Carolyn Strauss

So it was easy.

And the concept of Mark Wahlberg's life and the entourage was the perfect show because they usually did do great stuff about Hollywood at HBO with Chris Albrecht and Carolyn Strauss, who were the executives at the time.

So it was a pretty easy, I want this.

It's a really good idea.

Yeah.

Carolyn Strauss, who used to run HBO and

greenlit some of the biggest classics like Sopranos and Six Feet Under and all that kind of stuff.

She's an independent producer now.

Really nice show, but it was not destined to become a great comedy.

And at that same moment, while American Beauty is about to be released, our great friends at HBO, Carolyn Strauss and Chris Albrecht, Carolyn said to...

She had lunch with Alan one day and she said to him, "You know, we've always wanted to do a show at HBO about dying and death and how we react to death in America and what that is." And there was a book she recommended he read, and he read it, and he j- he immediately had the idea that ultimately became Six Feet Under.

And he said to us, "I have this idea for this family drama about a funeral home, and I'm worried that if we go pitch it, everyone's gonna pass on it." And we said to him, "You know what? Just write it.

They called us a few days after seeing it, and they said, "We wanna order a season of episodes." And David and I said, "Well, how did it test?" 'Cause that was our first...

You al- you tested everything.

And they said, Carolyn Strauss said to us, "We didn't test it." And we said, "What do you mean you didn't test it? It's like you're gonna make a decision to pick up a show without some testing?" And she said, "We never test our shows."

That is true.

She didn't like him.

Carolyn Strauss, I remember watching her, watching the room light up, him being great, and her just staring at him.

was an executive at HBO for a long, long time.

She was