The success of Girls and Homeland at last night's Golden Globe awards illustrated the continued dominance of cable over broadcast network programming quality. Quality is pretty subjective, of course, but one measure for it is awards and award nominations. Girls (HBO) and Homeland (Showtime) won for best TV comedy and drama, respectively, and cable accounted for four of the five nominees for best drama.
One interpretation/explanation of this success is that cable programs can get away with content, language, and themes that just aren't permissible under broadcast regulation. Regulation has something to do with it, but from what I've seen of Homeland so far, 24 had a lot more torture. Another major factor on premium cable is freedom from advertiser concerns (about audience demographics and program content) and the ability of cable networks to aim for a niche audience.
One simple, but perhaps very important, difference between broadcast and cable programming is the length and timing of seasons on cable. Whereas broadcast networks aim to fill 2-4 hours nearly every night with original programming, cable nets like HBO, Showtime, and AMC do not. For that reason, a broadcast network will be motivated to squeeze as much as it can out of a successful program as quickly as it can, instead of devoting its resources to developing, producing, and trying out ever more shows to fill its broadcast hours. Broadcast network seasons typically include over 20 episodes.
In contrast, cable series tend to have about a dozen episodes per season. This alone greatly improves the potential for TV programming quality. It's hard to imagine, for example, Breaking Bad being nearly as exciting with a season story arc stretched out or diluted over twice as many episodes.
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