Before it was just Max, it was HBO Max — before that it was just plain old HBO. And it was a huge deal.
In the early days of cable TV, it was the Wild West — and HBO, launched in 1972, was one of the pioneers that rode into the unknown.
Those who remember might recall the “thrill of the new” — a channel, not beholden to the traditional broadcast networks, presenting an uncut, commercial-free movie experience. Uninterrupted films in the comfort of your home! HBO was a revolution, changing not just what we watched, but how we watched it.
The very first broadcast was a sports event — a hockey game, to be exact, between the New York Rangers and the Vancouver Canucks at Madison Square Garden. It was only fitting that a channel that would later push boundaries started with a game that’s all about speed and breaking through.
The fledgling network didn’t take long to gain traction, with “On Location” stand-up comedy specials and music concerts augmenting its film offerings. By 1975, HBO became the first TV network to deliver signals via satellite, setting a standard for television broadcasting innovation.
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It was in this period that the groundwork was laid for the premium cable powerhouse HBO would become (not to mention making inroads for other cable channels like MTV), meaning its early days were a fascinating slice of TV history.
Vintage HBO program schedule in 1974
Early programs playing on this seventies Home Box Office schedule included Parsley, Sage, Jani and Love with Dr Joyce Brothers; The Three Musketeers with Raquel Welch and Richard Chamberlain; The Seven-Ups movie with Roy Scheider; NHL hockey; boxing from Madison Square Gardens; The Paper Chase with Lindsay Wagner; and Three Magical Tales with Shari Lewis.
Home Box Office monthly entertainment guide cover (March 1974)
Old HBO programming in 1977
Movies featured include: Murder by Death, The Front, Deadly Hero, Swashbuckler, Countdown at Kusini, Harry and Walter Go to New York, Shoot, The Other Side of the Mountain, Hustle
70s HBO – The great entertainment alternative (1977)
Hook up with Home Box Office and you’re connected to some of the best TV entertainment available. Anywhere. Home Box Office is the pay-television service that delivers to subscribers — month after month — a new kind of exclusive entertainment. Entertainment that can’t be found anywhere else on any dial.
Great specials produced on location just for HBO by some of the biggest names in show business. Great movies presented uncut and without commercial interruption. Great sports the year round. Great family films every week. HBO helps you get more laughter, more tears, more fun, more solid entertainment out of your television set than you ever thought possible.
Home Box Office is only available to cable TV and selected apartment master antenna subscribers. If you have cable TV in your area, contact your system operator and ask him about HBO service. Over a half million American homes are now receiving this Great Entertainment Alternative. There’s always room for one more.
HBO is something else – Service explainer (1978)
If you’d like to see a wide variety of Hollywood movies, celebrity specials from nightclubs around the world, and exclusive sports — then you need something else. Home Box Office!
Home Box Office is the pay television service that makes your own home the best seat in the house for your favorite Hollywood movies. Always uncut and without any commercial interruptions.
HBO presents its very own “Standing Room Only” and “On Location” comedy and entertainment specials. These are exclusive performances you can’t see on regular television. HBO puts you right up front for exciting sports from around the world — the events that regular television neglects.
And HBO is a real bargain! Just consider the cost of going out to see a movie, a game, a nightclub performance or a superstar in concert. Find out why over one million subscribers say “HBO is something else!”
Old HBO schedule cover with Heaven Can Wait (1980)
The classic movie remake of Heaven Can Wait, starring Julie Christie, James Mason, Jack Warden, Dyan Cannon and Charles Grodin, played repeatedly on Home Box Office through the month of April 1980.
Old HBO – Home Box Office was 10 years old in 1982
1972 to 1982: Celebrating a decade of innovation.
An Evening with Robin Williams comedy special (1983)
It’s fresh comedy that’s more outrageous than you ever thought TV could be. No cuts, no commercials, no comparison.
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Old HBO movies – HBOnly – First Blood with Sylvester Stallone (1983)
They’re very big. Very hot. Stars like Sylvester Stallone in First Blood — the kind of quality performance you have come to expect from HBO. And HBO also creates its own entertainment. Everything from concerts to comedy acts taped live — all original, all special, all only on HBO.
Also shown: Eddie Murphy in Delirious, Sugar Ray’s All-Stars, Donna Summer: A Hot Summer Night
DON’T MISS: In the classic movie Rocky, Sylvester Stallone packed a real punch (1976)
An Officer and a Gentleman on old HBO (1983)
It’s a month of powerful stars and dazzling performances. See Richard Gere, Debra Winger and Academy Award winner Lou Gossett, Jr in An Officer and a Gentleman, Clint Eastwood in Honkytonk Man, and as a special HBOnly — Bette Davis and James Stewart in Right Of Way. With HBO entertainment like this, you could get carried away.
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Kenny Rogers Live in Concert on HBO (1983)
Linda Ronstadt with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra on HBO (1984)
Come…back in time with Linda Ronstadt and Nelson Riddle. Discover that in today’s music, yesterday’s songs are really “What’s New.” A special concert to sit back and enjoy.
The Far Pavilions HBO Premiere Films (1984)
India in the 19th century…Where revolution threatened to destroy a country thousands of years old. An officer and a princess had to choose between honor and forbidden love. Starring Ben Cross, Amy Irving, Omar Sharif, John Gielgud, Christopher Lee and Rossano Brazzi.
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Vintage HBO features for the summer of 1985
The hottest nights this summer are on HBO. The Natural * The Terminator * The Destroyer * Rhinestone * Bachelor Party * Police Academy * The Woman in Red * Fraggle Rock * The Muppets Take Manhattan * Sixteen Candles
Old HBO Premiere Films: Finnegan Begin Again movie (1985)
Finnegan Begin Again, starring Mary Tyler Moore and Robert Preston: They are mismatched, mixed up, and just may be perfect for each other. A comedy with heart.
Back to the Future – The Big Movie on HBO (1987)
“Wow, wait a minute, Doc! Are you trying to tell me my mom has the hots for me?” – Michael J. Fox, Back To The Future
The old HBO Comedy Hour (1987)
Take one of comedy’s biggest stars each month, put them in exciting locations, and let ’em loose in one-hour, uncensored LIVE performances — and what do you get? You get HBO Comedy Hour — the explosive new generation of comedy shows where anything can happen… and probably will.
Featured comedians include Billy Crystal, Whoopi Goldberg, Martin Mull, Joe Piscopo, Robin Williams, Howie Mandel, Martin Short, and George Carlin.
Bruce Willis in The Return of Bruno (1987)
Multitalented Bruce moonlights with a cast of music all-stars for a riotous, rhythmic “rockumentary” spoof!
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Benefits of HBO-Cinemax in the late 80s (1989)
No home should be without — Power. Heat. Hot Water. You’ll find them all on HBO.
The most powerful athletes…the hottest stars and movies. They’re all yours when you make the HBO/Cinemax cable connection. The very best of sports, comedy, movies, music, and family entertainment.
Old HBO guide – Programs airing in 1991
Special 4-day weekend features: Top Gun, The Hunt for Red October, The Kids in the Hall, Fever, HBO One-Night Stand, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and Driving Miss Daisy
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Michael Jackson King of Pop on HBO cable (1995)
Just the man. Just the moves. Just the music. Just for HBO. Michael Jackson, King of Pop. One night only.
Sugartime movie with John Turturro & Mary-Louise Parker (1995)
A mafia boss. America’s sweetheart. Their affair shocked the world… and divided the Mob.
Vintage HBO Guide cover with Soul of the Game (1996)
The cover featured the HBO original movie Soul of the Game, starring Delroy Lindo, Mykelti Williamson and Blair Underwood in a story about baseball stars Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson.
Crime of the Century – Charles Lindbergh movie (1996)
Stephen Rea and Isabella Rossellini starred in the HBO pictures movie Crime of the Century. Who really kidnapped the Lindbergh baby?
Larry Sanders show with Garry Shandling on old HBO (1996)
Batman Forever: 1996 exclusive movie
Batman Forever was an HBO exclusive in May 1996. The movie starred Val Kilmer, Tommy Lee Jones, Jim Carrey and Nicole Kidman
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Weapons of Mass Distraction HBO Pictures movie (1997)
In business, size matters: In their battle for success, power and wealth, hitting below the belt was considered a love tap. (Starring Gabriel Byrne and Ben Kingsley.)
The Rat Pack HBO original movie event (1998)
“You’ve gotta love livin’, baby!” Starred Ray Liotta (as Frank Sinatra), Don Cheadle (Sammy Davis Jr), Joe Mantegna as (Dean Martin), and Angus Macfadyen (Peter Lawford).
Janet Jackson Live – From Madison Square Garden on HBO (1998)
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Old HBO: Sex and the City debuts (1998)
Starring Sarah Jessica Parker: The next best thing to being there.
Sex and the City season 2 (1999)
She’s back…for more — along with co-stars Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon, Chris Noth, Willie Garson, David Eigenberg and John Corbett.
Saving Private Ryan on HBO (1999)
Directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, Tom Sizemore, Vin Diesel, Edward Burns, Barry Pepper, Jeremy Davies, Adam Goldberg, and Giovanni Ribisi.
1990s HBO pictures movie RKO 281 (1999)
Orson Welles used all his genius to create “Citizen Kane.” William Randolph Hearst used all his power to try and destroy it. Starring Liev Schreiber, James Cromwell, Melanie Griffith, Brenda Blethyn, Roy Scheider and John Malkovich.
Cher Live in Concert from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas (1999)
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HBO movie Earthly Possessions (1999)
You can’t always choose your traveling companion. Starring Susan Sarandon and Stephen Dorff.
Old HBO original movie Introducing Dorothy Dandridge (1999)
Right woman. Right place. Wrong time. (Starred Halle Berry as Dorothy Dandridge, and Klaus Maria Brandauer as director Otto Preminger)
One Response
When I was a kid in the mid-70s, my best friend’s family got HBO; he invited a group of us over to see the movie “Earthquake” (it was the era of disaster movies). The idea that you could watch uncensored movies in your own home was mind-blowing to us. In fact, one reason why a lot of families *didn’t* get cable in those days was because they didn’t want their kids watching “naughty” movies. And in the age before VHS video, HBO was the only way you could see relatively recent movies if you missed them in the theater; your only other alternative was to wait a couple of years before a heavily censored, edited version aired on network TV.