Results tagged “hbo”

Miss Heather asks, "Have you ever asked yourself what is the difference between Greenpoint and the Ninth Ward of New Orleans other than, say, the latter was pulverized by a cataclysmic force of nature?" Turns out HBO doesn't see much of a difference at all! They'll be turning parts of Meserole Avenue, Jewel and Moultrie Streets into Nola's Ninth this weekend, when they'll film scenes for Treme, a story of Ninth Ward residents "attempting to rebuild their lives after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina." According to the sign the filming will take place Friday to Saturday, from 7 p.m. to 8 a.m., and will involve characters walking and talking on the streets. If you stumble upon the set, send us photos! UPDATE: Oh well, an HBO rep tells us, "While the series is set in New Orleans, the particular scene(s) being filmed this weekend are actually set in New York. So, to clear it up, it’s not New York being made out to look like New Orleans in any capacity." more ›

Doesn't anyone have HBO anymore? Writer Jonathan Ames has penned a new series for the network, called Bored to Death, and even he can't watch it! The show is set in Brooklyn, where Ames resides... and last night the author took to Twitter to find a tube to watch it on. Some kind strangers took him in, and aside from a few grammatical errors while Tweeting that Ames called himself out for, he seemed to enjoy the experience. Maybe next Sunday he'll bring you a bottle of vino and his wisdom on how to perfectly illuminate your living room to view his show. [via Animal] more ›

Just in time for the Sex and the City movie, it's the Sex and the City-inspired "Sarah Jessica Porkher" sex doll! We won't speculate how the NY Post found out about this $20 blow-up doll, but it is hilariously disturbing/disturbingly hilarious. more ›

A seven-part miniseries about John Adams based on the best-selling Pulitzer Prize winning book by historian David McCullough seems like something you used to find on PBS done in cooperation with the BBC, but you’ll find it on HBO, with parts 1 & 2 airing Sunday at 8:00 p.m. more ›

Quest for the Lost Ark (Sunday, 8:00 p.m., History Channel) Tudor Parfitt looks more like Jeremy Clarkson than Harrison Ford, but he is a real life Indiana Jones. This History Channel documentary special traces his search for the Ark of the Covenant – the same thing the fictional Indy searched for in Raiders of the Lost Ark. more ›

Next Wednesday a cornucopia of comedians (Dave Attell, Louis C.K., Artie Lange and more) will gather at Town Hall for the The Gerry Red Wilson Foundation Comedy Benefit. Greg Fitzsimmons is one of the comedians responsible for putting together the show, which will raise awareness about meningitis (a disease that struck three people in his life, one of which was Gerry Red Wilson). You can buy tickets here. more ›

For two weeks in the winter of 2005, Central Park was filled with 7,500 saffron-paneled gates. The project was a gift from the artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude, who had been trying for four decades to launch the project. Their struggle - and success - comes to the the small screen with tonight's premiere of The Gates on HBO. more ›

Remember that introduction to HBO programming back in the 80s, the one that soared over a lavish scale model of a Gothamesque cityscape, then out above the suburbs and beyond toward a seductive glow on the horizon, before abruptly blasting up into the cosmos where the HBO logo twirled like some benevolent entertainment monolith? Well, here’s a funny short documentary about how they put together that state of the art intro intended to "tease and tantalize your eye." more ›

We already covered the Super Bowl half time show alternatives, but what if you're not a football fan or your team didn’t make it? What if you don’t want to sit through a football game to watch commercials or if you hate Joe Buck and Troy Aikman? Well, don’t worry, there are some television alternatives for you if you don’t want to watch either the game or the countless hours of pre-game shows. more ›

In 2003, Sopranos star Michael Imperioli opened the intimate Studio Dante theater with his wife Victoria, who designed the elegantly formal space. In his capacity as director, producer and actor, Imperioli has been busy turning the theater into a well-regarded hotspot for new plays. The current production is a solo show by Glasgow native Russell Barr entitled Sisters, Such Devoted Sisters. In the largely autobiographical play, Barr plays Bernice, a drag queen who herself portrays over a dozen characters to tell her sordid, harsh and hilarious story of Glasgow’s nightlife underworld. Reviewing the play for the Times, Jason Zinoman called it “crudely effective... Imperioli stages the play at Studio Dante with an unsentimental intensity, and at times it reminded me of the sudden shocks of violence in that much missed HBO series.” The production continues through February 16th; tickets cost $35. more ›

Is this the first election season where you’ve supported one of the candidates? Sort of. This is the first time I’ve supported someone during the primaries, which carries a lot of weight with people who were already going to vote for Obama. In 4th grade I campaigned for Reagan (it worked), and in 2004 I did a bunch of fundraisers for John Kerry (Sorry, America, I failed). Basically, after Bush beat Al Gore and tried to ruin America, I decided to be more politically involved. But not too much! I want to remain “cool.” more ›

Uh oh - there's definitely a little drama for five well-known performers as the Albany DA's office continues its probe into steroid trafficking. The Times Union reported yesterday that Mary J. Blige, 50 Cent, Timbaland, Wyclef Jean and Tyler Perry were "among the thousands of customers of the pharmacies" DA David Soares' office has investigated. more ›

Darren Starr’s Sex in the City like Cashmere Mafia was set to debut at the end of November, but was put off due to the writers' strike. So don’t get too attached to this series, since there appears to be only seven episodes produced of the 13 ordered. more ›

A look at some of this week's noteworthy television: more ›

A look at some noteworthy television this week: Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project (Sunday, 8:00 p.m., HBO) A look at America's favorite insult comic and last surviving member of the “Rat Pack”, the octogenarian Don Rickles from director John Landis. Everyone from Chris Rock to Bob Newhart to Clint Eastwood to Sidney Poitier talk about the comic. 1968 (Sunday, 9:00 p.m., History Channel) 1968 was a turbulent and tragic year and Tom Brokaw not... more ›

Dr. Charles S. Hirsch is the chief medical examiner of New York City and has overseen the autopsies on more than 100,000 people. He would probably remain a mystery to most New Yorkers, if it weren't for his ruling on the death of Det. James Zadroga, who worked clean-up at Ground Zero after September 11, 2001. Hirsch said that Zadroga's death wasn't related to Ground Zero dust, but ground-up pills the detective was allegedly injecting.... more ›

A look at some noteworthy television this week: 2007 American Music Awards (Sunday, 8:00 p.m., WABC 7) Most awards shows are basically useless and awards shows where people vote on line are even more so. This year this awards show invented by Dick Clark in 1973 gets even more useless. Jimmy Kimmel hosts. Nature: The Beauty of Ugly (Sunday, 8:00 p.m., WNET 13; Wednesday, 8:00 p.m., WLIW 21) A look at some of the strangest... more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a shooting on Nostrand Ave. in Brooklyn, an overturned auto on the LIE and Oceania St. in Queens, and a fall victim on 170th St. and University Ave. in the Bronx.
• Two NJ teenagers attempted to escape the wrath of a parent, who caught them drinking alcohol last week, by tieing together bedsheets in order to rappel down the side of their highrise building. The incident ended badly, although both are expected to survive.
• The negative effect of a stagehand strike may be ameliorated by spillover business directed towards off-Broadway productions. It's being reported that off-Broadway business is up about 30% as major productions have shut down.
• Fats Domino was presented with the key to the city for his work on behalf of struggling musicians in New Orleans. The actual key is worth $100 and is presented in a black velour case--just some of many interesting tidbits in this Times piece.
• Experiences with the police when one is taking pictures legally--even when one is not arrested--can still be a huge unnerving pain in the ass.
• The famed New Jersey Satriale's butcher shop, which was featured for several years as a location on the HBO mob drama "The Sopranos," has been knocked down and turned into a condo building called "The Sopranos."
• Three new giant balloons are entering the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade: Shrek, Abby Cadabby, and Hello Kitty. The three giants took a test-inflate in Queens this Sunday.
• Friends and family gathered to remember the victims of Flight 587, which crashed in residential Belle Harbor, Queens shortly after takeoff six years ago.

Tonight marks the beginning of the Film Society at Lincoln Center's 45th annual New York Film Festival and oh what a jam-packed fest it is. A panel of film critics chose 30 of the best new international movies to show to New York's discerning audiences and they picked hometown director Wes Anderson's newest, (which also comes out in theaters this weekend) to open the festival. more ›

The season really gets underway this week so a lot of old favorites like The Simpsons, Heroes, and Boston Legal (along with some that shouldn’t be like The Batchelor) are back so you do know what to expect with them. more ›

We got mixed reviews in our poll about the Sex and the City movie that's coming out more than three years after the show ended its HBO series. Whether we wanted it or not, the movie is going to happen -- and film crews and cast have already arrived. more ›

A look at some noteworthy television this week:
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A fine way for the Seaport Music Festival to send off the summer, with two of the year's biggest breakout bands on a lovely evening. We were taking in both Battles and Dearhunter for the first time last Friday and were massively impressed by both bands. Deerhunter, down a man and with their usual shtick toned down, sounded like a young Sonic Youth or stripped down Broken Social Scene. A much lighter and more accessible experience that we had prepared for by listening to their thumping album. Battles was more what we expected, playing a hypnotizing hybrid of Math-Metal and some Jammy-Groove stuff that somehow works. Stereogum has some pretty pics. more ›

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There's an excellent Vows column in this week's NY Times Weddings & Celebrations. It's the one for Fran Boyd and Donnie Andrews, two Baltimore residents whose difficult lives were the basis for the HBO dramas The Corner and The Wire. Boyd and Andrews were featured in a page one story in the Times last week, and the Vows column explains more of how they met and how they supported each other during prison sentences, while overcoming addiction, and as they tried to put their lives back together. more ›

A look at some noteworthy television this week: more ›

We all knew the real estate bubble was causing insanity, but we should have known it's encouraged people to divorce. There's a NY Times Styles section article about some who wait until the market's at its peak to divorce - that way, they can benefit from an even bigger profit when selling their homes. more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a police-involved shooting at 149th St. and 3rd Ave. in the Bronx, an attempted sexual assault on 55th St. in Brooklyn, and a bank robbery on West 52nd St. between 7th and 8th Aves.
• Kenneth Eng, noted earlier this year for his controversial essay "Why I Hate Blacks", was arrested again by the Feds shortly after pleading guilty to harrassing his neighbors and threatening them with a hammer.
• The New York Post reports that rumors of white people fleeing the city in a "white flight" are an urban myth, and that the latest census data supports the opposite conclusion. This is the first we've heard of any "white flight" rumors, and we probably would have correctly guessed the opposite over the last ten years.
• NYU is expanding across the East River, with the announcement of its first dorm in Brooklyn. The Brooklyn Paper reports that the school is opening a dorm for students in Brooklyn Heights, previously used as a dorm for the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society.
• Chris Noth signed on to the movie adapation of the HBO / NYC-centric series Sex and the City. He played the character Mr. Big, who flew to Paris to sweep protagonist Carrie off her feet in the series finale.
• Queens Crap has a round-up on what people are saying about the indictment of Queens Councilman Dennis Gallagher after he allegedly raped a 52-year-old woman in his Queens office.
• Martin Scorcese's Rolling Stones concert documentary has been pushed back seven months, to April, 2008. A Viacom spokesman said that the company needs more time to set up proper promotion for the movie.
• The Queens man who caught Barry Bonds' 756th homerun ball may just hang on to it, for sentimental reasons.
• A collection of spoof SubTalk transit posters.

As another season of Emmy nominations show, those folks over at HBO original programming know what they're doing. Complex shows filled with meaty characters, lavish spectacle and quite a few racy scenes make those premium cable fees seem well worth the expense. However, if you missed out on the two seasons of in togas, here's your chance to catch up as the series comes to DVD this week. more ›

A look at some noteworthy television this week: more ›