Rescue Me ramps up for a scorching season finale while Entourage goes out with a whimper.

In my opinion this has been a bit of a bumpy year for HBO’s Entourage. Last year the show was hot as a pistol, leading up to the Aquaman movie, but this season things seemed to flounder. I thought things were going to take off with the arrival of Dom from the old neighborhood, but he was gone as fast as he arrived. Martin Laudau’s riff on Bob Evans was fun but it was too little too late.

I’ve expressed in an earlier listing my disappointment at HBO prematurely cutting the legs out from under Deadwood, leaving the show to swirl to a clumsy end like a school play lacking adult supervision.
The pleasant surprise of this television year has been FX’s Rescue Me, which continues building up a full head of steam for the upcoming season finale. The secret to the show’s success is Dennis Leary’s willingness to share the screen with a bombastic supporting cast of characters.

Limping to an early grave…

This past Sunday HBO aired what is apparently the season AND the series finale for Deadwood. For the past few months there has been talk of HBO ordering up six more episodes to bring the show to a proper end. Then that changed to two two-hour movies. Now apparently HBO has gone back to its original decision and there will be no more new episodes.

If this is true it’s a horrible shame.

If you haven’t seen the final episode yet I won’t ruin it for you. Someone’s done that already.

Proud to be an American? I was too.

Spike Lee’s devastating new documentary ‘When the Levees Broke’ is currently playing on HBO to coincide with the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Watching it is an eye-opening experience if you’re lucky enough to have premium cable service, and a television to watch it on, and a home to watch it in.

The United States is one of the greatest countries on the planet to live in. For some of us.