Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Family matriarch Ethel Kennedy opens up, sort of, for an HBO bio-documentary

Ethel Kennedy has largely dropped out of the public eye for the last two decades, which is why her youngest daughter, Rory, says the “big reveal” in Rory’s new HBO bio-documentary “Ethel” is simply that “my mother is talking.”

“Ethel,” airing in October, shows the Kennedy matriarch and numerous other family members talking about her life.

One area about which she stays largely silent, though, is the assassination of her husband, Robert, in 1968.
When Rory asks her about that, she pauses and finally says, “Talk about something else.”

Kennedy, 84, told TV critics here Wednesday that the way she got through the aftermath of that tragedy was that “I’d wake up and say he’s okay, he’s in heaven with John.”

-- A new documentary, self-effacingly titled “The Rolling Stones: The Greatest Rock ’n’ Roll Band in the World,” will air this October on HBO.

It will be directed by Brett Morgan and has the cooperation of all four current Stones plus former band members Bill Wyman and Mick Taylor. It coincides with the band’s 50th anniversary and will trace its roots to the beginning.

More HBO moves:

-- “Enlightened” and “Girls” return in January, earlier than planned, because of the hole created by the unexpected shutdown of “Luck.”

“Nothing else was ready to go,” said programming president Michael Lombardo. “They were.”
-- Larry David is writing a new movie, which HBO is only saying will not be a “Curb Your Enthusiasm” movie.

-- “True Blood” showrunner Alan Ball is leaving at the end of the current season five, but Lombardo said the show will likely go on.

-- “True Detectives,” with Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey, will likely finish its story in one season, then move on to another.

-- A fourth season for “Treme” is up in the air.

-- “Game of Thrones” will continue “as long as [author] George R.R. Martin writes books,” said Lombardo. Martin is now writing book six as “Thrones” prepares for its third season.

-- An “Entourage” movie is possible, but not imminent.

-- “The Kids Are All Right” is being considered as the basis for a series, but “The Corrections” was rejected.

‘Strike Back’ boasts Dylan music

Two songs from Bob Dylan’s upcoming “Tempest” album will premiere in connection with Cinemax’s “Strike Back” series, whose second season launches Aug. 17.

The song “Early Roman Kings” will be featured in a video that started Wednesday on HBO, Cinemax and cinemax.com.

“Scarlet Town” will play behind the end credits of the first two episodes, which debut back-to-back at 10 p.m.

“Tempest” will be released Sept. 11.

BBC calls on Musketeers

The Three Musketeers will return to television in 2014, minus the “Three” part.
BBC America is co-producing a new 10-part series of the Alexander Dumas classic, with what it describes as “a fresh and contemporary take on the beloved stories and characters.”

It is still set in the 17th century and revolves around a “band of brothers” sworn to protect king and country.