Space Hospital 2525 - Medevac!
A dramedy series set on a mobile space station hospital (I know, Mercy Point did something similar, but not exactly) that travels to various interstellar war zones and runs a medevac service. MAS*H! in Space! with Aliens!
Check Out Space Island One. It had one Strange Martian Artifact episode IIRC, otherwise it was as hard SF as they come.
Two HBO series that I very much enjoyed were Band of Brothers and The Pacific, and I’d like to see another series of that ilk.
I can think of several possible series in that vein that people (including me) might want to see but since the potty philanthropist is allowing me my own pick with no need for commercial return I’d do one following individuals from the New Zealand 2nd Division.
The Division fought in Greece, the defense of Crete, the Western Desert campaign, and into Italy, and was involved in quite a number of major engagements, including El Alamein and Monte Cassino. 5 individuals were awarded the Victoria Cross, including Capt. Charles Upham who got two (the only person in WWII to be awared the VC and bar).
It supplied the original troops for the Long Range Desert Group (I’d have to include an episode on them, following some the volunteers who were picked for that unit), and the Maori Battalion (more good story material there – I’d love to know how one of them was awarded a US Silver Star).
After the German surrender part of the division ended up in Japan as New Zealand’s contribution to the Commonwealth Occupation Force and an episode in the aftermath of war in Japan would be interesting too.
A ten-part miniseries on the life of Helen Keller, shown from her point of view. We would get to see what she sees and hear what she hears-how exciting!
Original? Not sure there IS anything original anymore.
But, okay. I guess I would work with elfkin477 on an urban fantasy series. We would get to make up our own rules. (President’s vampire? Kindred?)
Or a fantasy setting. Again, so we get to set up the rules.
Maybe a fantasy ensemble so that I could change things up a bit. Have some character driven pieces when certain characters are there and have action pieces when other characters are there.
The problem is that I have read so much and seen so much that I don’t know that I’m looking for original and I know I couldn’t do it. So, I would have to grab Joss Whedon, Russel T Davies, Stephen Moffat, or someone like that to help or do it. I’m looking for good adaptations of what I already like but new stories and ideas coming from that.
Hopefully still some original ideas in there for the OP.
vislor
Too bad there are no adaptations, because this is the perfect format to adapt Jonathan Strage and Mr. Norrell.
I’ll have to go for my second choice - an epic miniseries about the rise & fall of the Medici family. No need to even fictionalize events.
Probably a series on how in the annals of mankind geology has had an influence on history and civilizations; from the near extinction due to the Toba volcano to it’s effect on pioneer America’s westward migration across the Rockies, Great Basin and Sierras to men’s lust for gold, diamonds and strategic minerals, etc.
I’d like to see a near-future spacefaring show. The main characters would be a small, family-like team of asteroid miners and space truckers. They’d have a massdriver ship, run by a nuclear plant that powers superconducting magnets throwing slag as reaction mass. They’d own a claim on an asteroid or two rich in valuable minerals and hydrocarbons, but also pick up work taking processed materials from other miners into Earth orbit and returning with terrestrial supplies. The computers would be powerful, but not self-aware. Robots would be programmable or VR/telepresence operated, but not completely autonomous.
The stories that could be told here are endless.
Actually, if I were going to do a ten-part autobiography it would be on Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton, although I’m not sure if ten hours would be long enough to do him justice.
Fiction-wise? How about this: It becomes public knowledge that the Earth is going to be destroyed in about 200 years and there is absolutely no way to stop it from happening. Do we stay and die? Do we try to establish colonies on the moon or Mars? Finally, it is decided to take the big plunge and build a long range worldship capable of traveling at great speed over great distances for great periods of time. Building the monstrosity, deciding where to point it, and deciding who gets to go would make for great drama, imho.
“Young Ben” A young Ben Franklin has just moved to Philadelphia from Boston to apprentice with his brother. I would do it as a comedy. Think Blackadder set in early 1700s America.
A military sci-fi series, with a lesbian as the protagonist. I think I’ll call it “Licence to Print Money”.
Not sure, but it would certainly involve time travel, and/or alternative universes/timelines.
Like Tim Powers’ The Anubis Gates!
I think a pirate program could be interesting. Something along the lines of an unholy union between Oz and Sons of Anarchy. Our stalwart hero, Francis Darling, is a moderately wealthy young navigator who is at sea on a ship his father owns. Pirates seize the vessel, demanding valuables they seek a navigator. As some of the pirates attempt to rape the female passengers, Francis steps forward and offers his services in exchange for leaving the women unmolested. Now Francis has to figure out how to retain his humanity while serving aboard a pirate ship while at the same time appearing as a loyal member of the crew. How will he escape? Tune in next week. Same pirate time. Same pirate channel. I figure it’d have to be HBO.
Hot Lesbians Vs. Zombies.
I win.
I’d hire the writers/directors from Rome to do a series on the French Revolution/rise of Napoleon. The material’s a natural fit for that bunch, and the time period hasn’t been well-explored in television. It could be really, really great.
My dream project all through the 2000’s was a show called Baghdad Blue. Some American security contractors are tasked to work with the Baghdad Police and get them up to snuff. There would be corruption in both the Iraqi and American groups. Lots of firefights and bombs. Main characters would die.
Kind of a cross between The Shield and Hurt Locker. Or maybe bring the insurgent POV into it and do it like The Wire.
Just to say that despite the OP’s allowing that the show doesn’t need to even be “what people want to see” some of the ideas in here would make for damn good viewing! 
So, where do we find this billionaire then? 
Some jerkwad named Michael Long already got his attention, and now the money is all tied up in a freakin’ talking car, of all things.
I’d like to do The Horseclans as an HBO series. Post apocalyptic, telepathic horses and cats, a few immortals, some cannibals…
Or maybe a pro wrestling dramedy, set backstage at a fictional Southern promotion based on Bill Watts’ Mid-South/UWF.