June 29, 2009
TV REVIEW: HBO's New Series 'Hung' Provides a New Take on Entrepreneurial Spirit
By David M. Kinchen
Huntingtonnews.net Editor
If you liked Alexander Payne's "Sideways," you'll probably like the new HBO series "Hung," which premiered with a one-hour pilot episode directed by Payne on Sunday, June 28.
Link to Payne's biography and filmology (he also directed "Election," a 1999 flick which featured Matthew Broderick as a high school teacher and "About Schmidt," starring Jack Nicholson, as an Omaha widower): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Payne
There's nothing on the "Hung" website about who created it but the executive producers are Payne and Colette Burson, Dmitry Lipkin, Michael Rosenberg and Scott Stephens. I recognized Dmitry Lipkin as the creator of the 20-episode, 2007-2008 FX series, "The Riches," starring Minnie Driver and Eddie Izzard, about a family of Irish travelers.
Ray Drecker (Thomas Jane) is a down on his luck Detroit area high school teacher and coach. His wife (Anne Heche) left him for a dermatologist named Ronnie Haxon (Eddie Jemison), he's barely making it on his miserable salary and, as a final blow, the lakefront house that he inherited from his parents and shares with his teen-age son and daughter is rendered uninhabitable after a fire. He's camping out in a tent on the lawn, to the disgust of his McMansion neighbor who wants to buy his property and tear down the damaged ranch house.
He's sliding down into total despondency when, at a success seminar, he's reunited with a poet named Tanya Skagle (Jane Adams) who spoke to his students and with whom he had a one-night stand. After the seminar, they
hook up again and Tanya volunteers to help him market the only asset he has, his remarkable male endowment.
Ray responds to Tanya's offer "so you want to be my pimp?" for the one-man male escort service he's begun to promote. This aspect of the envelope pushing director Payne's series has drawn a "Just Say No to 'Hung'" tongue-in-cheek -- at least I think it's tongue in cheek! -- blog by humorist Jill Rachel Jacobs on The Huffington Post (link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jill-rachel-jacobs/just-say-no-to-ihungi_b_221837.html).
Thomas Jane and Jane Adams are standouts in this comedy series, which is probably not to everyone's taste, to say the least. The series resumes in a half-hour format, Sunday, July 5, with the episode directed by Craig Zisk.
The accompanying photo shows Thomas Jane and Jane Adams.
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TV REVIEW: HBO's New Series 'Hung' Provides a New Take on Entrepreneurial Spirit
By David M. Kinchen
Huntingtonnews.net Editor
If you liked Alexander Payne's "Sideways," you'll probably like the new HBO series "Hung," which premiered with a one-hour pilot episode directed by Payne on Sunday, June 28.
Link to Payne's biography and filmology (he also directed "Election," a 1999 flick which featured Matthew Broderick as a high school teacher and "About Schmidt," starring Jack Nicholson, as an Omaha widower): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Payne
There's nothing on the "Hung" website about who created it but the executive producers are Payne and Colette Burson, Dmitry Lipkin, Michael Rosenberg and Scott Stephens. I recognized Dmitry Lipkin as the creator of the 20-episode, 2007-2008 FX series, "The Riches," starring Minnie Driver and Eddie Izzard, about a family of Irish travelers.
Ray Drecker (Thomas Jane) is a down on his luck Detroit area high school teacher and coach. His wife (Anne Heche) left him for a dermatologist named Ronnie Haxon (Eddie Jemison), he's barely making it on his miserable salary and, as a final blow, the lakefront house that he inherited from his parents and shares with his teen-age son and daughter is rendered uninhabitable after a fire. He's camping out in a tent on the lawn, to the disgust of his McMansion neighbor who wants to buy his property and tear down the damaged ranch house.
He's sliding down into total despondency when, at a success seminar, he's reunited with a poet named Tanya Skagle (Jane Adams) who spoke to his students and with whom he had a one-night stand. After the seminar, they
hook up again and Tanya volunteers to help him market the only asset he has, his remarkable male endowment.
Ray responds to Tanya's offer "so you want to be my pimp?" for the one-man male escort service he's begun to promote. This aspect of the envelope pushing director Payne's series has drawn a "Just Say No to 'Hung'" tongue-in-cheek -- at least I think it's tongue in cheek! -- blog by humorist Jill Rachel Jacobs on The Huffington Post (link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jill-rachel-jacobs/just-say-no-to-ihungi_b_221837.html).
Thomas Jane and Jane Adams are standouts in this comedy series, which is probably not to everyone's taste, to say the least. The series resumes in a half-hour format, Sunday, July 5, with the episode directed by Craig Zisk.
The accompanying photo shows Thomas Jane and Jane Adams.
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Make HNN Your Homepage (IE Users Only)
