HBO has selected Casey Bloys to replace Michael Lombardo as the president of programming at HBO, TheWrap has learned.
“It goes without saying that Mike’s contributions over these many years, most especially in the last nine as President of Programming, have been nothing short of extraordinary,” HBO CEO and chairman Richard Plepler said. “I believe it’s fair to say that his brilliant work will stand the test of time and his tenure will be recognized as second to none.”
Bloys was named president of comedy and drama series, late night and specials earlier this year, expanding his oversight to include upcoming drama series and development.
Before that, he was executive vice president of HBO programming, responsible for the network’s comedy series, late night and specials. He has overseen the development and production of programs including “Silicon Valley,” “Girls,” “Veep” and “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.”
In his expanded role, Bloys will oversee all of HBO’s and Cinemax’s programming initiatives including HBO Films, HBO Sports, HBO Documentaries & Family and HBO Entertainment.
Len Amato, president of HBO Films; Kary Antholis, president of HBO miniseries and Cinemax programming; Peter Nelson, executive vice president of HBO Sports; and Sheila Nevins, president of HBO documentaries and family, will report to Bloys.
Lombardo stepped down from his position at the premium cable network last Friday. This is the latest executive shakeup at HBO, as Lombardo’s exit follows the departure of executive vice president of drama development Michael Ellenberg, who left his post and segued into a development deal with the network in January.
Lombardo joined HBO in 1983, working his way up through business affairs. He became president of programming in 2007 after a restructure in the aftermath of the departure of Chris Albrecht. Under his tenure, programs such as “Game of Thrones,” “Veep,” “Boardwalk Empire” and “Silicon Valley” were launched.
However, Lombardo saw several high-profile flops in recent years, including Season 2 of “True Detective” and the Martin Scorsese/Terrence Winter/Mick Jagger collaboration “Vinyl.” Production was also shut down on “Westworld” so the showrunners could finish the final scripts.