HBO

Thanks for
the Memories,
Bob, 'Cuz 2008
TV Stunk

OPINION

Dec 28, 2008 12:32 PM CST

Thanks for the Memories, Bob, 'Cuz 2008 TV Stunk

The golden age of TV may have died this year

(Newser) - Today's golden age of TV lost a little shine this year, Heather Havrilesky writes on Salon. Twelve quick months gobbled up all of the momentum and promise from years past, leaving “a haze of crappy, unoriginal new programming, lackluster sophomore shows, flaccid sitcoms and pointless cable comedies.” Old...

Sopranos'
Johnny Cakes
Commits Suicide

Dec 25, 2008 3:15 PM CST

Sopranos' Johnny Cakes Commits Suicide

Actor Costelloe played a gay mobster's lover

(Newser) - The actor who played Johnny Cakes on The Sopranos is dead, the New York Post reports. John Costelloe, 47, shot himself in the head in Brooklyn last week, police and friends said. The former firefighter served a brief but pivotal role as the gay lover of a closeted mobster in...

Oprah Seals Production Deal With HBO

Dec 16, 2008 4:35 PM CST

Oprah Seals Production Deal With HBO

Talk-show host's production company will do films, miniseries on cable mainstay

(Newser) - Oprah Winfrey has a production deal with HBO, ending a long-lived partnership with ABC, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. The exclusive, 3-year arrangement will allow Oprah’s Harpo Films more flexibility than before. “Being on a cable channel like HBO offers us a tremendous amount of creative freedom not seen...

Other Pelosi
Readies Political Documentary
for HBO

Sep 12, 2008 5:38 PM CDT

Entourage Propels Wahlberg

Actor-producer embraces the hyphen

(Newser) - Mark Wahlberg continues to beef up his filmography, but behind the scenes the Entourage actor-producer is evolving into a major player. Through his TV production company, Leverage, he's a producer of the hit HBO show, and parlaying acting into producing was always the plan, the onetime Calvin Klein model tells...

Phelps' Agenda: VMAs,
Entourage ... LiLo?

Aug 29, 2008 11:10 AM CDT

Phelps' Agenda: VMAs, Entourage ... LiLo?

As starlet Lohan pesters for a date, swim star films HBO cameo, preps for MTV show

(Newser) - Michael Phelps is getting more Hollywood by the day, AP reports: The swimming star yesterday filmed a cameo spot for the show-biz-centric HBO series Entourage, and will be a presenter at MTV’s Video Music Awards on Sept. 7 (six days before he hosts Saturday Night Live). And, the Daily ...

Larry David, Curb Returning

Jul 11, 2008 10:06 AM CDT

Larry David, Curb Returning

Season 7 of Curb Your Enthusiasm coming to HBO early next year

(Newser) - Irascible Larry David will be bringing Curb Your Enthusiasm back for a seventh series, reports Reuters. New episodes of the edgy comedy are expected to air early next year, more than a year after last year's series ended in November 2007. HBO bosses says the Seinfeld creator is—you guessed...

Generation Kill On Target

TV Review

Jul 10, 2008 4:31 PM CDT

Generation Kill On Target

HBO's miniseries captures soldiers in 'their unfettered, foul-mouthed glory'

(Newser) - From the mean streets of Baltimore to the meaner ones of Baghdad, the force behind The Wire scores a direct hit with HBO's new Generation Kill, writes Brian Lowry for Variety. Following a cast of Marines during the Iraqi invasion’s first 40 days, the 7-episode miniseries may make you...

This Season's Hot Accessory: The Movie Tie-In

May 27, 2008 10:12 PM CDT

This Season's Hot Accessory: The Movie Tie-In

Sex and the City cottage industries look more like penthouses

(Newser) - For the innumerable entities cashing in on Sex and the City, the movie due out Friday is the tip of the multimillion-dollar iceberg, reports Forbes. New Line Cinema, which has tie-in deals with eight companies, compares the likely blockbuster to “the Super Bowl for women.” Other high-end beneficiaries...

HBO's Recount
Scathing But Fair

TV REVIEW

May 23, 2008 10:11 AM CDT

HBO's Recount Scathing But Fair

Film doesn't 'play it safe' politically

(Newser) - "Recount," HBO’s “first-rate” docudrama about the aftermath of the 2000 presidential election, takes the bold step of showing the harsh truth of the story, instead of “playing it safe,” writes Gary Kamiya for Salon. Leading players on both sides approved the script—surprising, Kamiya...

HBO: Coming to a Hard Drive Near You

May 12, 2008 6:51 PM CDT

HBO: Coming to a Hard Drive Near You

iTunes will sell shows and movies, but they may be pricey

(Newser) - Apple and HBO are close to an agreement that would let iTunes sell episodes of HBO shows, Portfolio reports. Sources say HBO has cut a good deal—either by breaking iTunes' $1.99 video price ceiling or getting a bigger share of the same rate. But at least one HBO...

Sex and the City Star Misses ... the City

May 5, 2008 2:57 PM CDT

Sex and the City Star Misses ... the City

On eve of movie release, Parker recalls bygone Manhattan

(Newser) - When Sarah Jessica Parker laments the old Manhattan that is slowly eroding—coffee shops and bodegas closing, Sex and the City bus tours parked outside Magnolia Bakery—her husband, Mathew Broderick, tells it to her straight: “That’s your fault!” New York magazine sits down with the star,...

Author Uses Costas Show to Blast Bloggers

OPINION

May 1, 2008 6:31 PM CDT

Author Uses Costas Show to Blast Bloggers

Irate writer's profane 'discussion' sweeps newfangled Interwebs

(Newser) - The déclassé world of sports bloggers infiltrates the vaunted mainstream media today with New York Times sports media expert Richard Sandomir's take on Tuesday's episode of HBO's Costas Now. The live "town hall" setting included a segment on sports bloggers that quickly devolved into a tirade by Pulitzer...

Movie Studios to Create Premium Channel

Apr 21, 2008 8:50 AM CDT

Movie Studios to Create Premium Channel

MGM, Paramount, Lionsgate joint venture would target HBO

(Newser) - Paramount Pictures, MGM Studios, and Lionsgate are creating a premium TV channel to compete with HBO and Showtime, reports the Los Angeles Times, which currently showcase their programming. The joint venture comes as those same channels look to pay studios less for movies and pursue production of their own content.

Is That You,
Samantha?

Apr 17, 2008 6:55 PM CDT

Is That You, Samantha?

Kim Cattrall plays it staid in Victorian drama of Rudyard Kipling's family

(Newser) - Kim Cattrall had to pull a quick-change to start filming the Sex and the City movie: she’d just come off the set of a PBS film in which she played the buttoned-up wife of Rudyard Kipling, the New York Daily News reports. “It was definitely a challenging transition”...

HBO Struggles for Post-Sopranos Hits

Mar 22, 2008 8:50 AM CDT

HBO Struggles for Post-Sopranos Hits

New management picks a new crop of shows, hoping for a winner

(Newser) - HBO, at 36 years old no longer a bold young upstart of a network, is struggling to come up with hits to match The Sopranos and Sex & The City, the Wall Street Journal reports. Changes in the top ranks have meant shifts in direction: The Texas-set Lily Tomlin drama...

HBO Offers Shows Online, Free to Subscribers

Jan 21, 2008 12:42 PM CST

HBO Offers Shows Online, Free to Subscribers

Subscribers with PCs will be able to download programming

(Newser) - Time Warner’s category king, HBO, is looking for younger viewers as it launches an Internet service in partnership with several cable operators. HBO on Broadband bows tomorrow in Green Bay and Milwaukee, offering free web access to HBO programming for HBO subscribers. The company will make about 400 hours...

'Wire' Spotlight Burns Paper

Jan 16, 2008 1:25 PM CST

'Wire' Spotlight Burns Paper

Show's creator defends portrayal of real-life newsmen

(Newser) - The portrayal of battered, prize-grubbing and unscrupulous journalists in HBO's “The Wire”—based loosely on creator David Simon’s years at the downsizing Baltimore Sun—has provoked a furious internet outcry from some former colleagues who can't help but recognize themselves, the Washington Post reports. One highly regarded...

Critics Love Wire's Media Turn

Jan 6, 2008 4:32 PM CST

Critics Love Wire's Media Turn

Final season 'paints realistic portrait of newsroom'

(Newser) - Entering its last season, HBO's urban drama The Wire "succeeds strikingly at getting what's wrong just right," Tom Shales writes in the Washington Post. “Written and acted to the highest standards of the best TV drama,” the show has dealt with drugs, job loss, and school...

The Name's Bonds,
Barry Bonds

Nov 29, 2007 3:54 PM CST

The Name's Bonds, Barry Bonds

HBO plans to make a movie about the scandal-prone slugger

(Newser) - HBO is planning a movie about the recently indicted Barry Bonds, to be written and directed by Ron Shelton—the man responsible for Bull Durham, Tin Cup, and White Man Can't Jump. HBO has acquired the rights to the nonfiction book Game of Shadows, which detailed the unfolding scandal over...