With Michael Mann and David Milch behind the camera and a cast led by Dustin Hoffman and Nick Nolte, HBO was practically counting the Emmys for this horse-racing drama before it even premiered. Maybe viewers weren't interested in the milieu, because "Luck" premiered to low numbers. And maybe they found the twisted lingo and Milchian patter too hard to follow, because numbers dropped. HBO still renewed the show as a point of pride and "Luck" earned some solid reviews as the season progressed, but early in production on Season Two, the plug was pulled after the deaths of multiple horses. As a final insult to injury, "Luck" received zero Emmy nominations. What should have been one of the year's creative triumphs ended up being one of its saddest stories.

- Daniel Fienberg