HBO's Big Summer

Folks at the HBO camp must be feeling pretty great. The network is riding high on some pretty big ratings this summer, the most impressive being the numbers for season two of vamp-opera True Blood which is reaching a reported average of 10.8 million viewers per episode.

This last week's first airing at 9pm Sunday drew 3.7 million watchers, which ballooned to 5.1 if you add in the second showing. Throw in DVR's and HBO On Demand and the network is coming up with that 10.8 number, which is a near 40% bump (38% to be exact) over the first season.

The network is also probably elated with the big numbers for it's newest scripted original show, Hung, which premiered to 2.8 million viewers. Throw in the second showing and all told the show was watched by 3.7 million. It managed to hold 76% of the True Blood lead-in and is reportedly the largest premiere for HBO since John From Cincinnati, which, while the show ended up bombing, premiered strong on the back of The Soprano's series finale.

Congrats, HBO, on a banner month.

Now let's get ready for the return of Entourage with it's sixth season premiering July 12th. This season will see some new additions to the cast and some guest stars. Joining the show full time will be Kate Mara of 24 and Brokeback Mountain as E's new assistant, The OC's Autumn Reeser as a junior agent at Ari's agency, and Gary Cole who's been in everything from The West Wing and Office Space to Kim Possible.

And speaking of The West Wing, Aaron Sorkin, creator of WW, Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip, Sports Night, etc, will make a guest appearance as himself. Other notables playing themselves this season will include Lil' Wayne, Zac Efron and a whole bunch of sports stars.

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Hung Vs. Matt & Kim

HBO has given us a sneak peak at the opening credits for it's newest original series, Hung. Everything starts off normal enough with a river and city view, everyday life amidst downtown architecture. Right around 17 seconds the lead actor, Thomas Jane, begins taking off his tie and throws it to the ground, his jacket hits pavement just ten seconds later and...wait a minute. Haven't I seen this already?

Why yes, we have: it's the premise of a Matt & Kim video.

I don't know much about the musical duo, other than that catchy tune featured in Bacardi commericals and this:





Granted Hung's trailer is scripted and filmed legally, but hey...you know...You guys couldn't have come up with something better?

I am not one for opening credits. I prefer shows go without them but we're talking HBO here - probably the one network with opening credits that don't suck. True Blood's bluesy, dirty, gritty intro, The Sopranos Garden State tour, Entourage's blaring Janes Addiction fist pumper "Oh Yeah!, Oh Yeah!" - all perfect ways to start a show...but stealing your intro from a hipster pop duo? At least they had the balls and creativity to do it for real.

P.S. Each time I type Thomas Jane, I think of The Mentalist main character Patrick Jane. Not sure why I just typed that, though.

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Trailer For HBO's New Show Hung

Last night I posted about the announcement of Hung's premiere date and pairing with True Blood and today we have a preview!

HBO was pretty secretive with the premise of the show, letting the title speak for itself. I assumed the character would be a porn actor but this promo shows him becoming a male prostitute. It's HBO, of course, so I'm assuming this is gonna rule. Other than John From Cincinnati and Lucky Louie, I have not never been disappointed by the network.


Hung (Premiering June 28th on HBO)

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HBO Announces Premiere Date For Hung

HBO has finally announced a premiere date for it's newest original scripted series, "Hung". The date, June 28th, means we have to wait just over a month but it should go by fast considering it's latest hit, "True Blood" is returning in just about two weeks on June 12th.

Good scheduling news, too: True Blood and Hung are going to be paired up with TB at 9pm and Hung at 10. The season is only 10 episodes and the first episode of Hung times out at 45 minutes with the remaining 9 clocking in around 30 minutes.

I don't know about anyone else but I always feel like 30 minutes is simply not long enough when it comes to HBO shows. Actually, most HBO half hour series run between 22 and 26 minutes in length due to the lack of commercials. We're getting the same amount of programming as with a commercial supported show but it just seems shorter due to no commercial breaks and because, let's face it, HBO shows tend to be a much higher caliber than anything on network or even regular cable.

P.S. I'm not gonna bother posting about the cry baby family values people griping about this series' premise. It'd be a waste of time.

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