Beginnings
In 1998, HBO executives moved their critically-acclaimed series The Larry Sanders Show from Wednesdays to Sundays for its sixth and final season and paired it with From the Earth to the Moon, the Tom Hanks-produced prestige docudrama about the Apollo program. HBO executives selected Sunday nights in a strategy meant to counteract the traditional broadcast networks, who typically neglected programming the weekends with high-tier series and opted to air these shows during the week instead.[4][5] HBO head of programming Michael Lombardo said, "Sunday was a wasteland. Broadcast networks didn't do anything on Sunday night. Football wasn't quite the thing it is. And so it was counterprogramming: 'Let's see if we can make Sunday night our place.'"[1]
That summer, HBO launched Sex and the City on Sunday nights. It would become one of the network's flagship shows and define HBO's Sunday block, alongside fellow ratings juggernaut The Sopranos, which began airing the following year. The Sopranos became a huge hit with audiences, critics, and awards voters, despite all the major television networks having passed on it.[1] The lineup became so popular in the early 2000s that HBO began using the marketing slogan "Sunday is... HBO."[4][3] "Ever since The Sopranos, it's owned the day," said The Ringer.[1] Off the backs of these two shows, HBO began seriously competing with the broadcast networks for awards, earning the most Emmys of any network in 1999 for the first time.[6] Buoyed by the success of Sex and the City and The Sopranos, HBO began ordering more original series to fill out its Sunday night lineup throughout the year. Choosing to air a show on Sunday night became HBO's way of indicating to critics and audiences that the show was "a big deal."[7]
The following years saw HBO debuting new shows like critical darling Six Feet Under, miniseries Band of Brothers, and Larry David's Seinfeld follow-up Curb Your Enthusiasm, which aired on and off on the network for 24 years.
"Sundays are obviously a defining element of our brand," HBO and HBO Max executive vice president Zach Enterlin was quoted as saying. "You know you'll have something great on Sunday nights. It's part of our DNA."[2]
Paul Rudd's character referenced HBO's Sunday night programming in the 2009 film I Love You Man, saying "You ever watched Sunday night programming on HBO? It's spectacular."[1]
Competitors Showtime, AMC, and Starz followed HBO's lead and began airing their own blocks of originals on Sunday nights.[2]
Peak popularity
In 2011, HBO launched Game of Thrones, a new prestige fantasy series based on George R.R. Martin's novels A Song of Ice and Fire. By 2014, the show had topped The Sopranos as HBO's most-watched series of all-time, averaging 18.4 million viewers per episode.[8]
In 2013, HBO poached John Oliver from Comedy Central, after the comedian's critically-acclaimed run guest hosting The Daily Show, and signed him to host his own late night show. This resulted in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, which debuted the following year, and added a traditional late night show to HBO's Sunday night lineup for the first time.[9] The show, which has been on the air for eleven years and counting, is HBO's longest-running Sunday night series behind Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Referring to HBO's 2014–2016 Sunday night programming, HBO executive Michael Lombardo said, "It just felt like the apotheosis of what you promised. You start off with something in the 9 o'clock spot that was dramatic and emotional, and then you had a smart but palate-cleansing two half-hours. And then what a great way to end the evening with John Oliver. When I think of a moment of scheduling perfection, that was probably it."[1]
Contraction
While fewer and fewer viewers watch Sunday night shows on the actual night, opting to view them on DVR or streaming later, the network continues to program its most prestigious shows there.[3] The Game of Thrones spin-off House of the Dragon is popular with audiences, but it has so far received lower ratings and worse reviews than its predecessor.[11][12] The network has not had a show top Game of Thrones ratings records since. Due to resources going to Warner Media's streaming service HBO Max following its launch in 2020 and AT&T selling HBO's parent company in 2022,[13] the network HBO has seen its total hours of scripted Sunday night programming decrease from its high-spending AT&T heyday.[1] In recent years, the network has begun to rely on documentary series to fill outs its programming, which are less expensive than scripted shows.
