New Season HBO Comedies

TV
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OK, so stuck trying to kill time waiting for the game to start and went to our version of Sky + to catch up on what we’d missed.

We all know that TV has become the real big thing these days with legions of Hollywood names rushing to get onto the small box and this week over here saw the launch of 2 new “Comedy” Series. Now I’ve no idea whether they are on Netflix or Sky or dodgy download over your part of the world but thought they deserved a mention

First up was

The Brink - Jack Black & Tim Robbins.

Opens up with a State Dept moron J(B) trying to score Weed in a street market in Islamabad in an Embassy Car, while back in Washington, the Secretary of Defence is being 50 Shades of Grey’d by young lady with a fine pair of Bewbs (OK this got my attention straight away!).

Dodgy election in Pakistan leads to riots and a Coup, with JB stuck outside the Embassy…

No spoliers, but the best description would be “Imagine the Naked Gun Team were tasked with the budget, location and basic story line of Homeland”…

F15 pilots on Acid, petty name calling in cabinet while the Israeli’s & Chinese are about to start WW3 -, a perfect 35 minutes of stupidity. if they can keep this up it will become a gem

Ballers - Dwayne Johnson

Retired NFL players who are basically losers and can’t come to terms with being out of work. Lot more narrative and depth in this one, it has a feel of a proper drama show but with just an edge of irreverence to it. Again, HBO really know how to capture the audience early these days, another fine set of Bewbs being bounced around in the 1st 10 minutes or so.

This has proper acting in it and a kind of story line, so looks a good one to follow, but I have the feeling that The Brink is going to hit a lot of home runs in bad taste Middle East clichesand looks the best bet for a spraying beer onto the laptop moment or 3. JB has to stay the right side of insane and not quite overact and it could be a cracker. DJ in Ballers is all about the typical; DJ smiley veneer but when the ATM says NO it starts to show some actual possible millimetres of depth in a character for a change.

A nice way to get through to April when GoT returns

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No spoliers, but the best description would be “Imagine the Naked Gun Team were tasked with the budget, location and basic story line of Homeland”…

I will be giving this a try for sure having read that description!

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Episode 2 of The Brink.

Again, some classic moments. Last week we had the cliff hanger of what the F14 Pilots had taken.

This week we had the go-pro link direct to the President from the cockpit when the #2 chundered.

It is perfect Naked Gun nonsense. Gonna become a classic of utterly offenisve bad taste.

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OK so have just caught up a few weeks of Ballers.

Basically Dwayne & a bunch of loosers trying to build a Sports Management Company for NFL stars. 1st episode showed some promise but wasn’t actually funny.

But it is a slow burner and has loosened up to the point where I can recommend Bearsy watches it as there are some fine boobs on display in episode 4. It started in the UK on Sky Atlantic in the last week or so and is a good evening entertainer. Basically you can see everything turning to rat shit as things move forwards & the crazy party on the boss’s boat makes one dream of being younger and getting invites to thise gigs!

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Blimey. A complete cornucopia of new & returning series flooding onto our screens at the moment.

No there isn’t anything as deep as True Detective or GoT in the new season but there are some great entertainment shows from HBO this season, so probably heading your way on Sky Atlantic

First up the two Strikeback Brothers.

Player

Philip Winchester (The Brit one) is in a new series set in Vegas with Wes Snypes. Very oddball concept, some “above the NSA” group with heavy duty Intelligence sources, surveillance & analysis is able to track potential killers around he place. The world’s elite then gamble on whether the “Player” will solve / stop the crime before it happens. Dopey concept but a decent run around and shoot 'em up version of Strikeback in Vegas. High entertainment low-brow stuff though

Blindspot

Some fit brunette wakes up naked in a Bodybag in Times Square covered in Tattoos and with a luggage tag that says call the FBI. She has no memory & is on no records. Sullivan Stapleton - the Yank from Strikeback plays an FBI officer. His name is on her back in plain English, everything else is in multiple languages but is some form of code.

As they crack a “tattoo” it leads them to action to try and stop something “bad” happening. OK not dissimilar from Player in one way, but this one is a little more gritty & doesn’t have Wes Snypes looking like Cat from Red Dwarf. Shows some promise if only because the chick is horny

Quantico

Not sure about this one. Starts with a huge smoking hole in the ground where Grand Central Station used to sit, then cuts back a year to a Class of new recruits at the FBI training centre. So basically it seems someone in that Alumni may have blown up half of New York, and they are all under suspiscion but was it them kind of thing. Showed some promise, but not yet sure the hot & dirty looking chick is that believable in the role

Leftovers Season 2

Oh NOW we are talking. Loved this first time round. Think the Bear got mindfvcked by the sheer what the hell is going on about it. Well acted, well written stories, set after some form of “Revelation” when 10% of the World’s population just vanished (but without the whole Horned Beast things (yet) )

It was a slow burner that became a big hit in the US, S2 starts next week and from the trailers looks like it is even more wtf. Cannot wait!

And yes she’s back

Homeland S5 starts next week, set 2 years after Islamabad with the Mad Cow retired and on the run. (As if)

And that is without all the other new season stuff for the regular shows!

Leftovers is a gem, the Strikeback Brothers show promise and everyone loves to hate the Mad Homeland Bitch

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Not An HBO, but I saw a good pilot show on the internet called Lucifer. It is bout the Devil and he has got bored of Hell and has come to live in LA. It is good show! Thing I like about it is the Devil only ever tells the Truth, he is quite an Honorable bro really, the way he does his devilling is not by lieing or tricking ppl, but by tempting them to do the naughty things that deep down they really want to.

I would recommend watch this show! I think it is based on graphic novel by Neil Gayman, but don’t let that put you off, even if Neil Gayman is an overrated hack. Only down side it is only pilot & I don’t think the series really starts till i.e. Ages.

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Sweet will look out for that one Bear.

Oh read today may be one to miss coming soon - American Horror Story - Hotel - It has Lady Gaga in it

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I am quite looking forward to Leftovers too! I was bit up and down with it before, but it was overall pretty interesting! My only problem is I want Answers, but with American shows you don’t get Answers, they just drag on + on till they get cancel.

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That is quite interesting, Bear. Of all the stuff that Gaiman has done (and believe me, I’ve read a lot of it) I probably like Sandman (from which this series is loosely based) the best. There’s a section where the Lord of Dream (Sandman) goes to war with hell. Lucifer is a pretty interesting dude in all of that.

Gaiman is a great imaginative writer, but one with limitations. If you asked him to describe the first step on your staircase, he’d probably come up with an epic yarn about the step entering an alternative world and finding a much worthier cause than being the first fucking step on a staircase. But he can’t do it without knowing about that step :cool:

Most of his stuff is Hero’s Journey trope malarkey. Sandman isn’t like that, but like the “what have they been smoking?” writers of Once Upon a Time, a good deal of it is about repurposing existing literary figures into his own universe. He’s a master of everything we’ve just talked about, but not sure that there is much more to him.