A New Jersey mafia boss under strain who finds himself in a psychiatrist’s office. A 30-something writer taking on the big city with her friends. A “Mother of Dragons” locked in an epic battle to sit on an iron throne.
During Richard Plepler’s almost three decades as the chief executive of HBO, the premium cable channel has shaped culture with unforgettable characters and groundbreaking shows that have forced viewers to grapple with everything from power to politics to sex. Often, the magic of such television series is the messy way those themes intersect.
Plepler abruptly stepped down Thursday. Under his watch, HBO won more than 160 Emmys, leveraging the heyday of cable to build a critically acclaimed Sunday-night lineup and create what is often referred to as television’s second golden age.
Here is a look at some of the network’s biggest hits during his tenure at the company.
Sex and the City (1998-2004)
On June 6, 1998, the TV world was introduced to Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda and Samantha — four single women who took Manhattan by storm.
Over six seasons, a show that began with jokes about oral sex and orgasms offered a window into an upscale slice of New York City, spurring a generation of young, ambitious single women to move there.
Much has been written since the show ended about how it changed television, and particularly about how it depicted female relationships and sexuality.
Throughout the series, the city remained a constant companion of the four main characters. When the show was ending in 2004, The New York Times wrote: “Sometimes they swore off men — Samantha less than the others. But they never swore off the city.”
The Sopranos (1999-2007)
As soon as Tony Soprano went to therapy, “The Sopranos” became a sensation. Viewers, it turned out, had an appetite for complicated, ambitious storytelling. In 1999, The Times said the show “just may be the greatest work of American popular culture of the last quarter century.”
What followed was a television revolution that helped establish HBO as a cultural force. Through “The Sopranos,” writer and producer David Chase made literary symbolism, cinematic style and anti-heroes the norm for high-end TV dramas.
Then, in 2007, after a six-season run, it finally cut to black.
Curb Your Enthusiasm(2000-present)
Two years after “Seinfeld” made its exit, Larry David, the show’s co-creator, came to HBO with a semi-improvised, semi-autobiographical observational comedy.
The show — about minutiae, anxiety and show business — set a high-water mark for the genre. Somewhat like “Seinfeld” but with more cursing, it is filled with lovable jerks pointing out the weird rules that guide all of our relationships.
The series took a six-year hiatus between Season 8 and 9, and will soon return for a 10th season.
Game of Thrones (2011-present)
In her 2011 review, Times critic Ginia Bellafante wrote that the screen translation of George R.R. Martin’s fantasy novels “serves up a lot of confusion in the name of no larger or really relevant idea beyond sketchily fleshed-out notions that war is ugly, families are insidious and power is hot.”
One could say that is no longer the prevailing opinion.
Although it is true there are enough characters, kingdoms and plot lines to make your head spin, the series by writer-producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss may be HBO’s biggest hit ever. Even those with no interest in dragons have become absorbed in its storytelling, which enters its final season in April.
That said, the dragons are pretty darn cool.
Girls (2012-17)
“I don’t want to freak you out, but I think that I may be the voice of my generation,” says Lena Dunham’s character, Hannah, in the premiere of “Girls.”
The line encapsulates the comical self-obsession of Hannah Horvath, a 20-something writer trying to “find herself” in New York City, along with three close female friends.
The show was a lightning rod for its audience, attracting both a loyal fan base and a steadfast community of ruthless critics.
Many considered “Girls” to be groundbreaking for its portrayal of the awkward, unflattering moments during sex. There was also plenty written about the lack of diversity in the show, which saw Brooklyn mostly through the eyes of four white women.
Veep (2012-present)
One half-hour at a time, Selina Meyer and her fumbling White House staff try to play politics — and they usually don’t do it very well.
In what is perhaps TV’s smartest inside-the-Beltway comedy, Meyer — played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus — gets little respect and has trouble earning any thanks, in part because her staff is spectacularly inept. It’s cynical, but in a good way, and very fast-moving. Check your phone and risk missing a snipe.
The show’s seventh and final season will begin soon.
Big Little Lies (2017-present)
The explosive popularity of the limited series was further validated when HBO announced it would be coming back for an unexpected second season.
The first season of the glossy drama centers on a set of rich and feuding parents living in Monterey, California. They are all suspects in a crime that occurs in their town after the arrival of a young single mother and her 6-year-old son.
The stars of the show, Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman, lend the series its big-screen sparkle. That sparkle will only get brighter in the second season, which introduces Meryl Streep to the cast.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.