HBO Rocks!

For those of you who haven't subscribed to HBO, you're missing out on some of the greatest TV shows ever made. Obviously, The Sopranos was the hugest show ever. It's seven seasons long and as of right now all but the last season are out on DVD. Warning: Once you start watching you WON'T be able to stop, so make sure you have some DVD watching time allotted for yourself. The first three seasons are the best. They focus on Tony's relationship with his mother, who is the most evil woman ever! (For those of you familiar with the history of ancient Rome, it's no coincidence that David Chase named her Livia.) But the actress who played her died and the focus of the show shifted in the fourth season. Some people complained that "nothing happens" in many of the episodes in the last four seasons, but, aside from being stupid and whiny, they're wrong. I site as my example the first episode of the last season when Tony, Carmela, Janice, and Bobby were hanging out at the beach house chatting and playing Monopoly almost the whole episode. There was so much going on in the dialogue between these characters in what they said and how they said it, and also in what they didn't say. It was a one hour verbal boxing match. Great stuff. You owe it to yourself to rent this series if you haven't already seen it. (And those of you who have seen it I'm sure wouldn't mind watching it all again.)

If seven seasons is too much for you to commit to right now, maybe the three seasons of Deadwood is for you. Again, a phenomenal show. It's about the gold rush in Deadwood, South Dakota. Almost all of the characters in the show were real, including Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane, and everyone's favorite character Al Swerengen, played brilliantly by Ian McShane. Don't think that this is some dumb 60s western crap. It's a very gritty and real portrayal of how Deadwood started as barely a wide spot in the road until word spread that there was gold in them thar hills. It became the fastest growing city (probably ever), growing from a few dozen to over 10,000 in two or three months. The dialogue was so intelligent and high-level that I often had to consult with my friends the next day to figure out if we caught everything that was going on. Definitely a must-see.

You also need to check out the two seasons of Rome. If you ever thought the ancient history of Rome was boring, this will change your mind - guaranteed. It covers the history of Julius Caeser, Mark Antony, Cleopatra, Brutus, Cassius, and Cicero, but primarily through the perspective of two soldiers of the mighty 13th, Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo. Vorenus and Pullo are fictional, but through them you get to see how the lower classes lived. I found it particularly interesting to see how the mafia originated - who knew its roots went that far back? You will get sucked into this one really fast. Phenomenal actors and dazzling sets really bring to life the history of these people. They plow through a lot of history in two seasons. I wish they hadn't cancelled this one. It seems like it could have gone on for several more seasons without getting the least bit boring.

I try to resist watching too many TV shows, so I skip a lot of the popular things most people watch. One of the shows I skipped was Big Love. However, in the glimpses of the show I catch here and there I'm getting addicted to it. I'll be renting the first season and scouring HBO for reruns of the second season to get caught up.

The moral of the story is that if it's on HBO, it's probably really good, so watch it.