Malone

It's a boring Saturday night, and I'm sitting home trying to quell the urge for strong drugs. Just found out my neighbor relapsed and lost his job, and he'd been sober longer than me and we drove to AA a lot together, so I'm feeling vulnerable.

Anyhoo, anyone else notice that HBO shows are consistently stellar? I can't think of another network that has earned the kind of reputation for original programming as HBO. Anything I see that they're putting out, I'll watch and expect it to kick ass, and it always does. I saw they have a new vampire show based on a book series, and as horrible as that sounds, I'll probably give it a try just because it's HBO.
Why is this? I know they're a premium channel, but even with the five or ten bucks a month from each subscriber, they don't get advertisers fees, they have to pay for movie rights, and they have to pay for the show's production. So what's the deal? Is it because they have enough movie content that they can fill their time slots without having to try desperately to find a sub-par show to put on like the networks? Showtime had Dead like Me, which was okay but nothing stellar, and they have Dexter, which kicks ass, but nothing else really. I don't like Californication or Weeds.

Oz, Deadwood, Six Feet Under, Sopranos, Extras, Carnivale, John From Cincinnati, Lucky Louie, Curb Your Enthusiasm, all their original stand up shows, The Wire...the list goes on and on. I'm sure I forgot some good ones.

So. Any ideas on how they're so successful with their stuff. Or anyone want to just talk about the shows?

This thread sucks in retrospect I think.

EDIT: And Larry Sanders!

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There Is A Policeman Inside All Our Heads: He Must Be Destroyed

terrib

I smiled when you said anyhoo....I thought I was the only one that said that.

Shoot Matthew, I thought you were kidding all the times you mentioned drugs and alcohol...I guess you weren't, eh? How long have you been sober?

Malone

Well...I was just mentioning that to justify the stupidity of the thread, but I've been pretty much sober since January. I've drank once or twice or three times since then, but just wine and not enough to get shit faced.

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There Is A Policeman Inside All Our Heads: He Must Be Destroyed

AA

Yeah, well as a HUGE HBO fan, I've noticed that HBO does not aim to be hip. That's SHO's thing. That being said, Weeds and Californication are somewhat entertaining and the L Word is great. HBO aims for doing new things in weird ways, rather than riding trends (like SHO time does, arguably very well).

Rome (which you neglected to mention), Oz and Six Feet Under are gold. I couldn't get into Extra, John From Cincinnati, Lucky Louie or Curb Your Enthusiasm. The Wire, Sex and the City and the Sopranos were all watchable but nothing amazing. Deadwood and Carnivale were both GREAT and ended too soon. That's my five cents.

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AA

What's the new show called? I'm so glad they bought the rights to A Song of Ice and Fire. My favorite book series + my favorite source of entertainment is bound to = either disappointment or pure joy. Because it's HBO, I'm leaning towards the latter.

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terrib

Ohhh...have you tried that Chantix. It's that non-smoking drug that is wonderful btw and it is suppose to make you not want to drink.

AA

Oh, I have to give props to SHO for doing Queer as Folk, which was really controversial when it first aired. Good job to them! The show was awful though. They decided to make soft core porn rather than actually include enjoyable plot. They apologized with good writing in the L Word though.

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Malone

I forgot Rome. The first season was about as perfect as TV can get. I was kind of thrown off that they didn't show the huge battle, but it was actually a cool way to do it in retro spect. The second season was good but not as great, but I have friends who think it's better.

The new vampire show is...True Blood. Episode one leaked onto the net. You can find it here: NinjaVideo.net - True Blood Season 1 I haven't tried that link, it might be dead now.

And you're right about them ending shows too soon. Ending Deadwood after 3 killed me. They're kind of like British TV in that they usually don't have long running series. I've heard that Carnivale was supposed to be a mini-series, but weren't there two seasons?

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There Is A Policeman Inside All Our Heads: He Must Be Destroyed

AA

I agree 100% about first season vs second season. The most upsetting thing about the second season to me was the lack of house vs house. I loved the whole Atia vs Servillia thing. Atia was such a fucking great character.

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AA

Awesome the Wiki about True Blood is pretty useful. True Blood - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It's an Alan Ball (creator of Six Feet Under) project. I can't wait.

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terrib

A.Aaaaaa. Malone and I were fixin' to have a nice conversation and now you've come along and taken him away.

Writ-with-Hand

HBO is a great creative outlet.

On 13 July 2008 the mini-series, "Generation Kill," adopted from a book written by a reporter from Rolling Stones magazine, will air. The book was good I thought. The reporter traveled with members of Battalion Recon Marines (USA) as the United States invaded Iraq.

Youtube as something on it if anyone cares to go check it out. Pace.

Malone

I've been on Wellbutrin. I don't smoke anymore, but I dip, and it did nothing to counteract that. Never heard on Chantix. I'll look it up.

Oz is probably my favorite show ever. Every character was just so fucking good. I read recently that the guy who played McManus is actually one of the most badass theater actors/producers around.

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There Is A Policeman Inside All Our Heads: He Must Be Destroyed

Malone

I'm pumped about Generation Kill. Beecher from Oz is in it. The commercial looks horrifying and funny at the same time. That's my favorite mix.

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There Is A Policeman Inside All Our Heads: He Must Be Destroyed

Writ-with-Hand

Yeah, it's more reality based off the culture of the Corps. This will be no story where all the characters want to serve mankind, rescue puppies, never palm a female dates ass, and would rather die than say as curse word. Expect some of the characters to sound something like me. But I doubt any of them will be so evolved as to have acquired my uppity, bourgeois, tranny fetish. Chick with dicks, nuts on sluts. I bet the WWII Generation is just rolling over in their grave. To bad! you niggas didn't have crack! you got off easy, and perpetual tv series.