A friend to writers at HBO

"I use the last term specifically," Lombardo added, "because I do think if we can be faulted for anything, it was that some of our series did not deliver on that note." In other words, HBO execs seem to agree with critics that too many of their recent shows just weren't all that much fun to watch. That's a big admission for a place that's still regarded by many in the business as the cool kids' table.

HBO retains a business model that stirs envy among rivals. Executives say that subscriber tallies, revenue and profits are at record highs (HBO has about 30 million customers, although that metric has never been accompanied by razor-sharp clarity).

But let's face it, it's not 1998 anymore. After years of watching HBO dominate the Emmys and critics' top 10 lists -- and nab sizzling ratings for "Sopranos" and "Sex" -- basic cable outlets got the message and started producing their own richly drawn, provocative series.

HBO, meanwhile, tended to retreat into its silo. When producers came to pitch unusual shows about New York ad men in the 1960s and a crime-scene tech who moonlights as a vigilante serial killer, HBO slammed the door, decisions that many at the network came to regret. "Mad Men" and "Dexter" went on to become acclaimed hits for AMC and Showtime, respectively.

Naegle realizes the ground has shifted. "Now, unfortunately, there's lots of places that are doing things in the HBO model, in terms of structure and content and even language and nudity," she said. But "this really for us is an opportunity to do things that are unique."

Is Naegle the right person to seize that opportunity? Ordinary viewers may have greeted her ascent with a shrugging, "Who she?" But Hollywood history is studded with examples of agents who made the jump to executive ranks, with results ranging from the legendary (Lew Wasserman) to the bathetic (Michael Ovitz). Indeed, Chris Albrecht, the architect of HBO's original-series renaissance in the late 1990s who left the network last year amid a domestic-abuse scandal, once worked as an ICM agent.

For her part, Naegle comes to the job with several important advantages. For starters, she's the first outsider brought into a major post at HBO in a long while. Given where the network is now, a fresh pair of eyes couldn't hurt.

At UTA, the big Hollywood agency where she had spent her career, most recently running the TV department with colleague Jay Sures, she worked with writers such as Alan Ball ("Six Feet Under"), Jenny Bicks ("Sex and the City," "Men in Trees") and Jhoni Marchinko ("Will & Grace"). She once described herself to Variety as a "script pimp."