Around registration time, you may start to wonder what the best class at NYU is. Wonder no more, because I’m pretty sure I’ve found it. It’s TV Programming & Concepts, a class that dives into what makes good television programming Rock the download. Professor Andrew Goldman ( bio here), the VP for HBO’s Programming, Planning and Scheduling sector, presents us each week with 1-3 episodes of either extremely funny, extremely good or extremely unbearable new shows that we then break down into pieces and discuss why they were a success or why they were even worse than this season of Gossip Girl. Professor Goldman was able to show us ABC’s Modern Family and Flash Forward before they aired, and we tried to predict how it would do in the consistently unpredictable lineup. Although he tries not to make it a class about HBO, he’s promised to show us How to Make it in America, a show that premieres on the network this February. He encourages you to ask him about interning at HBO, and invites all of his students to visit him where “Not TV” is made. Pretty/Handsome, where Flash Forward’s Joseph Fiennes plays a closeted transsexual in WASPy Connecticut, is one of his favorites that I think is the best pilot that will never be seen. Switch your major just to catch it.

I sat down with Professor Goldman to find out how such an awesome class can exist. After the jump, the interview.

When did you know you wanted to work in TV?

Probably when I was 12 years old. That’s when I started reading Hollywood Reporter and Variety. I couldn’t consume enough of it. That’s what I try to convey to you guys. If you can take an avocation and turn it into a vocation, and be happy, that’s probably the key to success in any career. I look forward to going to work everyday, you know 99% of the time

How did you get your first job?

My first real job was at HBO in the guide department. I would put together their little program guide magazine. It was one of those entry level positions but there was a lot of writing involved and I was a half decent writer. I graduated from Syracuse in May of 1985 and I didn’t start working at HBO until January of 1986. I wasn’t going to take any job. I was working as a lifeguard and I knew I wanted to be in the business. It was through my lifeguarding experiences that I met somebody who opened the door for me at HBO.

How did the class start?

I’m also an alum of NYU. I graduated with a Masters in Cinema from Tisch back in ’92 and I was asked to come back one alumni weekend to be on a panel. I was on a panel with Professor Ezra Sacks was also a screenwriter and happened to be a professor at NYU, who is now my mentor here. He liked what I had to say on the panel and mentioned he was teaching a class over the summer for high school students and would I mind guest speaking. I said that I’d be honored. I came and I spoke and took over his class for two hours. You could see the students were engaged. At the end Ezra said, “Wow, you really have something, have you ever thought about teaching?” It was a very flattering thing. Everybody thinks about teaching and I said I would definitely be interested. He said that someone was leaving and that they may want me to take over his class. I said that would be great. He set up a lunch and I was asked right then and there if I was interested in taking over the class.

I started teaching History of TV & Programming the class I teach in the spring. I followed my predecessors syllabus but I started to interject it and change it a little with my DNA and that’s when the second class came around that you’re taking. Students were really engaged when they looked at things by subject matter, genre, some of the feature film directors who are directing for television. The greatest shows you’ve never seen and will never see. I try to use what is going on in the world of television today and try to back track how did we get there, almost a reverse history class. What I like about it, it keeps me very charged and keeps me looking back and forward. And you guys are the sweet spot demographic. You guys make me better during my day job.

Was it hard for you to find the time to teach the class?

They couldn’t have been more on board and more wonderful and supportive. When I started here I had already been at HBO for 20 years, they knew what I can do. Part of my job actually allows me to work from home part-time. They realized they wanted to keep me happy and that this was something I wanted to do. And they realized that here I am meeting the brightest and best of the future and this is a potential talent pool that I could be bringing into HBO one day. And I have. Some of my former students today are colleagues at HBO. HBO couldn’t have been more supportive.

Are you allowed to show us all the content you show us?

Of course. I’m not broadcasting. Students sometimes ask for a copy of a pilot. Unfortunately my friends in the business give me their stuff on the condition that I don’t broadcast it and don’t make copies and if you’re one of the lucky students in my class and I happen to show it that semester you’ll get it. There’s never been a problem that I show these.

Even the shows that aren’t out yet?

Yep, they can go blog it. The truth of the matter is if they were really concerned I wouldn’t be getting new stuff each year. I’m a man of my word. I would show you guys absolutely anything I get and I have. The problem is I don’t have enough classes to show you all the busted pilots I get.

What’s your favorite all time show?

Frasier. It’s witty, its funny, the characters are wonderful. It’s a great show. Kelsey Grammar can do no wrong and stayed with that character for twenty years. Now he’s had two at bats and he’s missed and I’m sure he’d go back to that character in a heartbeat.

How do you see your job as a programmer changing with new technology?

Just being open to new technology and new platforms. Maybe you will never have an audience where everyone from all demographics or watching or more importantly aren’t consuming in the same ways. Some people will end up consuming all their content on their laptop and iPod. Who knows in twenty years we may all have a computer chip in our brain. That’s the wonderful thing about technology. It’s ever changing. When they introduce something it’s already outdated.

Is there anything in particular that you’re proud of from your tenure at HBO?

That I’m tenured at HBO! I’m very proud of the fact that we’ve launched new channels and new ventures and new platforms, that’s really exciting. On a personal note I love mentoring people within the company and outside the company. I love seeing people in my class who have moved onto wonderful careers.

Lastly, what does HBO have in store for the future?

A wonderful new show called How to Make it in America, by Mark Wahlberg. It’s kind of the flip side of Entourage. It’s about a group of guys before any one of them made it big and it’s set in New York. Vince and Turtle and those guys would have definitely been friends with them but it’s new characters. It will be premiering in February.