Larry’s headed to the great city of New York in the next season of Curb Your Enthusiasm and he’s bringing a boat load of special guests with him. They include Ricky Gervais, Michael J. Fox, Rosie O’Donnell, Michael McKean, Ana Gasteyer, and Bill Buckner. Get a behind the scenes sneak peek at the upcoming season above!
Curb season 8 begins July 10 on HBO.
Can’t get enough of Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant, and Karl Pilkington? Well good because HBO recently greenlit a The Ricky Gervais Show for a third season. The animated program is based on a podcast with the same name and it brings to life the seemingly random yet fascinating conversations between Gervais and his comedic pals. Though the show is no ratings boon for the premium cable network it fits right in with HBO’s lineup and demographic. The season 2 finale airs this Friday, April 15 at 9PM.
[Via Deadline]
Let’s get right to it, shall we? True Blood season 4 (known amongst fans as “Season of the Witch”) premieres Sunday, June 26 at 9PM; there will be 12 episodes in all. Curb Your Enthusiasm season 8 premieres Sunday, July 10 at 10PM; 10 episodes in all, some of which will take place in New York. The eighth and final season of Entourage premieres Sunday, July 24 at 10:30PM; after the shortened 8-episode run, watch out for the theatrical adaptation to follow.
[Via TVLine]
Right on schedule HBO has begun production on the second season of How To Make It In America, the dramedy that follows 20-somethings (Bryan Greenberg and Victor Rasuk) who are trying to make it big in the fashion industry in New York City. Pictured above is Scott Mescudi (aka Kid Cudi) and Greenberg. Cudder posted it on his new Tumblr site, and he promises fans that Domingo Brown will have more of a presence in the upcoming season. And this is already being proven–check out the gallery below to sneak a peek of Cudi and female lead Lake Bell walking the streets of NYC (specifically East 12th Street) filming a scene. HTMIIA season two is set to premiere this summer.
[Via CudLife; DatNewCudi; DNAInfo]
Bryan Greenberg, the star of HBO’s How To Make It In America, is about to drop his debut album. It’s called We Don’t Have To Wait Forever and it releases January 18. It’s being described as “a fresh collection of introspective narratives and soulful ballads” and it features a track called “You Can Run” that features Kid Cudi. Back in June Cudder dropped by a live Greenberg performance and laid down a freestyle and joined in on the chorus. In an interview with Complex Magazine Greenberg shares the story:
“I did have one [song] in mind for him and he did it live. He came to my show like a year ago in New York, when I was on tour. He jumped on stage for a little freestyle. When he heard the song he was like, “I really like it and that’s why I’m going to do it.” I was really honored by that. I thought he was going to rap, but he sang. It was cool. He’s really a true artist.”
Looking forward to the second season of HTMIIA? In that same interview Greenberg talked about what’s in store for Ben and Cam. “[The show] hasn’t reached the tipping point at all. I’m going back to L.A. next week and we’re going to do read-throughs of the first four episodes. I’m super excited. It’s going forward a couple of months and the business is growing…it’s like, how does this guy become Ralph Lauren? How does it happen? We take if from the street, like early, early sh– to like…that’s the goal, you know? It’s going to take years to develop.”
Preview the album’s lead single “Walk Away” in the video embedded above. How to Make It In America season 2 is currently in production and is expected to air this summer.
Update: The acoustic-based single “You Can Run” featuring Kid Cudi’s singing voice is now available to stream! Listen to it below and download it here.
Download: Bryan Greenberg – “You Can Run” (Featuring Kid Cudi)
[audio: Bryan Greenberg – You Can Run (Featuring Kid Cudi).mp3]Fun fact. The inspiration for the song actually stems from Greenberg’s character Ben from HTMIIA. “I was kind of writing from the point of view of Ben and being scorned by Rachel and that just being a reason to succeed in life,” he says. “I did notice that a lot of successful people in this world, they always say that it’s about the art or it’s about the work. But when it comes down to it, [what drives them is that] they were made fun of in high school. Or there was a girl that dumped them and they’re trying to get back at them. I was coming from that mentality.”
[Via DatNewCudi; Complex; EW; HipHopUpdate]
Paul Reubens brought his signature character to Broadway for a limited two-month run, and now he’s solidified plans to televise his Pee-wee Herman stage show on HBO! So if you missed out on his Broadway stint, this should be music to your ears. An unspecified January show at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre will be shot and used for the HBO special which will air sometime in 2011 following the show’s run.
Nancy Geller, SVP HBO Original Programming: “Before his hit series and movies, HBO introduced Paul Reubens’ Pee-wee Herman to a national audience in the Young Comedians series, followed by the groundbreaking 1981 special. It’s thrilling to have Paul back on the network, and it will be a blast to return to Pee-wee’s Playhouse.”
Marty Callner, who directed the aforementioned 1981 special, has been called on again to direct the HBO presentation of The Pee-Wee Herman Show on Broadway.
We’ve heard through HBO programming president Michael Lombardo that Entourage creator Doug Ellin “wants to write a film, but wants to do it when the story will make sense.” This week more Entourage movie talk added more flames to fan speculation about the possibility of a movie featuring Ari Gold and gang, and this time it comes from executive producer Mark Wahlberg. “We have one last season left on TV and then it would probably take place after the finale,” said Wahlberg. “There are places to go. I’m still here all these years later, aren’t I? My story didn’t end in my 20s.” (If you didn’t know, the show is loosely based on the life of actor Wahlberg.) He says, “We want it to happen…[but] we won’t make it if we don’t have a good script,” echoing what Lombardo said about Ellin’s vision for a movie.
Well Entourage fans, it’s really starting to look like a movie is in the works. The eighth and final season of the show will air next summer on HBO, and following that six-episode arc we should have a better idea about where the creator and producers might want to head for a movie adaptation.
[Via EW]
HBO’s current Sunday night lineup is safe. Boardwalk Empire was picked up for a second season a month ago, and today HBO ordered additional seasons of comedies Bored to Death (starring Jason Schwartzman, Zach Galifianakis, and Ted Danson) and Danny McBride’s Eastbound & Down. The former averaged 1 million viewers this past Sunday and the latter 1.44 million. This is great new for fans of funny things.
[Via Deadline]
A mere two days after its smashing series premiere, HBO has renewed the Scorsese/Winter production Boardwalk Empire for a second season. The debut of the Prohibition-era drama averaged 4.8 million viewers, making it HBO’s most watched premiere since 2004’s Deadwood. Says Michael Lombardo, President of HBO Programming: “All the ingredients aligned for this one, from Mark Wahlberg and Steve Levinson’s initial pitch, to Martin Scorsese’s enormous contributions as director and executive producer, to the genius of Terry Winter and the expertise of Tim Van Patten, to a stellar cast led by Steve Buscemi. The response from the media and our viewers has been nothing short of amazing.”
Boardwalk Empire airs Sunday nights at 9PM on HBO.
[Via EW]
It’s mid-September, my favorite time of year. Brand new television programming begins and old favorites return. I’m going to run through the new network and cable shows that I’m most anticipating, let you know which returning shows you should be watching, and I’ll hypothesize about which new shows are likely to get the axe. Not so interested in my opinions? Simply click here to view the 2010 fall schedule for the big four networks (including synopses, cast/creator info, and trailers) and decide what to watch on your own terms.
CBS: There’s a reason why CBS is the most watched network–they mostly air procedural crime dramas that do not force viewers to tune in every week. Take, for example, the CSI franchise (which now includes CSI, CSI: NY & CSI: Miami) and the NCIS franchise (NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles). Sprinkle in some fantastic comedies like The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother plus popular reality shows like Survivor and The Amazing Race, and Undercover Boss and you’ve got a worthy lineup that does not require weekly viewing. Though I am not not the biggest fan of the procedurals, The Mentalist does a fine job of drawing me in when I happen to channel surf to the network. Also, I’ve only heard good things about The Good Wife, so you might want to give that a try as well.
Of the five new shows premiering this fall on CBS, there’s only one that I’m fully interested in: Hawaii Five-O. Again, crime procedurals are usually not my cup of tea but there’s no denying how action-packed and fun this 1960s reboot looks. (The show originally aired on CBS for 12 seasons from 1968-1980.) Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman (Fringe) serve as executive producers and stars Alex O’Loughlin (Three Rivers), Scott Caan (Entourage), Daniel Dae Kim (Lost), and the beautiful Grace Park (Battlestar Galactica: The Plan) will work together to take down the villains. Except tons of explosions, violent action scenes, and quick, witty banter from Caan. It only helps that the backdrop to all of this is Oahu! Premieres Monday, September 20 at 10PM.
Getting the axe? $#*@ My Dad Says.
Executive producers Mark Wahlberg and Steve Levinson, who currently work together on HBO’s Entourage and the upcoming series Boardwalk Empire, are teaming up with controversial writer James Frey to produce a new one-hour drama about the porn industry that will star both actors and porn stars. According to the NY Post, “The plot will focus on a giant video company under siege from Internet competitors and a girl from the Midwest whose boyfriend convinces her to move to Los Angeles to become a star.” Frey, who is currently writing the pilot, shares, “We’re going to make a sprawling epic about the porn business in LA. We’re going to tell the type of stories no one else has told before, and go places no one has gone before.” OK I’m hooked.
True Blood stars Alexander Skarsgard, Anna Paquin, and Stephen Moyer posed nude covered in fake blood for the next issue of Rolling Stone, set to hit newsstands August 20. I have yet to start watching the HBO hit, but from what I’m told it quickly turned into crazy sexy vampire porn. If that’s the case I’d say this cover is fitting, wouldn’t you?
[Via zap2it]