just over two months before the other contender for the greatest drama of all-time, The Wire, aired its last episode. Things worked out pretty well for AMC and HBO, but a lot had to happen for the future home of Low Winter Sun to acquire Breaking Bad. Vince Gilligan met with TNT and FX, which both passed,

Before Sons of Anarchy was FX’s Sons of Anarchy, it was almost HBO’s Forever Sam Crow, because, according to Variety, “[Creator Kurt] Sutter and [producers] Art and John Linson originally pitched Forever Sam Crow to HBO but eventually struck a deal with FX,” despite the cable channel having recently picked up a “different biker gang project.” Think how long the episodes could have been on HBO!

Blame David Chase for Mad Men not being on HBO. Not only did The Sopranos creator give Matthew Weiner a writing job on his mob drama because of the pilot script, he passed it along to executives at HBO. That’s when things get as mysterious as what happened to Sal.

Party Down lasted on Starz for 20 glorious, wonderful, Lizzy Caplan-filled episodes from 2009 to 2010 before it was canceled because about 17 people were watching it. The Rob Thomas-created comedy has since become a massive cult hit, but it might have received better marketing, which could’ve led to more seasons, if it had been on HBO, as was originally intended.