HBO
Nathan Fielder’s The Rehearsal Renewed for Second Season
HBO is shelving a lot of its original content as of late, but fortunately those cost cutting measures won’t impact Nathan Fielder’s brilliant series, The Rehearsal. Ahead of tonight’s season one finale, HBO has handed down a season two order for The Rehearsal. Not surprisingly, the network didn’t offer any sort of preview of what Fielder might have in story, because even they are in the dark. “We have no idea where season 2 will take us, and that is the delight of this boundary pushing show from a truly singular talent,” said Amy Gravitt, Executive Vice President, HBO Programming, in a statement. Advertisement Related Video In our review of the early episodes of The Rehearsal’s first season, Robert Ham said the show cemented Fielder’s status as a comic visionary. “There aren’t many shows, ...
Armando Iannucci to Create Superhero Spoof The Franchise for HBO
How does HBO feel about superhero movies? Well, one week after parent company Warner Bros. Discovery canceled the HBO Max-exclusive Batgirl film, the network has ordered The Franchise, a comedy series from Armando Iannucci that satirizes the making of a superhero flick. Written by Iannucci, Jon Brown, and Keith Akushie, The Franchise follows a movie crew hoping to make the next superhero blockbuster. Of course, now more than ever, we know that whether such a film will flop or flourish is not just about the story, but about the desires of a money-hungry industry. Brown serves as executive producer and showrunner of the series, and Marina Hyde is attached as another writer and executive producer. Sam Mendes is set to direct the pilot. Iannucci is no stranger to satir...
Kate Winslet to Star in HBO Limited Series The Palace
HBO has tapped Kate Winslet to star in and executive produce a new limited series called The Palace. According to a press release, The Palace “tells the story of one year within the walls of the palace of an authoritarian regime as it begins to unravel.” Stephen Frears will direct the project while Will Tracy will write and showrun, and both will executive produce alongside Winslet. A release date for the series has yet to be announced. The Palace marks the first collaboration between Winslet and Frears, who’s directed such films as Dangerous Liaisons and High Fidelity. More recently, he helmed the British series State of the Union — another project written by High Fidelity author Nick Hornby. As for Tracy, the writer (best known these days for his work ...
The Weeknd Plays a Pop Star’s Self-Help Guru in Trailer for The Idol: Watch
HBO has unveiled the first look at The Idol, its upcoming series from Euphoria creator Sam Levinson and The Weeknd, who also co-stars alongside Lily Rose-Depp. Set against the backdrop of the music industry, the six-episode limited series follows a self-help guru and modern-day cult leader (The Weeknd) who enters a relationship with a rising pop star (Rose-Depp). The cast also includes Troye Sivan, BLACKPINK’s Jennie, and TV on the Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe, plus Rachel Sennott, Hari Nef, and Debby Ryan. The Weeknd premiered the teaser for The Idol during his concert a MetLife Stadium on Saturday as part of his recently launched “After Hours Till Dawn Tour.” The teaser is now available to stream online and can be seen below. (You can get tickets to The Weeknd’s upcoming tour dates here). Adve...
The Rehearsal Confirms Nathan Fielder Is a Comic Visionary: Review
The Pitch: Comedy has long mined the rich vein of desire running within most average citizens for fame — or at least some kind of recognition. That yen for the spotlight is what allowed ’60s duo Coyle and Sharpe and modern day bellower Billy Eichner to turn “man on the street” interviews into improvised gold and fed the creation of far too many prank shows. It’s also a craving that Nathan Fielder has spent the last decade twisting to absurdist ends, both on his acclaimed Comedy Central series Nathan For You and in his behind-the-scenes work on shows like How To with John Wilson and Sacha Baron Cohen’s Who Is America? In each one, everyday people willingly put themselves under the eye of a TV camera, often revealing too much of themselves in the process. The results are either damning, hear...
Succession Details Season 4 as Production Begins
It looks like Succession fans may not have to wait too long for the next installment, as HBO has announced production is underway for Season 4. In addition to revealing it spans 10 episodes, the network shared some details about the show’s upcoming plot. “The sale of media conglomerate Waystar Royco to tech visionary Lukas Matsson moves ever closer,” reads the official logline. “The prospect of this seismic sale provokes existential angst and familial division among the Roys as they anticipate what their lives will look like once the deal is completed. A power struggle ensues as the family weighs up a future where their cultural and political weight is severely curtailed.” Succession will of course continue to center around media mogul Logan Roy (Brian Cox) and his children, Kendall (...
Kit Harington to Reprise Jon Snow in Game of Thrones Sequel Series
The legend of Jon Snow has yet to be fully told. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Kit Harington has signed on to reprise the character in an upcoming Game of Thrones sequel series. It’s the first known Game of Thrones spin-off series that’ll take place after the events of the original series. In the case of Jon Snow’s character, he was last seen heading North of the Wall after killing Daenerys Targaryen. Needless to say, the news is surprising for a variety of reasons. For one, HBO programming president Casey Bloys previously ruled out a spin-off series featuring the original GoT stars. “Nope, nope, nope. No. Part of it is, I do want this show — this Game of Thrones, [David Benioff and D.B. Weiss]’s show — to be its own thing. I don’t want to take characters from this world that they d...
The Janes Is a Timely, Tight-Knit Oral History of Underground Abortions: Review
The Pitch: On May 3, 2022, a draft opinion from the Supreme Court leaked to Politico detailed the Court’s majority decision to reverse Roe v. Wade. The Roe v. Wade decision, which was declared in 1973, guaranteed the constitutional right for a pregnant woman or person to receive an abortion if they choose. In the years that followed, the ruling had allowed more Americans to have greater access to birth control and other forms of pregnancy-prevention measures without the risk of them losing their lives in the process. Given how integral Roe v. Wade has been to people across the country, the fact that it could be struck down is terrifying, to say the least. This landscape makes the release of The Janes, HBO’s latest documentary directed by Tia Lessin and Emma Pildes, so much more critical. B...
Method Man To Host New Podcast ‘The Wire At 20’
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Duffy-Marie Arnoult / Getty The Wire has stood the test of time regarding police and crime dramas, with many believing it is the best show of its kind. Method Man will serve as the host of a new podcast that takes a look back at the iconic series with interviews with the cast, creators, and more. The Wire Gets Another Podcast Series The Wire At 20 is a partnership between HBO and Campside Media and will look back at the genesis of the series. The show will also memorialize those actors who’ve passed away since its debut. Set in Baltimore, Md., the series at its core a police and crime drama. However, as Method Man notes in the trailer for the podcast, the inner workings of the drug trade, politics, employment, and more depict a deeper story. The original ...
Jodie Foster to Star in True Detective Season 4
Jodie Foster is set to star in season four of HBO’s True Detective. Per The Hollywood Reporter, the veteran actress will join the crime anthology as Detective Liz Danvers. Dubbed True Detective: Night Country, the fourth installment of the HBO drama takes place in the isolation of Alaska. A statement describes the season as follows: “When the long winter night falls in Ennis, Alaska, the six men that operate the Tsalal Arctic Research Station vanish without a trace. To solve the case, Detectives Liz Danvers and Evangeline Navarro will have to confront the darkness they carry in themselves, and dig into the haunted truths that lie buried under the eternal ice.” While HBO has yet to reveal who will portray Navarro, Night Country marks a bit of a shake up for True Detective. Creator...
The Leaders of Westworld Reap What They Sow in Season 4 Trailer: Watch
HBO is about to welcome us back to Westworld, and the theme park is not looking good. In the newly released trailer for Season 4 of the sci-fi drama, officially premiering on June 26th, Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) and her fellow Hosts continue to deal with their Human feelings — and as all humans know, it’s a pretty rocky ride. Perfectly set to Lou Reed’s “Perfect Day,” the cinematic Season 4 trailer begins calm enough — Maeve (Thandiwe Newton) takes a casual stroll, Caleb (Aaron Paul) drinks Sangria in the park (so to speak) — but chaos quickly ensues as the song swells. The Man in Black (Ed Harris) and Bernard Lowe (Jeffrey Wright) come closer to death, and as allegiances blur, Reed’s hex seems inevitable: the characters are all going to reap just what they sow. Watch the trailer for...
Michelle de Swarte on the Challenges of Yelling at Infants in HBO’s The Baby
Michelle de Swarte isn’t a mother, and she doesn’t play one on TV either. Instead, in the HBO horror-comedy series The Baby, she plays Natasha, a woman whose happily child-free existence gets complicated when a mysterious infant literally lands in her arms. That’d be enough for anyone to handle, but things get even more complicated when Natasha realizes that the baby might be, well, evil. Certainly people keep dying when he’s around. It’s a whole thing. De Swarte didn’t have much acting experience prior to the series — as she tells Consequence, she booked the job thanks to her work as a stand-up. “I speak about myself, my past experiences, and how it informs the decisions that I make now ultimately,” she says of her typical set. “I speak about therapy, living in the States — as I lived out...
