HBO Archives - Page 9 of 27 - StayTuned Magazine

Ballers season 1, episode 2 recap – Raise up

June 29, 2015 Scott Fishman

In the second quarter or episode of “Ballers” the clock is ticking for Spencer Strasmore (Dwayne Johnson), the richest looking poor man ever, to get a lucrative client and friend to sign on the dotted line. The retired football player turned financial advisor to pro athletes worked hard this episode to secure Dallas’ Vernon Littelfield (Donovan W. Carter). Aside from a potential client, Vernon is a friend and the classic case of a star player who wants to take care of everyone and their mom once they get a little cash in green in their pocket. The end result, as […]

Why I Should Binge “The Sopranos”

June 23, 2015 Eric Kohanik

WHAT IS The Sopranos ABOUT? A gripping crime-drama series that centers around a troubled Italian-American mobster in New Jersey and his often-tumultuous relationships with a colorful array of family members — both personal and professional – who surround him as he struggles to balance his home life with his dealings in organized crime. Who is in it? Where is The Sopranos now? Why is it binge-worthy? Must-sees That line was so great Original TV Home: HBO Number Of Seasons: 6 (January 1999 – June 2007) Total Episodes / Time Table: 86 Episodes (43 to 75 minutes each) = approx. 86 […]

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson electrifies in “Ballers” premiere

June 21, 2015 Scott Fishman

“Legends don’t retire. They reinvent.” This isn’t just a tagline to advertise the new HBO series “Ballers,” It’s also something the show’s star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has done his whole life. The WWE superstar turned box office champion did it when his football career came to an end, and he had seven bucks in his pocket. As Spencer Strasmore, he must do the same thing in transitioning from laying the smackdown on the gridiron to the negotiating table in handling the finances of some of the top players. Strasmore is under pressure from his horrible boss Joe (Rob […]

Jazmyn Simon talks best job ever (HBO), being starstruck, cool cars & more

June 19, 2015 Barb Oates

Life on the set of HBO’s new dramedy Ballers (Sundays at 10pm) for Jazmyn Simon was pretty amazing. Luxurious mansions, amazing cars and Dwayne Johnson — not bad for the new girl. “It was amazing. It didn’t suck at all,” Simon laughs. “The cars alone — there’s one episode you’ll see, I think it’s episode 6, there is just a driveway full of the nicest cars you could ever imagine. They all belong to like two people. It’s like this is ridiculous, but you know, art imitates life, because that’s really how it is. We had writers in the writing […]

Jazmyn Simon shares the female side to HBO’s new “Ballers”

June 19, 2015 Barb Oates

Jazmyn Simon’s got herself a good gig. She’s currently the only female series regular in HBO’s new dramedy Ballers, which makes its debut on Sunday, June 21 at 10pm ET. Like Entourage was to the movie industry, Ballers is to the male-dominated world of football — both, though, lightheartedly depicting the whirlwind lifestyle and real-life problems of their respective industry and both hailing Steven Levinson and Mark Wahlberg as EPs. “If you just like good TV, you’ll love it. Football, I would say, is 45 percent of it, 55 percent of our show, is life,” Simon tells. “It’s people, it’s […]

7 Questions with … Eric Ladin of HBO’s “The Brink”

June 19, 2015 Kellie Freeze

HBO’s new half-hour dark comedy series, The Brink focuses on a political crisis and its effect on three men: The US Secretary of State (Tim Robbins); a low-level Foreign Service Officer (Jack Black); and a Navy fighter pilot (Pablo Schreiber). These three extremely flawed characters must wade through the chaos around them to save the planet from World War III. Related: read more about The Brink Actor Eric Ladin plays Glenn “Jammer” Taylor, the country-fried co-pilot of Zeke “Z-Pak” Tilson (Schreiber). “I love how much he looks up to, respects and idolizes Z-Pak. They’re peers,” says Ladin, “but he really […]

HBO’s “The Brink”: Jack Black’s Tenacious Diplomacy

June 18, 2015 Ryan Berenz

HBO’s new dark, satirical political comedy The Brink, premiering Sunday, June 21, at 10:30pm ET/PT, stars Tim Robbins as a hard-drinking U.S. Secretary of State Walter Larson, Jack Black as disinterested diplomat Alex Talbot and Pablo Schreiber as drug-dealing Navy fighter pilot Zeke Tilson. “This job sucks ass. I should’ve asked for secretary of the interior. No one’s going to take you away from a hooker in the middle of the night to save Mount Rushmore,” Tim Robbins snarls in HBO’s new series The Brink, which does to present U.S. policy in the Middle East what Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove […]

HBO’s “Ballers” has the balls to use NFL team names without league consent

June 17, 2015 Jeff Pfeiffer

Given how touchy the NFL can be about how it is portrayed (see ESPN’s Playmakers, which got a little too real for the Shield’s liking and was canceled), it will be interesting to see how HBO’s new comedy series Ballers fares. While it is billed as a comedy, and can be very funny, it also touches on matters that aren’t humorous, particularly the financial problems that can affect the non-superstars of the league, as well as the health concerns that every player has a risk of facing. And, perhaps most egregiously to the NFL, the show is using real team […]

True Detective Season 2 star Taylor Kitsch: “I’ve never walked away from something as excited and proud as I am of this”

June 2, 2015 Lori Acken

Praise and pity for True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto. The first season of his mega-award-winning HBO drama was widely (and justifiably) trumpeted as unlike anything else in TV history, luring Matthew McConaughey back to the small screen and blowing viewers’ and critics’ minds with a spine-tingling mystery that turned water-cooler talk into an impromptu psychology class. So how would the guy handle Season 2? The short answer: Move the series to California and assemble an even larger A-list cast into an intricate tale of cops, career criminals and politics that, like Season 1, unravels from a single, strange murder. Though […]

HBO airs 2015 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony

May 30, 2015 Jeff Pfeiffer

HBO will once again be airing the induction ceremony for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The 2015 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, the 30th annual ceremony, airs May 30 at 8pm ET/PT on the network, in a two-hour special of the event recorded on April 18. 2015 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony Inductees and Performances Joan Jett and the Blackhearts (pictured above) Induction: Miley Cyrus Performance: Joan Jett and the Blackhearts perform “Bad Reputation.” Dave Grohl then joins to perform “Cherry Bomb.” Tommy James with Miley Cyrus then join to perform “Crimson and […]