HBO: April Return Date Set For Season Two Of ‘Veep’

Via Press Release:

EMMY^®-NOMINATED HBO COMEDY SERIES VEEP,

CREATED BY ARMANDO IANNUCCI AND STARRING EMMY^®-WINNER

JULIA LOUIS-DREYFUS, RETURNS FOR SECOND SEASON APRIL 14

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Armando Iannucci, Christopher Godsick And Frank Rich Executive Produce

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With midterm elections looming, Vice President Selina Meyer is scoring higher ratings than the president in several popularity polls, which she hopes will boost her influence and help her curry favor with the chief executive. But as she knows all too well, even the most banal action can set off a ripple effect that has unexpected, far-reaching – and often disastrous – consequences.

The Emmy^®-nominated comedy series VEEP kicks off its ten-episode second season SUNDAY, APRIL 14 (10:00-10:30 p.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HBO. Created by Armando Iannucci (Oscar^® nominee for co-writing “In the Loop”), the show stars Emmy^®-winner Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Selina Meyer, who becomes vice president, only to discover The Job is nothing like she expected, but everything she was warned about.

VEEP follows the whirlwind day-to-day existence of Vice President Meyer as she puts out political fires, juggles a busy public schedule and demanding private life, and defends the president’s interests, even as she tries to improve her dysfunctional relationship with the chief executive.

The returning ensemble cast of the show also includes Tony Hale (“Arrested Development”) as Gary, Vice President Meyer’s right-hand man; Anna Chlumsky (“In the Loop”) as Amy, her chief of staff; Reid Scott (“My Boys”) as Dan, an ambitious political aide; Matt Walsh (HBO’s “Hung”) as Mike, Vice President Meyer’s weathered spokesperson; Timothy C. Simons (“Days Together”) as Jonah, an enterprising but annoying White House liaison; and Sufe Bradshaw (“Overnight”) as Sue, Vice President Meyer’s executive assistant.

Guest stars on the new season include Gary Cole (HBO’s “Entourage”), as Kent Davison, the president’s new senior strategist, Kevin Dunn (HBO’s “Luck”) as Ben, the president’s chief of staff, and Jessica St. Clair (“Bridesmaids”), as Dana, Gary’s new girlfriend.

Upcoming episodes:

Episode #9: “Midterms”

Debut: SUNDAY, APRIL 14 (10:00-10:30 p.m. ET/PT)

Other HBO playdates: April 14 (midnight), 16 (12:30 a.m.), 17 (9:30 p.m.) and 18 (10:30 p.m.)

HBO2 playdates: April 15 (8:30 p.m.), 16 (11:00 p.m.), 17 (11:35 p.m.) and 20 (1:15 p.m., 8:30 p.m.)

Fresh off successful campaign appearances for midterm elections, Selina sees an opportunity to expand her role, but must first curry favor with Kent Davison, the president’s icy senior strategist. Meanwhile, there are new developments in the staff’s personal lives.

Teleplay by Will Smith; story by Armando Iannucci & Will Smith; directed by Christopher Morris.

Episode #10: “Signals”

Debut: SUNDAY, APRIL 21 (10:00-10:30 p.m.)

Other HBO playdates: April 21 (midnight), 23 (12:30 a.m.), 24 (9:30 p.m.) and 25 (10:45 p.m.)

HBO2 playdates: April 22 (8:30 p.m.), 23 (11:00 p.m.), 24 (11:15 p.m.) and 27 (1:45 p.m., 8:30 p.m.)

Selina attends a pig roast in North Carolina as part of the president’s “Listen to Rural America” initiative. Dan takes up Pilates to get face time.

Teleplay by Simon Blackwell; story by Simon Blackwell & Armando Iannucci; directed by Chris Addison.

Episode #11: “Hostages”

Debut: SUNDAY, APRIL 28 (10:00-10:30 p.m.)

Other HBO playdates: April 28 (midnight) and 30 (12:30 a.m.), and May 1 (midnight) and 2 (10:30 p.m.)

HBO2 playdates: April 29 (8:30 p.m.) and 30 (11:00 p.m.), and May 1 (12:30 a.m.) and 4 (2:00 p.m., 8:30 p.m.)

As a hostage crisis in Uzbekistan heats up, Selina and Secretary of Defense General Maddox have trouble getting on the same page at their joint appearance at the Marine Corps Base at Quantico. Sue testifies at a congressional hearing on governmental efficiencies; Dan and Gary jockey for the Veep’s ear.

Teleplay by Sean Gray; story by Armando Iannucci & Sean Gray; directed by Chris Addison.

Episode #12

Debut: SUNDAY, MAY 5 (10:00-10:30 p.m.)

Other HBO playdates: May 5 (midnight), 7 (12:30 a.m.), 8 (9:30 p.m.) and 9 (10:30 p.m.)

HBO2 playdates: May 6 (8:30 p.m.), 7 (11:00 p.m.), 8 (11:40 p.m.) and 11 (4:15 p.m., 8:30 p.m.)

Selina is rankled when the White House releases an unflattering photo of her. Mike and Kent bond over sailing; Jonah gets an executive parking space; Sue has a job interview. Selina takes steps to keep her staff happy as they prepare for her appearance at the Vic Allen dinner.

Written by Simon Blackwell & Armando Iannucci; directed by Chris Addison.

HBO Cancels ‘Enlightenment’ After Two Seasons, Lies And Claims, “It Was A Very Difficult Decision”

The funniest part about the cancellation of the critically-acclaimed crapfest that nobody watched known as Enlightened (because the critics are always smarter than the audience), is that every single outlet covering the end of this stupid show cites the biggest lie told to date this year by a television network:

“It was a very difficult decision.  We’re proud of the show and we look forward to working with Mike White and Laura Dern in the future.”

That was from HBO’s press statement. Liars.  No one except the most pretentious pseudo-intellectuals could tolerate this stupid show for more than five minutes.  For crap’s sake, even the title was pretentious.

Just tell it like it is, HBO; this show was a dead-bang loser and you lost money on it.

SHOCKER! HBO Renews ‘Game Of Thrones’ For Season Four Within 48 Hours Of Season Three Premiere

Considering that HBO renewed Game of Thrones for seasons two and three within 48 hours of the premieres of seasons one and two, respectively, this really should come as a surprise to no one.  I’m just going to copy and paste this piece and save it in my “Drafts” folder for next year.

Via Press Release:

HBO RENEWS GAME OF THRONES FOR FOURTH SEASON

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Season Three Soars To Highest Viewership Yet

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LOS ANGELES, April 2, 2013 – HBO has renewed GAME OF THRONES for a fourth season, it was announced today by Michael Lombardo, president, HBO Programming.

Based on the bestselling fantasy book series by George R.R. Martin, GAME OF THRONES is an epic story of treachery and nobility set on the continent of Westeros, where summers and winters can last years, and only the lust for power is eternal. The Emmy^®– and Golden Globe-winning series launched its ten-episode third season Sunday, March 31 (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HBO, with other episodes debuting subsequent Sundays at the same time.

Among the early critical praise for the third season, the Hollywood Reporter called GAME OF THRONES “addictive and outstanding,” while Newsday termed the series “superb,” awarding the show an A+. The Chicago Tribunehailed the show as “spellbinding” and the Washington Post described it as “masterful.”

According to early data, GAME OF THRONES’ season three premiere March 31 on HBO topped the series’ highs, with record viewership for both the 9:00 p.m. (ET/PT) airing and gross audience across the three plays. At 9:00 p.m., it averaged 4.4 million viewers, outperforming (+4%) the previous high of 4.2 million viewers from last season’s finale. GAMES OF THRONES improved 13% in comparison to last season’s premiere of 3.9 million viewers. Across the three plays for the night, 6.7 million viewers tuned in, surpassing last season’s debut night of 6.3 million viewers by 7%. Last season, GAME OF THRONES had an average gross audience (HBO linear plays + HBO On Demand/HBO GO + DVR) of 11.6 million viewers.

For more on the series, visit facebook.com/GameOfThrones and twitter.com @GameOfThrones #GameOfThrones.

Season three credits: The executive producers of GAME OF THRONES are David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, Carolyn Strauss, Frank Doelger, Bernadette Caulfield; co-executive producers, Guymon Casady, Vince Gerardis, George R.R. Martin, Vanessa Taylor; produced by Chris Newman, Greg Spence.

HBO: ‘True Blood’ Season Six Premiere Date Announced

Via Press Release:

The debut date for the sixth season of the hit HBO series True Blood has been confirmed.

The ten-episode season of True Blood kicks off SUNDAY, JUNE 16 at (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET/PT).  Based on the popular Sookie Stackhouse books by Charlaine Harris, this Emmy^®-nominated hit drama series was created by Alan Ball, creator of HBO’s Emmy^®-winning series “Six Feet Under.”  The show follows waitress and part-faerie Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin), who can hear people’s thoughts, vampire Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer) and vampire Eric Northman (Alexander Skarsgård).

For more on the series, please visit facebook.com/trueblood and twitter.com/TrueBloodHBO #trueblood