Saturday, January 14, 2012

HBO NEWS! Game of Thrones & New Series, Documentaries
An Outstanding Project: Weight of the Nation


GAME OF THRONES kicks off its ten-episode second season SUNDAY, APRIL 1 (9:00-10:00 p.m.). Based on the popular book series by George R.R. Martin, this hit Emmy®-winning fantasy series about epic struggle for power in a vast and violent fantasy kingdom. Some returning cast members:cast are Emilia Clarke, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Emmy® winner Peter Dinklage, Michelle Fairley, Lena Headey and Kit Harington.
Cover of
Cover via Amazon



Julianne Moore, Woody Harrelson and Ed Harris will star in the HBO film GAME CHANGE on April 1 (9 to 11 PM EST)  
This story features Harris as John McCain and follows his  2008 presidential campaign, from his selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (Moore) as his running mate to their ultimate defeat in the general election.  Harrelson portrays McCain’s senior campaign strategist, Steve Schmidt.

The film is based on the book GAME CHANGE by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann, and is directed by Jay Roach and written by Danny Strong , who also collaborated on HBO's “Recount.

NEW Comedy series:
GIRLS launches its ten-episode season SUNDAY, APRIL 15 (10:30-11:00 p.m.).  Created by and starring Lena Dunham (“Tiny Furniture”), the show looks at the ups and downs of a group of Twenty-something girls.    The cast also includes Jemima Kirke, Allison Williams, Zosia Mamet and Adam Driver.       
          
VEEP begins its eight-episode season SUNDAY, APRIL 22 (10:00-10:30 p.m.).  Created by Armando Iannucci and starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus as former Senator Selina Meyer, who becomes vice president, only to discover the job is nothing like she expected, but everything she was warned about. 



Because of some of my volunteer involvement and my lifelong struggle with weight, I am sure to tune into the HBO multi-platform series addressing the national obesity epidemic. This is a really serious problem.

THE WEIGHT OF THE NATION layout is:
  • four documentary films,
  • a three-part HBO Family series,
  • 14 bonus shorts,
  • a social media campaign,
  • a book published by St. Martin’s Press, and
  • a nationwide community-based outreach campaign to support the initiative.

Debut
  • FOUR PART SERIES: MONDAY, MAY 14 and TUESDAY, MAY 15, on HBO, with two films airing back-to-back each night. 
  • The THREE-PART HBO FAMILY SERIES debuts WEDNESDAY, MAY 16.
HBO is dedicating an enormous amount of their services, online and on cable.  All films will also stream free of charge on HBO.com

THE WEIGHT OF THE NATION spotlights the facts and myths of this urgent public health issue, its effect on our health and on the health-caare system.   Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer and arthritis are just a few of the diseases directly linked to obesity and will dramatically increase if the status quo does not change
“Obesity has become one of the most serious threats to the health of the American people,” comments Harvey V. Fineberg, M.D., Ph.D., president of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academies.

“If we don’t succeed in turning this epidemic around, we are going to face, for the first time in our history, a situation where our children are going to live shorter lives than we do,” says Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Both of the above organizations partnered with HBO in the three year creation of this series.



I received an extensive press release on this entire project.  The full text more or less appears here: tvbythenumbers.