Results tagged “hbo”

Weekend Edition

The season finale of HBO's "Bored to Death" is this Sunday at 9:30pm and it is a must-watch. There are plenty of McShows out there but this is not one of them and nor will it ever be. The brainchild of author and memoirist Jonathan Ames, the show about an author and part-time amateur private investigator bursts with uncompromised originality in every episode.

There's already some news about how this season is going in terms of viewership for the big networks: all the big networks have larger audiences with the exception of ABC. NBC is still struggling in 4th place and its "Jay Leno Show" has about 1/2 the viewership of its rival networks at that hour. Leno did an interview over at Broadcasting & Cable to get some positive press and alludes to a desire to return to the 11:35pm slot.

Halloween Weekend Edition You will have plenty of Halloween options starting tonight with CBS covering all bases with "NUMB3RS", "Medium" and "Ghost Whisperer" (fans of the last two should check out this "Spirit of Friday Night" website) but don't forget oldies but goodies like Psycho on TCM at 9pm. Tomorrow there will be Halloween fare all over the place with scary movies on IFC, TCM, and AMC which will be running Night of the Living Dead back to back from 6pm until midnight. You can always check out Martha Stewart's TV options or consider one of these "True Blood" jack-o-lantern stencils for last-minute Halloween ideas.

Weekend Edition The world watches an empty balloon that could be part of a stunt to get a reality show, hmmm, that makes us think that this particularly family could easily head down the "Jon & Kate Plus 8" route - and whoops, TLC is now suing Jon Gosselin. Unless there is some kind of massive intervention, nothing will end well for anyone in that family.

What we effed up: Not Tivoing "Mad Men" so we're watching it later tonight. Not that you can spoil it for us since it will probably involve Don jumping in the sack with yet another woman, some new account or other work crisis, and Betty doing something risque. We're not saying that the show is predictable or boring because these are major plot points for almost any show and what makes "Mad Men" special is the style and delivery. Cheers.

Will you like Drew Barrymore's Whip It? We know at least one person over at the LA Times that did. As mentioned earlier today, Ellen Page (Juno) who stars in the movie will be producing a single-camera comedy for HBO called "Stitch N' Bitch" that she will co-write with actors write with two other young actors, Alia Shawkat and Sean Tillmann (aka Har Mar Superstar). The story follows two hipsters as they relocate from Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighborhood to Los Angeles' Silver Lake in a bid to become artists. No release dates set yet.

Oh, this hipsterville to hipsterville concept has potential be wicked awesome, or an ultimate fail. Ellen Page and two others are writing and executive producing a comedy that "follows two painfully cool hipster girls as they relocate from Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighborhood to Los Angeles' Silver Lake enclave in hopes of becoming artists -- of any kind," reports the Hollywood Reporter.

"South Park" returns for a new season tonight and if you've got Xbox, they're launching a "South Park" game today as well. Season 13 will feature a hidden alien in each episode and if you find them all, you can enter to be a "South Park Citizen" and have your animated countenance to appear in a Season 14 episode.

Weekend Edition The TV world (and other worlds) is abuzz with David Letterman's statement yesterday regarding his sexual relations with female employees and an associated extortion attempt. Whether or not Letterman engaged in these activities after marrying his longtime girlfriend in March, It makes us wonder what kind of release one has to sign if becoming an employee in the entertainment industry these days.

David Cross has made audiences laugh their asses of on stage with his brilliant and vicious style of stand-up, on television in his incredibly funny work on "Arrested Development" as never nude analrapist Tobias Funke and as one-half of the team that gave us the hilarious HBO sketch comedy show "Mr. Show with Bob and David," on CD with is Grammy nominated Shut Up You Fucking Baby! and on the big screen. Now, David brings his brand of humor to the written form with his first book, I Drink for a Reason.

George Carlin might (finally) get an Emmy if Academy voters give him props for "George Carlin: The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize." C'mon, give an old man a break!

LA has a diverse cast of characters. Whether it's the characters with stirring stories or interesting occupations or the people who are just simply characters, this town has them all. In an effort to get to know some of those characters a little better, we've created "Seven Questions with..." If you have a suggestion for a future Seven Questions subject send us an email.

If you liked "The Colber(t) Repor(t)" reporting from Iraq last week, you will probably enjoy Jason Jones of "The Daily Show" reporting from Iran Monday through Thursday next week. Although not everyone thinks HBO's "True Blood" is the cat's pajamas, Sunday's premiere made the show the most watched program on HBO since the series finale of "The Sopranos".

Sure we have "The Soup" and a handful of choice regular programs this weekend, but what it's all about is the season premiere of "True Blood" at 9pm on Sunday on HBO. The buzz about this show has been building steadily since last season ended with most people catching up by either buying season one or renting it on Netflix. Here we are, the moment is about to happen - we've been invited to 2 viewing parties on Sunday, how about yourself? We're anticipating a lot of hungover viewers straggling into work on Sunday as there's something about vampires that makes people want to cut loose. Check out the HBO "True Blood" page, complete with a countdown counted in drops of blood.

Hasbro and the Discovery Channel(??) are forming a children's TV network together to launch sometime next year. I'm hoping to see the "MythBusters" guys blow up some My Little Ponys. --- In the kinda old news category, Disney has now bought 30% of Hulu which means ABC shows like "Lost" will now be available on the web network.

The AP has an interesting story today on local newscasters trimming their staff despite reports stating that local news is becoming a ratings leader compared to national news broadcasts. Having technology that allows only 1 or 2 people to go to a location shoot should mean more coverage, because that's what people want, not the same amount of coverage with less people.

At 5 p.m. last Tuesday, the line for the True Blood panel at PaleyFest snaked around the Cinerama Dome toward the Arclight entrance. Many of the predominantly female fans of the HBO series had been camped out since early afternoon, traveling from as far as Texas and New York.

Weekend EditionLast night the TV Junkie was very fortunate to be invited to the taping of "The Soup" which will air on E! tonight at 10pm. It was a fantastic experience made all the more special by a great special guest and some hilarious shenanigans. Charming and kind host Joel McHale and executive producers KP Anderson and Edward Boyd (very fun men in their own right) gave us a few minutes for a video piece that will be posted later tonight. "The Soup" has always been a weekly gem and to see it being put together before one's eyes was an amazing experience. We're so fortunate to have this team at E! process and present a week's worth of TV and pop culture for us with just the right perspective of smart and biting humor. Watch it tonight, it's even better than usual.

The Discovery Channel has put together a ton of programming it has dubbed "Alaska Week" and it begins tonight at 9pm with "Arctic Roughnecks". Tomorrow will feature the season premiere of "Deadliest Catch" and we will have an interview with Captain Keith of the Wizard for you!

Weekend Edition

LA has a diverse cast of characters. Whether it's the characters with stirring stories or interesting occupations or the people who are just simply characters, this town has them all. In an effort to get to know some of those characters a little better, we've created "Seven Questions with..." If you have a suggestion for a future Seven Questions subject send us an email.

Unless you are a basketball or baseball fan, this weekend's options are kind of slim - feel free to sift through our picks - what are you going to watch? If it's not on our list, let us know and we'll talk about it.

The Internet is abuzz today with promotion of HBO's "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" to air this Sunday. Some writer's are pointing out that the show doesn't address any of the problems going on in Africa these days (AIDS, war, famine, rape, pillaging of natural resource) - instead it depicts a laid-back and idyllic place with only quaint soap opera-esque concerns.

Tonight marks the end of "Battlestar Galactica", for about 20 years until the geeks of the future resurrect it like they did the now-campy 1970s version. Some have complained that this final season swung the show onto a science-fiction track that was too science-fiction-y but the show had to return to its roots, its core, before wandering off into the cosmos.

The TV highlight of the week occurred last night with the appearance of CNBC's Jim Cramer on "The Daily Show". Jon Stewart trotted out several video clips of Cramer pontificating about how to game and mislead the markets and how rewarding it is to do so. A lot of footage was cut in order to fit the show's 1/2-hour format so if you missed the airing and/or want to see the entire interview, you can get it all at "The Daily Show".

Sunday @ 10pm features the return of AMC's incredible series, "Breaking Bad", with Bryan Cranston (pictured, right) as Walt White, the terminally-ill high school science teacher-turned meth cooker. We've been eagerly waiting for this show to resume and AMC has done a great job whetting our appetite with their sneak webisodes and other promos. Since the other stuff we like to watch on Sunday's @ 10pm are available on-demand, this is one of our prime picks of the weekend.

LAist loves New Zealand/Silverlake's funny folk duo Flight of the Conchords. LAist loves Los Feliz' Best Fish Tacos in Ensenada -- a recent Recession Obsession.

Tonight marks the last broadcast of Conan O'Brien on "Late Night..." and what a ride it's been. From being a virtual unknown in front of the camera, O'Brien is now a staple of late night television. O'Brien's resurrection of NBC's "Late Night" after the departure of David Letterman to CBS was not easy and the first few years were very tenuous ones for the wild haired funnyman. With support from Lorne Michaels, O'Brien was given enough time to build an audience, something almost unheard of these days.

We love Amy Sedaris and we love the fact that we can see her on something other than just a few minutes with David Letterman - this time as a somewhat wacky psychic on "The Closer" tonight @ 9:00pm on TNT.