The press swirling around Tell Me You Love Me, in advance of its premiere, has focused on one aspect: extremely graphic sex scenes. It has even been rumoured that the actors engaged in actual sex acts before the camera, breaking a long-held taboo. But then, breaking long-held taboos is what HBO is all about! And we even think they're prepared to go further still to get ink for their future series efforts. To wit: Free Skate To the layman, skating is something you do on ice. To the crystal meth user, it's the practice of taking a hit of crystal meth every few hours to sustain a high for a longer period. It's something very familiar to the characters that populate Free Skate, a racy new drama from HBO. In Portland, OR -- reportedly the Meth Capital of the U.S.A. (not that the Chamber of Commerce is rushing to put it on the signs at the city limits or anything) -- Lorraine (Lyndsey Marshal) has become reluctant matriarch to a tribe of younger tweakers: Stephen (Douglas Smith), who has an unrequited crush on her; Kevin (Ben Foster), who's living in a squat but still holding down a job as a bank teller; and Sammy (Jermaine Crawford), still baby-faced, not that anyone expects that to last. Lyndsey leads her young charges through all of life's challenges, teaching them how to wash a dish, how to talk to girls...and how to make a stash really last. Unsubstantiated reports from the set claim that HBO pushed the boundaries of the law -- and good taste -- by requiring its cast to use actual meth for the sake of veracity, although HBO has been coy in its public statements about that. Only real meth-heads will be able to tell how far HBO went -- at least, before they sell their TVs to buy more meth. Planet Krylon What gives a city its look, its verve, its excitement? A diverse population base, a vibrant cultural scene...and street art. Planet Krylon dramatizes the stresses and triumphs of a crew of graffiti artists, led by legendary tagger Max (Andre Royo), and featuring several young up-and-comers (including Greyson Fletcher and Felicia Pearson) who make their mark on the New York streets -- literally. Creator David Milch made the controversial decision to shoot in a semi-documentary style, which meant both that the actors had to undergo several months of intensive training under actual street artists (including Banksy), and that they actually tagged public and private property and in some cases were actually arrested for vandalism (on camera), which has put in question the viability of the show's second season -- though that would leave Milch open to pursue his rumoured project: a docudrama following the lives of several real bulimics recruited from rehab facilities.
A Convenient Half-Truth When a socially conservative Congressman is pulled over for drunk driving -- or outed after a public-restroom rendezvous -- whom can he call? Who will align the unfortunate incident with his voting record? Who will provide a patently hypocritical but unwaveringly stated spin on the situation? The men and women of Red Menace Consulting -- PR specialists, communications counselors, and the subjects of HBO's newest docu-reality program. A Convenient Half-Truth follows the graceless pantsing of a respected GOP figure from the initial news break through the entire spin cycle, up close and extremely personal -- the awkward conversation with the wife at 2 AM, the arguing over which necktie better projects unassailable heterosexuality, the angry bellowing, all laid bare for the HBO audience as never before. Starring Red Menace founder and lead publicist Fitzgerald Hancock, vice presidents Muffy Laughlin and Biff McBride, former lobbyist-slash-attorneys Rebecca Oaks and Eli Brennan, and host Dina Matos McGreevey, who isn't still bitter at all, no sirree bob. I Killed The powers that be would have you believe that the "snuff film" -- in which people are actually murdered, on camera -- is an urban legend. But that hasn't stopped the TV pioneers at HBO from treating it as though there were an actual snuff subculture in its daring new series, I Killed. Taylor Nichols plays Slade Barclay, a devoted husband and father of three. However, his domestic bliss has been imperiled for decades, because he also happens to be one of New York City's most prolific directors of snuff films, with over ninety credits under his belt -- though none to his name, of course -- which means that relentless Homicide detective Bobby Dickens (Timothy Olyphant) has had a file open on the perp dubbed The Cutter, whose reels have turned up in adult-video-store backrooms and on alleyway bootleggers' blankets, among other illicit locales. Though he's interviewed Slade on several occasions and is pretty sure Slade is involved in snuff, Dickens has yet to crack the man's cover story -- that he works as a freelance event videographer and hasn't filmed anything more grisly than a bris. What tortures Slade is his wish to explain to Dickens that he hasn't actually done anything wrong: sure, he's been present at several innocent women's murders, but it's not like he held the knife, or gun, or scalpel, or piano wire! As we meet him in the series, Slade is starting to think it might be time for him to get out of the snuff business, but his flinty wife Elyse (Cynthia Nixon) has grown too comfortable in the lifestyle that can be had when one profits from homicide, and keeps convincing him to stick with it despite his qualms. Will Slade break free and fulfill his real ambition -- directing features where the only murders are simulated? Will Dickens finally make his case? Will Slade's daughter Bettina (Izabella Miko) be able to show her face at NYU once she finds out what he really does? And are the rumours swirling around this show actually true? Would HBO really go so far as to use actual snuff clips in the show?
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Cock Friday night, late. An abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of Plano. It happens right here -- the fight, the fortune won or lost. The agonized death cluck. ...Cock. The murky, bloody, feathery world of cockfighting has many faces: the trainer (Luis Guzmàn) who knows no other world; the gambling addict (Michael Beach), both attracted and repelled by the carnage -- and his own downward spiral; a PETA advocate (Sabrina Lloyd) in search of justice; and Cyclops, a one-eyed rooster with more than a hundred wins to his name...and a dark secret in his nest. How and where will these four gore-spattered paths cross? Cock, HBO's shocking new docudrama, details the ugly realities of the ring in such a lifelike manner, you'll think you're watching a cockumentary (note: no poultry was harmed in the making of the show...or was it? ...It wasn't, we swear). Cock: Mondays at 9 PM on HBO. What are you, chicken?
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