Gawker
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first impressions
Hung and Nurse Jackie: Shows We'll Warily Watch
So who watched Hung last night? HBO's latest installment in its string of series depicting lives lived on the fringes of America is about a well-endowed gym teacher who becomes a gigolo to earn some extra cash. It was... good? More » -
dirty words
How The NY Times Writes An Article About Big Dicks
The Times profiled the writers of HBO's latest foray into originally programming, Hung, today. It stars Thomas Jane as a gym teacher with a huge dick who becomes a gigolo. But how does the infamously stiff (heh) Times write it? More »
13,883
By Foster KamerComment by Claire Buoyant: Seems the Times was being rather willy-nilly. 5 Responses | Other threads
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television
You Will Probably Watch Bored to Death
The trailer for HBO's Bored to Death, a show created by Jonathan Ames starring Jason Schwartzman and Zach Galifianakis about a Brooklyn writer living out his dream to be a character in a Raymond Chandler novel, is now online. [HBO.com] More »
3,797
Comment by snugbug: Uh, thanks for bastardizing Raymond Chandler, aka one of my absolute favorite writers for me, HBO! Damn fools. Why don't... 2 Responses | Other threads
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i want to believe
Nevada Brothel Offers Blago an Internship
Sadly, former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich cannot participate in I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here, because "here," for him, could be a penitentiary. But his reality tv dreams are not yet dead! More »
4,554
By PareeneComment by Smitros: This raises the crucial distinction between sex workers and whores. 7 Responses | Other threads
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the cinema
Movie Deal for Staggeringly Wrong Political Journalist
He said Matt Drudge and Karl Rove held the key to the presidency. His last book was embarrassingly wrong. Barack Obama won by studiously ignoring his advice. Someone put Mark Halperin in pictures! More » -
excitement
Sopranos Genius Returns with Tale of Old Hollywood
David Chase, the creator/writer mastermind behind The Sopranos, is journeying back in time for his next HBO project. He's developing a miniseries about the early days of Hollywood, when the West was still sorta wild. More » -
liberal media
Racist Republican Hicks in Documentaries: Still Important?
Alexandra Pelosi—daughter of Fancy Nancy Pelosi, Democratic big shot—has a new documentary out today about why Republicans feel so hurt, by Obama. Point: it reportedly sucks. Counterpoint: but it shows funny Republican hicks! More »
12,600
Comment by Almostbanned: Ever walk around an anti-war protest? Political rallies really do attract lots of ignorance on both sides. A good percentage are... 19 Responses | Other threads
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Eastbound & Down
Review: 'Eastbound & Down'
We usually leave the sports stuff for Deadspin, but HBO's new series Eastbound & Down has very little to do with sports, and even less to do with compassionate human interaction. We're cool with that. More » -
trade roundup
The Blart Pack
· Kevin James and Adam Sandler will join Chris Rock, Rob Schneider and David Spade in a Columbia comedy about "five best friends from high school who reunite 30 years later on July 4th weekend." More » -
pleas
You Should Give Big Love Another Chance
Many people watched the first couple episodes of Big Love and decided it wasn't for them. But, based especially on the third season's first four episodes, those folks should rent the DVDs and play catch-up. More »
8,640
Comment by WackoJacko: RICHARD, YES! Now NEVER write about The City or The Real or anything fake-real again! Only write about Big Love!... 8 Responses | Other threads
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trade roundup
Universal Revisiting The 'Thing' Thing
· Universal's remaking The Thing, with Battlestar Galactica EP Ron Moore to write the script and commercials director Matthijs Van Heijningen set to direct. If you've forgotten how amazing John Carpenter's version was, watch this. More » -
ted haggard
Pastor's Gay Slip Comes At Perfect Time For HBO
Ted Haggard became a "complete heterosexual" following a meth-fueled gay-prostitute romp in 2006. But the former Colorado Springs pastor can't quit homosexual scandal, which means HBO's new documentary is suddenly timely. More »
9,954
By Ryan TateComment by Kid Twist: Declared straight? Is there some agency that does this? Is there a test? 5 Responses | Other threads
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air rage
HBO Exec Angry, Litigious Over Missing Obama's Speech
Sheila Nevins, HBO documentary films president and overall entertainment industry big shot, was very mad she couldn't watch Obama's inauguration live from her first class airplane seat. But were the cops and lawyers necessary? More »
7,800
Comment by Baroness: She sounds maintenance-y. Like her hairstyle here..I can't stop looking at it. It's like, early-80's Angie Dickinson-in-her-Vegas-act thing that is... 7 Responses | Other threads
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trade roundup
In Tonight's Performance, Jeremy Piven Will Look A Lot Like William H. Macy
· Broadway and Dan in Real Life star Norbert Leo Butz and William H. Macy have swooped in to save Speed-the-Plow, following Jeremy Piven's abrupt departure due to an acute case of eight-shows-a-week-is-really-putting-a-damper-on-my-skank-banging-schedule-itis. [Variety] -
hung
HBO Orders Series About Man Gifted With Gasp-Inducing Pant-Snake
Hung—HBO's titillating new comedy about an endowed high school football coach who uses his horse-geezer to his own advantage—has been picked up to series. -
happy things
Your Kiwi Comedy Jones Will Now Be Satisfied
The new season of weirdo comedy series Flight of the Conchords, about two singing and bumbling boys from New Zealand, is coming back soon. The first episode is already online! And it is very funny. More » -
flight of the conchords
'Flight of the Conchords' Season 2: Right Here! Right Now!
With seemingly so little left to live for (or is that just us?), the second season of Flight of the Conchords, and all the "Foux de Fafa" frivolity that implies, seems like it can't arrive quickly enough. But wait! Put down that kebab skewer pressed to your temple! You needn't wait until the January 18th premiere to catch your Brett and Jemaine fix, nor do you even need to hold out until this Monday, when the first episode streams on HBO.com. That's because it's already streaming, at this very moment, courtesy of FunnyorDie.com. We'll see you in half an hour. -
deals
Oprah Finally Able to Put Nudity and Swearing Into Her TV Movies
Ever think that Oprah Winfrey's potent brand of self-actualization could use some more bare breasts? You're in luck! -
kevin smith
'Entourage' Dig At Cupcakeholic Kevin Smith Doesn't Bother Toilet-Shattering Director
Entourage last night offered a fairly brisk half-hour that balanced the science fiction of Jamie-Lynn Sigler and Turtle displaying palpable screen chemistry with a fairly easier-to-swallow story involving Vinnie getting fired by a Wolfgang Petersen-type on the set of the extremely timely Smoke Jumpers. As Ari desperately tries to get the director replaced, loyal assistant/stapler target Lloyd runs through a list of names, offering only commode-demolishing Zack and Miri director Kevin Smith as being available. The suggestion tees up another Ari sledgehammer—we won't give it away except to say Red Velvet gluttony is involved—which elicited this reaction from Smith on his message board: More » -
stupid human tricks
'True Blood' Shapeshifter Sam Lays Out The Shapeshifting Rules
Last night's True Blood finally gave us some hard answers as to why hunky, lovelorn bar owner Sam Merlotte occasionally will pause from restocking the beer case to scratch behind his ear with his foot: He's a shapeshifter! "Shut the fuck up," you're likely saying, much as vampire-sexing cocktail waitress Sookie did when she first beheld her boss's amazing trick. (She was equally blown away by his ability to balance a biscuit on his nose without eating it, and say something that sounds a lot like "Obama!") More » -
hbo
It's Not HBO Without Colin Callender. Colin Callendar, the president of HBO Original Movies since 1999, has announced he'll be stepping down from his post to "return to my entrepreneurial roots." After Carolyn Strauss, he's the second of the Chris Albrecht regime to resign since Albrecht himself was squeezed out following an embarrassing domestic assault arrest in Las Vegas. Callendar was the man behind HBO's prestige longform productions like Angels in America, Wit, Recount, and John Adams. He plans on forming his own production company next year, but has one swan song before he goes—the $200 million WWII drama The Pacific, from Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks. With his exit, however, so closes the chapter on the once untouchable cable network's golden era. It's all bottled blood substitute from here. [LAT] -
True Blood
The Vampires Give Back. An operative deep undercover in Tampa writes us: "I am stymied as to why Sam Trammell and Rutina Wesley ("Sam" and "Tara") from HBO's True Blood are in my office's conference room giving out autographs and pictures with all 500 of the employees in my Tampa, FL cable company's office. Is it normal for a show to bring its actors on a tour of Florida suburbs to shake hands with call center employees, tech staff, etc.? Is this kind of grassroots PR work a good sign for the show, or a bad one?" Gee, we don't really know, though when we stop to think about it, the Austin Nichols and Luke Perry John From Cincinnati Visits A Surf Shop Near You! tour did come just weeks before its cancellation. Take from that what you will. [Defamer] -
do not try and bend the spoon
Tripping Balls With Ari Gold
What's to be done when you've exhausted every conceivable scenario in which to place your series's quartet of homoerotically bonded ne'er-do-wells? In Entourage's case, it means sending them to the desert with Eric "Abs of Steel" Roberts and a bag of magic mushrooms for a mind-expanding journey towards should-Vince-or-shouldn't-Vince-do-a-Benji-movie enlightenment. More » -
online video
HBO's original YouTube programming an epic failure
Site YouTube Reviewed began banging the drum early and loudly that the original content project for YouTube from HBO Labs, Hooking Up, is terrible. They've since chronicled everyone from YouTube's content partnership wrangler George Stromoplous to one of the YouTube fameballs who appears in the show, Cory "Mr. Safety" Williams, distancing themselves from endorsing the show. And now it seems that someone at HBO is trying to juice the subscriber stats to make the show look more popular than it is. More »
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By Jackson WestComment by marcsiry: Free advice for HBO: Viral videos have one thing in common (besides crap production values): Authenticy. There's something real, honest, original... more » | Other threads
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trade roundup
Nicole Kidman To Search For Mythical Fountain Of Botox In 'The Eighth Wonder'
· Nicole Kidman will star in The Eighth Wonder, an action-adventure whose goal "is to be to Raiders of the Lost Ark what the Bourne movies are to James Bond movies." Damn—comparisons were always our SAT Achilles' heel. We're just going to darken the oval next to Romancing the Stone and be done with it. [THR] More » -
trade roundup
Alan Ball's New HBO Show About People In Coffins Fails To Grab Viewers
· True Blood's premiere drew just 1.44 million viewers—about a half-million better than Tell Me You Love Me, but 2 million short of what John From Cincinnati managed to score in its slot following The Sopranos's series finale. We haven't watched it yet, because we find vampires annoying. Enough with the biting and the capes, already! [LAT] More » -
online video
7 YouTube videos that led HBO astray
HBO is creating an Internet TV show called "Hooking Up" which will feature seven YouTube-famous personalities. Philip DeFranco and Kevin Wu? Yeah, we'd never heard of them — but their videos and those of five other lucky videographers picked by HBO have generated a total of 35 million views. Why would HBO, known for high-quality productions like The Sopranos, Sex and the City and The Wire, risk tainting a brand people actually shell out money for on their monthly cable bills? HBO parent Time Warner should have released "Hooking Up" on the AOL-owned social network Bebo, and let HBO stick with content worth paying for. Here are the videos that landed their stars, inexplicably, an HBO deal: More »
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Comment by longtailwagsthevalley: i guess the guy from john from Cincinnati is busy parking cars... more » | Other threads
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trade roundup
New 'Tarzan' To Have Biggest Vines Ever!
· Noted shlockteur Stephen Sommers will write and direct Warner Bros.'s splashy Tarzan remake, set to push the flimsy-loincloth envelope further than any version to come before. [Variety] More » -
entourage
Ari And Lloyd: A Love Story
With just a little over a week until the new season of Entourage begins, we thought we'd take a moment to salute the most complex and rewarding of all relationships in that ongoing industry sausage fest: that of Ari and Lloyd. And no better examples of their glorious co-dependency exist than in those moments when everyone's favorite double-banger-securing Zeus completely loses his shit on his fiercely loyal Gaysian henchman. Defamer videographer Molly McAleer combed through the Entourage archives to find the greatest of all spittle-flecked Ari-Lloyed exchanges—though call us biased, our favorite one didn't make the cut. More » -
tv
A Golden Age For Cable
Time Warner yesterday announced some weak quarterly financials, with earnings off 26 percent. But there was a big bright spot, the media conglomerate's cable networks like HBO and CNN, where profits were up 18 percent, led by advertising gains. There's a similar situation at NBC Universal, where ratings gains at Bravo (Runway, Top Chef), MSNBC (Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews) and even the USA Network have formed a thick silver lining around the storm cloud that is the flagship broadcast network. The business-side gains add a financial dimension to the cable industry's creative golden age, described by the Times' David Carr in June and obvious to anyone with a smartly programmed DVR or Netflix queue. Cable is the swaggering golden child of television, and it's only going to get more confident, because the advertising model that's fueling all its fun happens to be perfect for a recession.
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trade roundup
Marvin The Martian To Destroy Hollywood For A Better View Of Venus
· Oh, goody! Eight-ball-faced (literally, not in the Andy Dick sense) Looney Tunes character Marvin The Martian will get his own Warner Bros. feature, in which he shall finally be reunited with his beloved eludium pu36 explosive space modulator. [Variety] More » -
defamer
'Heidi Fleiss' Doc Directors Recall Her Joys, Pleasures and the Pitfalls of Bird-Love
One of the most stirringly batshit films we've seen this year, Heidi Fleiss: The Would-Be Madam of Crystal debuts on HBO tonight after a successful premiere run at last month's Los Angeles Film Festival. We've tipped you previously to some of the harrowing dynamics herein: Ex-madam Heidi Fleiss nabs a land deal in Pahrump, Nev., where she'll attempt to make her comeback with an all-male brothel for women. Civic outrage, meth relapses and an inheritance of tropical birds conspire to scuttle her dream. Hilarity decidedly does not ensue. More » -
mad men
Ads For Ad Show Swallow Commuters
The New York subway system is taking full advantage of its plan to sell all flat surfaces for advertising, including the outside of trains. The latest and most appropriate sponsor of the metal cattle car that you squeeze yourself into every depressing morning: Mad Men, the acclaimed show about advertising! Even if you barely miss your train as it pulls away, leaving you frustrated and abandoned, you'll still be educated about the existence of Mad Men. Sweet. More pics of the hellaciously busy interior of these message-wielding cars, after the jump. More »
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Comment by cyberpersephone: That's the cleanest subway car I have ever seen. more » | Other threads
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twilight
'Twilight' Star's Hairy Chest Frightens The Tweens As Alan Ball Preps Hotter, Cooler Vampire Series
Like it or not, it’s time to let go of any qualms you may have about welcoming a successor to Harry Potter’s tween-bewitching throne and embrace what will surely become the zeitgeisty-est franchise of the decade. Twilight is here, it’s a little bit queer, and don’t even try ignoring it. The dewy, sexy, hickey-adorned film version of the hugely successful books centered around hot teenage vampires has begun garnering its first feature stories in the glossies, and the millions of “fan girls” obsessed with the tales are mad as hell and not gonna take it anymore. The new issue of EW features the film’s two newbie stars on its cover, and the odd photo is setting message boards and fan sites ablaze with criticism from the series’ longtime devotees. And angry fans aren’t the only obstacle Twilight faces — too-cool-for-school Alan Ball has a vampire show premiering on HBO later this year and, unlike “powdered donut” Edward and “plain” Bella, his blood-suckers sit at the cool kids’ table... More » -
david simon
'Wire' Creator Proud of New HBO Miniseries, No Matter Who Wrote it
From the creator of The Wire! Sort of! The Iraq miniseries Generation Kill premieres this weekend on HBO, with do-no-wrong David Simon linked as co-writer/executive producer of the seven-part event. The LA Times had a look and seems to have liked it fine, despite the fingerprints of journalist and source author Evan Wright having smudged some of the central characters' "expository dialogue." More » -
celebrity-industrial complex
HBO's Washingtonienne: Sex And The City With A Lot More Anal
HBO announced it was moving forward with a pilot for Washingtonienne, based on the book that lightly fictionalized Senate staffer Jessica Cutler's adventures as an anonymous blogger who took money from politically-powerful men for sex including, famously, for lots of ass fucking. The show, whose development has been previously reported, is to be a half-hour comedy. Cutler sells her body, wacky hijinks ensue, presumably. Sarah Jessica Parker is executive producing, so it sounds like it will basically be Sex And The City, but in DC. Filming is set to begin soon. Does this mean casting has already occurred? Who will play Cutler? Who will play Gawker Media alumna Ana Marie Cox (who publicized Cutler's online diary in 2004)? Vote on this critical civic issue in the comments, even if it's the only vote you cast all year! [Variety] -
defamer
Secrets Of The Prosthetic Member: 'Tell Me' Star Tells All
As the official site describes it, HBO's Tell Me You Love Me offers "an unfiltered look at three couples as they navigate critical periods in their lives." By "unfiltered," of course what they mean is, "boldly ushering slapping balls into the premium cable landscape." And no one's slapping balls were more closely scrutinized than actor Adam Scott, whose Cruiseian good looks made up one-half of the couple you would have most eagerly TiVoed through the boring stuff to see knock prosthetic uglies. Talking to BlackBook, Scott reveals what went into making the "banging for real" illusion come alive: More » -
sloane crosley
OMG Sloane Crosley Totally Loves Us
Sloane Crosley, author, popular publicist, self-effacing autobiographer, HBO series subject, gossip monster assembler, big ass chronicler, partygoer, and etiquette specialist has a new video interview out, and damned if she's not commenting on us and the rest of the "snarky urban jungle." Whoa, you write about somebody 27 times and all of a sudden it's like they can't stop talking about you. It's okay though—she thinks all this vicious online gossip is a net positive(!), a view that I tried to get across to Keith Gessen at his party, without success. Perhaps he will be persuaded by listening to his pal Sloane! Watch Crosley explain why she tolerates Gawker and its commenters, but Village Voice readers made her cry, below: More »
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Comment by The Warrior-Poet: @gladys_kravitz: Whoa, that is disconcerting. Sometimes folks do glance around as they gather their thoughts while conversing, but she looks... more » | Other threads
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dan klores
Way Smart Ex-PR Guru To Make Crazy Movie Version Of Crazy Documentary
Dan Klores is the smartest man in PR. That's because he's not in PR any more. He founded his eponymous agency, which made (and still makes) him a ton of money, and then decided, "You know what? Fuck this shit. I'm gonna make movies." Now he spends all his time making (actually good!) documentaries and hosting soirees for various power brokers, without ever having to deal with the actual PR industry much. And he's about to move further up the entertainment industry food chain, because HBO has signed him to direct a movie version of his Believe-it-or-not psycho documentary Crazy Love. This, I will watch. More »
hbo
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Sat Jul 11
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