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News of this show has been around for almost a year now, and anything following the HBO series Hung will finally be able to see the first episode tonight. It was developed by Alexander Payne, director of About Schmidt and Sideways, and tonight’s show was also directed by him.

The plot is rather a strange one. Thomas Jane (The Mist) plays Ray Drecker, a once-famous sports star who is unhappy in his life as a school sports teacher, not to mention still suffering from a recent divorce. Seeking some extra cash, Ray decides to avail of his one great asset, his rather enormous….er….. manhood.

HBO has a reputation for being explicit, and some say that a lot of such moment fel unnecessary, like a desperate attempt to provoke and gain an audience. And while Hung could indeed feel like a poor man’s Boogie Nights, I’m confident that Alex Payne has envisioned this to be more than an excuse for puns and double-entendres. Indeed, early reviews have seen the show as a witty attempt to explore life in an America rocked by economic uncertainty.

Hung starts tonight at 10pm on HBO.

Dennis Quaid is set to star as President Clinton with Julianne Moore  playing Hillary Clinton, and the ever so often Tony Blair, Michael Sheen, will portray the British Prime Minister in The Special Relationship, an HBO film about the irreplaceable and sometimes turbulent political relationship between the newly inaugurate PM and the U.S. president.

The film isn’t scheduled to go to production yet.  The film denotes the directing debut of “Frost/Nixon” playwright Peter Morgan, who wrote the screenplay.

I am sure all these actors and Morgan will pull off a delightful and insightful movie.

Another HBO series is set to be unveiled as they have announced the premier screening of a new HBO series, Brave New Voices. The premiere screening takes place at Sundance Cinemas, 1881 Post Street, San Francisco on Tuesday, March 24, 2009 at 6:30pm.

Immediately following the screening are live performances from poets in the series and a Q&A with Brave New Voices Executive Producer Stan Lathan and James Kass, Co-executive Producer of Brave New Voices and Executive Director, Youth Speaks. The screening is followed by a separate fundraiser produced by and benefiting Youth Speaks.

Celebrity stars Robert Redford, Stan Lathan, Benjamin Bratt, Peter Bratt and Dave Eggers are among the few hundred guests who will come out to support Youth Speaks and this groundbreaking new Home Box Office series, Russell Simmons Presents Brave New Voices Narrated by Queen Latifah, which chronicles the lives of teen poets from seven cities around the nation as they prepare to compete in Youth Speaks’ annual Brave New Voices Festival.

“Youth Speaks is thrilled to be working with HBO on this historic project,” said Youth Speaks’ Founder & Executive Director and series’ Co-Executive Producer, James Kass. “This is a story about some of the greatest teen poets in the country, about the remarkable voices of our young people–the voices of 21st Century America.”

(Source) Press

Even though a lot of hype is coming from the media on SAG’s ensemble award to Slumdog Millionaire on Sunday night, we mustn’t let it go unnoticed that they also handed out awards to Sean Penn for playing activist Harvey Milk in Milk and Meryl Streep for her performance as a fiercely certain nun in Doubt.

The late and multi-talented actor Heath Ledger won supporting role as the joker in The Dark Knight and the ever so vibrant, talented Kate Winslet for her appearance as a German woman harboring secrets in The Reader.

As for television it appears to be cookie cutter wins from the Golden Globe with NBC’s “30 Rock” and HBO’s “John Adams” in the comedy series and longform categories, and a top drama series honor for AMC’s “Mad Men.”

For a complete list of SAG winners, click here.

Variety carries word that HBO and Warner Bros. are set to produce an American remake of British TV drama Shameless. It is reported that original show creator Paul Abbott had long been in talks with various US networks in recent years about such a deal, with NBC previously coming close to setting up a project.

The drama series, which began in 2004, was set on a public housing estate in Manchester and followed the Gallagher clan, lead by alcohol and drug abuser Frank.

John Wells of ER fame is set to produce the remake.

The Hollywood Reporter reports that Michael Pitt is in final negotiations to star opposite Steve Buscemi in Boardwalk Empire, an upcoming HBO drama.

The series is based on Nelson Johnson’s book that chronicles the 1920s origins of Atlantic City. It will center on Nucky Johnson (played by Buscemi), a businessman who runs a liquor distribution ring at the onset of Prohibition. Pitt plays Jimmy Darmody, a young WWI veteran, a low-level flunky for Nucky who wants to quickly climb to the top.

The pilot is being helmed by famed director Martin Scorsese, who is also serving as executive producer with Mark Wahlberg, Stephen Levinson and Winter.

Steve Buscemi might be starring in “Boardwalk Empire,” Martin Scorsese’s drama pilot for HBO.
Kelly Macdonald might star as well. Both are in talks to sign the contract.  So far, the deals are looking good.
“Empire,” written by Terrence Winter and to be directed by Scorsese, is based on Nelson Johnson’s book, which chronicles the 1920s origins of Atlantic City, N.J. Buscemi would play Nucky Johnson, a crafty businessman who operates a liquor distribution ring at the onset of Prohibition. The Scotland-born Macdonald would play Margaret, a smart Irish immigrant who married the wrong man to get out of her parents’ house.

“Empire” is executive produced by Scorsese, Mark Wahlberg, Stephen Levinson and Winter.

HBO’s Temple Grandin project has netted Julia Ormond, David Strathairn and Catherine O’Hara as part of its cast.

The series will have Clair Danes starring as Grandin, one of the leading speakers on autism, whose unique experiences with the disorder led her to become one of the top scientists in humane livestock handling.

Ormond will play Grandin’s mother, with Strathairn playing her university science teacher. Meanwhile, O’Hara will play her aunt.

The project is being adapted to the big-screen by Merritt Johnson and Christopher Monger, with Mick Jackson directing. Shooting will begin later this month in Texas.

Variety relays word that Homicide: Life on the Streets collaborators David Simon and Tom Fontana will reunite for an HBO miniseries that will deal with the hunt for John Wilkes Booth, the man responsible for Abraham Lincoln’s assassination.

Based on James L. Swanson’s book “Manhunt”, the story follows the twelve-day search for Booth. It will focus on the perspectives of lesser-known historical figures that were connected to the assassination and the ensuing manhunt.

Simon and Fontana will write the screenplay and serve as executive producers alongside Lawrence Bender, Kevin Brown and Walden Media.

One of Garth Ennis’ most awesome series The Preacher is now a dead project at HBO, reports Mark Steven Johnson, the writer who brought Daredevil and Ghost Rider to the big screen, who was charged with the task of adapting it to a television series.

"We were budgeting and everything and it was getting really close to going," Johnson said before adding that the new head of HBO thought it to be "too dark and too violent and too controversial."

"It was a very faithful adaptation of the first few books, nearly word for word. They offered me the chance to redevelop it but I refused. I’ve learned my lesson on that front and I won’t do it again. So I’m afraid it’s dead at HBO."

He is currently in post-production on When in Rome, a comedy starring Kristen Bell, Danny DeVito and others.