Sex and Sopranos ready to bow out on a ratings high

At any other television network, losing two acclaimed series at the same time might be regarded as a catastrophe. But at Home Box Office, the stunningly successful US cable channel, the prospect of both The Sopranos and Sex and the City coming to the end of their natural lives next year is causing few palpitations.

If anything, it is seen as an opportunity to clear some airtime for a slew of new shows. Judging by HBO's most recent hits – the blackly comic family drama Six Feet Under and the gloriously dyspeptic Larry David comedy Curb Your Enthusiasm, which has yet to hit British screens – there is every reason to think the network will continue to be the world's leading source of cutting-edge television for years to come.

This week, HBO executives announced at a forum of the American Television Critics Association their decision to wind up both Sex and the City and The Sopranos. Neither show's demise will be immediate – Sex is shooting 20 more episodes for its sixth season, to be shown later this year and early next, while The Sopranos still has a fifth 13-episode season to go before calling it quits – nor will the move necessarily be definitive.

Carolyn Strauss, a network executive, referred to Sex and the City when she told the forum: "All the principals involved felt that this was a strong place to go off. If somewhere along the line they change their mind and feel that they could do more of this, it would be fantastic."

The same is apparently true for The Sopranos. Chris Albrecht, HBO's chief executive and guiding creative spirit, said the tragi-comic Mafia drama's creator and producer, David Chase, had not completely ruled out a sixth season, although he had turned down a generous financial lure to commit himself immediately.

There is no lack of new contenders to pick up where the two ageing shows will leave off. An innovative Baltimore police drama called The Wire, focusing on just one case, has just started airing in the United States and has now been approved for a second season. A documentary series following hopeful young film makers, called Project Greenlight, is also going into a second season.

Next year's line-up will feature a cluster of new shows that sound alluring at least on paper. Deadwood will be a Western set in the lawless Black Hills of South Dakota in 1876. Marriage, conceived by Steve Bochko of LA Law, NYPD Blue and Hill Street Blues fame, will be an up-close examination of a New York couple five years on from their wedding. Carnivale will follow a performing troupe through the Depression-era Dust Bowl.

Baseball Wives will look behind the scenes at the pro sports circuit, with one prominent real-life baseball wife acting as a consultant. Good In Bed, meanwhile, sounds like a version of Bridget Jones – the comic adventures of a self-deprecating female reporter in New York who is obsessed with her weight and with men.

The secret of HBO's success lies largely in the fact that it is willing to take on projects that the main terrestrial networks regard as too wacky, or too risqué. The Sopranos, for example, was turned down by every other television outlet before Mr Albrecht, then HBO's programme director, picked it up four years ago.

Nobody can argue with the success of the results: a stream of awards, a subscriber base hovering around 30 million – roughly one quarter of US households – and the prospect of more than $800m (£495m) in revenue for 2002, 50 per cent more than the projected revenues at rival NBC.

Coming to your screen

Curb Your Enthusiasm: A comedy from the Seinfeld co-creator Larry David, who also stars as an obnoxiously funny variant on himself. The setting is LA, the dialogue is improvised and the watchword is causing maximum embarrassment for all concerned. Hilarious.

Deadwood: A Wild West drama set in South Dakota Indian country in 1876, starring Timothy Olyphant, Ian McShane, Molly Parker and Keith Carradine. Created by David Milch and co-produced by the veteran film director Walter Hill.

The Wire: A gritty police drama, set in gritty Baltimore. Rather than taking one case per episode, The Wire takes one case per series.

Marriage: Bergman goes to New York: a painstaking analysis of a couple five years into their marriage. All the action will take place in their apartment, including their bedroom, bathroom and walk-in closet.