Over the last several decades, the critical view of television has changed from being a lesser, more mass produced art form, not on the level of movies, to being the place for some of the most creative and progressive content being produced. Much of that collective reappraisal is due to HBO. In the late '90s and early 2000s, the premium cable company poured money into original productions like The Sopranos, Sex And The City, The Wire, Six Feet Under and more.
As the awards, critical praise, positive fan feedback and subscriptions poured in, more TV networks started taking chances on difficult and complicated subject matter and shelling out to attract major stars. HBO still remains arguably the most famous and successful prestige TV network, but over the last few decades, tons of other networks have taken their chances with riskier and complicated shows. Many of those chances have paid off too.
