“True Blood’s” fourth season to premiere June 26
Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer of "True Blood" - HBO Photo by Doug Hyun
The 12-episode fourth season of “True Blood” is set to debut at 8 p.m. June 26 on HBO, according to a news release.
The series, based on the Sookie Stackhouse books by Charlaine Harris, was created by Alan Ball and follows the romance between waitress Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin), who can hear people’s thoughts, and 173-year-old vampire Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer).
Other “True Blood” cast members include Sam Trammell, Nelsan Ellis, Ryan Kwanten and Alexander Skarsgård.
From left, Sam Trammell and Nelsan Ellis of "True Blood" - HBO Photo by Doug Hyun
Kate Winslet perfects role of “Mildred Pierce”
Kate Winslet in "Mildred Pierce" - HBO Photo by Andrew Schwartz
Kate Winslet is sheer perfection in the title role of the HBO miniseries “Mildred Pierce,” directed by Todd Haynes and based on the 1941 novel by James M. Cain.
Winslet is captivating as she completely inhabits the character of Mildred Pierce, appearing in nearly every scene of the film.
Guy Pearce achieves excellence as well as the dashing Monty Beragon, a major love in Mildred’s life, who may or may not have Mildred’s best interests at heart.
The five-part drama follows the independent, ambitious and hard-working Mildred Pierce after she and her husband Bert (Brian F. O’Byrne) separate in Glendale, California in 1931 and then rebuilds her life for herself and her two daughters, Veda (Morgan Turner), 11; and Ray (Quinn McColgan), 7.
While looking for a job, Mildred gets dating advice from her neighbor and friend Lucy Gessler (former Tulsa resident Melissa Leo), winds up having an affair with an ex-business partner of her husband’s, Wally Burgan (James LeGros); then takes up waitressing at a diner where she is mentored by co-worker Ida (Mare Winningham).
Mildred’s specialty is cooking, particularly pie-baking, and she starts selling her homemade pies at the diner.
Then with Burgan’s assistance, she finds the perfect spot for a restaurant, her business takes off, and Mildred and Bert end their marriage in an amicable divorce.
Just when Mildred finds unexpected romance with diner customer Monty Beragon on her last day working there, a family tragedy ensues.
Mildred maintains an unreasonable devotion to oldest daughter Veda throughout the story. Veda, though no matther how hard her mother has worked to get where she is, always seems spoiled, unappreciative of what her mother has done for her, and acts as if she’s better than everyone else.
Evan Rachel Wood portrays Veda in her opera singing diva ways as an adult, and is spot on with demonstrating this character’s viciousness.
Though it tends to become difficult to accept Mildren’s toleration of Veda, much less her adoration of her, the intense chemistry between Winslet and Pearce; the adept directing by Haynes; the beautiful sets created by production designer Mark Friedberg; the artful look of the miniseries from cinematographer Ed Lachman; and the authentic costuming by Ann Roth are a combination that should sweep drama fans off their feet.
Parts One and Two of “Mildred Pierce” debut from 8 to 10:05 p.m. Sunday; with Part Three airing from 8 to 9:15 p.m. April 3; and Parts Four and Five airing from 8 to 10:30 p.m. April 10 on HBO.
– Melissa Hayer
mhayer@opubco.com
Guy Pearce in "Mildred Pierce" - HBO Photo by Andrew Schwartz
“Game of Thrones” premieres April 17 on HBO
"Game of Thrones" - HBO Photo by Helen Sloan
HBO’s new show “Game of Thrones,” based on the fantasy book series “A Song of Ice and Fire,” by George R.R. Martin, begins its ten-episode season April 17, airing from 8 to 9:05 p.m..
Executive produced and written by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, the series was filmed at the Paint Hall Studio in Belfast, Northern Ireland as well as in a variety of locations in Northern Ireland and Malta, according to a news release.
“Game of Thrones” stars include Mark Addy, Sean Bean, Peter Dinklage and Lena Headey.
The series’ synopsis, provided by HBO, is as follows:
“Game of Thrones” follows kings and queens, knights and renegades, liars and noblemen as they vie for power. As the series opens, King Robert Baratheon, who is married to Cersei Lannister of the wealthy and corrupt Lannisters, asks Lord Eddard “Ned” Stark to come south and help run his kingdom after the questionable death of his right-hand man. Meanwhile, there is a threat to the throne from the east by the exiled teenage Princess Daenerys and her brother Viserys, whose family ruled the Kingdoms for many years before their bloody ouster. And there are rumors of strange things happening at the edge of the Kingdoms, north of the Wall, where Jon Snow, Ned’s bastard son, goes to be part of the brotherhood of the Night’s Watch, which is sworn to protect the Kingdoms.
Lady Gaga’s Monster Ball Tour to be featured in HBO concert special
Lady Gaga performs at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City July 20, 2010 - The Oklahoman Photo by Bryan Terry
Lady Gaga will headline her first solo HBO concert event May 7, according to a news release.
In “Lady Gaga Presents the Monster Ball Tour at Madison Square Garden,” to be taped Feb. 21 and 22 in the performer’s hometown of New York City, Lady Gaga will be spotlighted on her sold-out world tour as she is accompanied by a ten-piece band and ten backup dancers.
“Born This Way,” Lady Gaga’s next album, is scheduled to be released May 23.
Lauriann Gibson will be directing “Lady Gaga Presents The Monster Ball Tour at Madison Square Garden.” Gibson has choreographed most of Lady Gaga’s videos, including “Poker Face,” “Paparazzi,” “Telephone,” “Alejandro” and “Bad Romance.”
Lady Gaga, Troy Carter, Vincent Herbert and Jimmy Iovine will be producers of the special.
“Bette Midler: The Showgirl Must Go On” to air New Year’s Eve on HBO
Bette Midler - AP Photo by Peter Kramer
Bette Midler’s fifth HBO special, “Bette Midler: The Showgirl Must Go On,” features the entertainer portraying some of her colorful characters and performing many of her greatest hits such as “The Rose,” “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy,” “From a Distance,” “Hello in There” and “Wind Beneath My Wings.”
The 70-minute show, taped before a packed house at The Colosseum at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas,, is Midler’s first on the network since 1997, according to an HBO news release.
The Staggering Harlettes backup singers, The Caesar Salad Girls dancers and a 13-piece band, which includes a six-person horn section from the Las Vegas band The Fat City Horns, are also highlighted.
“Bette Midler: The Showgirl Must Go On” will air at 8 p.m. Dec. 31 on HBO.
“Big Love” to return for fifth and final season Jan. 16
From left, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Bill Paxton, Chloë Sevigny and Ginnifer Goodwin of "Big Love." - HBO Photo by Lacey Terrell
The HBO drama series “Big Love” will be back for its fifth and final season Jan. 16.
“Big Love” is the story of Salt Lake City businessman Bill Henrickson, who juggles the needs of his three wives – Barb, Nicki and Margene – their nine kids and three houses, and his own entrepreneurial ambitions, according to an HBO news release.
Bill Paxton, Tulsa native Jeanne Tripplehorn, Chloë Sevigny and Ginnifer Goodwin star in “Big Love,” which is executive produced by Playtone’s Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman, David Knoller, Bernadette Caulfield and series creators and show runners Mark V. Olsen & Will Scheffer.
“Bored to Death” a quirky diversion
From left, Ted Danson and Jason Schwartzman in "Bored to Death." - HBO Photo by Barry Wetcher
I’ve just recently watched a few episodes of the second season of the HBO comedy series “Bored to Death,” and it definitely grew on me as I went through a few of the shows, even though I had never watched it before.
“Bored to Death” is centered on Jonathan Ames, played by Jason Schwartzman.
Ames is a writer by day and moonlights as a teacher of fiction writing.
Ames also works as an unlicensed private detective.
Jonathan’s needy mentor George Christopher (Ted Danson) is struggling with his magazine’s new cost-cutting publisher as well as some sobering news involving his health.
Jonathan’s best friend, cartoonist Ray Hueston (Zach Galifianakis), works on his own personal crisis by creating a self-modeled comic book character named Super Ray.
Created by real-life writer Jonathan Ames, this series pretty much defines quirky, but these three characters manage to amuse as they go through their day-to-day misadventures and in solving Jonathan’s private detective cases.
Ames tackles seemingly mundane cases, such as investigating a possible cheating husband and finding a missing pet, but each one I saw ended up being an entertaining undertaking.
When you throw in the idiosyncrasies of each role, played to perfection by all three actors, particularly Danson and Galifianakis, you have the recipe for an unconventional yet diverting show.
“Bored to Death” airs at 9 p.m. Sundays on HBO.
– Melissa Hayer
mhayer@opubco.com
Zach Galifianakis in "Bored to Death." - HBO Photo by Barry Wetcher
HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire” scores on all levels
Steve Buscemi of "Boardwalk Empire" - HBO Photo
In “Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition,” former New York Times public editor Daniel Okrent described the political movement supporting Prohibition as “a mighty alliance of moralists and progressives, suffragists and xenophobes.” Each interest group had its own motivation, but on the eve of Jan. 16, 1920, perhaps the only people cheering louder than evangelist Billy Sunday’s 10,000-strong audience in Norfolk, Va. were the criminals who stood to gain the most from the passage of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution.
As director-producer Martin Scorsese and “Sopranos” writer Terrence Winter masterfully depict in HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire,” Prohibition provided the foundation for modern organized crime, and its epicenter was the coastal playground of Atlantic City, N.J.
In “Boardwalk Empire,” the primary mover of contraband Canadian whisky and bathtub gin is Enoch “Nucky” Thompson (Steve Buscemi), the town treasurer and a powerful political fixer. Nucky is beloved by the city’s working-class population for his benevolence and has the Temperance League completely snowed — he plays both sides expertly and deals fiercely with his competition in New York, Arnold Rothstein (Michael Stuhlbarg) and Lucky Luciano (Vincent Piazza). He has his good points — Nucky helps immigrant Margaret Schroeder (Kelly Macdonald) escape her abusive home life — but his corruption is so out in the open and his protégé Jimmy Darmody (Michael Pitt) takes actions that are so brazen that an FBI task force led by Agent Van Alden (Michael Shannon) is on his scent immediately.
Buscemi, a gifted character actor, is given an opportunity to conquer a strong lead role in “Boardwalk Empire,” and he plays Nucky (based on real-life Atlantic City kingpin Nucky Johnson) with a slithery grace — he turns from kindly to killer on a dime. Scorsese sets the scene perfectly in the pilot episode, but “Boardwalk Empire” actually improves in the next two installments directed by “Sopranos” vet Timothy Van Patten. In those episodes, titled “The Ivory Tower” and “Broadway Limited,” the pressure increases on Darmody and a member of Rothstein’s crew, 23-year-old Al Capone (Stephen Graham), leaves for Chicago to build his own gang.
With a spot-on cast and crew pushing the story forward, “Boardwalk Empire” almost plays like “The Sopranos: The First Generation,” and the action plays out with the same balance between epic and personal storytelling. And as should be expected, “Boardwalk Empire” is sometimes breathtakingly violent — brute force and point-blank killings are all part of the business. While the machinations of organized crime 90 years in the past might be a harder sell to some viewers than the contemporary setting of “The Sopranos,” “Boardwalk Empire” shows where, when and how it all began.
— George Lang
Stars lined up for HBO films and a miniseries
Kate Winslet - AP Photo
HBO has lined up the stars for its films and a miniseries to air in 2011-12.
The movies are “The Sunset Limited,” starring Tommy Lee Jones and Samuel L. Jackson; “Cinema Verite,” starring Diane Lane, Tim Robbins, and James Gandolfini; and “Hemingway & Gellhorn,” starring Nicole Kidman and Clive Owen, according to an HBO news release.
The miniseries is “Mildred Pierce,” starring Kate Winslet, Guy Pearce and Evan Rachel Wood.
“The Sunset Limited” is based on the play of the same name written by Pulitzer Prize-winner Cormac McCarthy and is directed and executive produced by Jones from a script by McCarthy.
It’s a two-character drama involving the story of a stranger who saves another man from throwing himself in front of the Sunset Limited, a Harlem subway train.
“Cinema Verite” is a film by Oscar nominees Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini and it takes a behind-the-scenes look at the documentary “An American Family,” which chronicled the lives of the Louds in the early 1970s and launched the Santa Barbara family to notoriety in the creation of a new television genre, the reality series.
“Hemingway & Gellhorn,” directed by Academy Award nominee Philip Kaufman, is about the tumultuous romance and subsequent marriage of classic author Ernest Hemingway and war correspondent Martha Gellhorn.
The miniseries, “Mildred Pierce,” directed by Oscar nominee Todd Haynes from a script by Haynes and Jon Raymond, is the story of a proud, single mother struggling to earn her daughter’s love during the Great Depression in middle-class Los Angeles.
“The Sunset Limited” debuts on HBO in February 2011, “Cinema Verite” will premiere in 2011, while “Hemingway & Gellhorn” will debut in 2012.
“Mildred Pierce” is set for a spring 2011 premiere.
HBO picks up new drama series ‘Luck’
Dustin Hoffman - AP Photo
HBO has placed its order for the new drama series “Luck,” a show featuring horse racing involving the owners, gamblers, jockeys and various gaming industry players.
“Luck” will begin production this fall at Santa Anita Park and other Los Angeles locations.
“Michael Mann delivered a pilot from David Milch’s brilliant script that took our breath away,” HBO Programming President Michael Lombardo said in a news release. “We are truly excited that these two artists, and our extraordinary cast headed by Dustin Hoffman, will be bringing ‘Luck’ to life.”
The cast for the pilot includes Dustin Hoffman, Dennis Farina, Richard Kind, Jason Gedrick and Nick Nolte.
The executive producers for the pilot were David Milch, Michael Mann and Carolyn Strauss; co-executive producer was Henry Bronchtein and Dustin Hoffman was producer.
David Milch wrote the “Luck” pilot, with Michael Mann directing.
