So after "Friends," "Seinfeld" and "Sex and the City," does the rest of America really care anymore about what happens in New York? Morris obviously thinks so, betting that people are interested in "the stuff of life that comes about when you're not in the bubble of gliding around in an automobile all the time, in seclusion from anything that has to do with culture other than show business." Aspects of said culture he hopes to tackle include BlackBerry usage at urinals and residence in Brooklyn. "Go ahead and have your dinner parties," he said of the latter. "I am not coming, and I'm not calling a car service."

The timeline for the series to come to fruition is amorphous, particularly since Morris will be promoting his book, "Assisted Loving," later this spring, and development deals don't necessarily even mean a pilot gets produced. Still, Morris, who got his start as a playwright, is looking forward to that fabled HBO freedom of voice. "I think I've been tempered writing for the Times," he mused, adding, "But [HBO] doesn't come to people like me to water me down, do they?" — Irin Carmon