By Drew Grant 3/26 7:59pm

off the record

vice02_tca

The Vice Guide to Serious Journalism: How a DIY Drug Mag Became Serious Business for HBO

When Shane Smith, one of the founders of Vice Media, pitched a television show to MTV in 2010, it seemed unimaginable that the company that came out of Vice magazine could establish itself as a respected informational source about, well, anything (other than how to decorate your heroin stash). And yet the network bit, and The Vice Guide to Everything ran for eight episodes, balancing ridiculous segments against heavier fare.

With its latest television program, VICE, which premieres next Friday, the media company is once again trying its hand at American television. Not just television. HBO. And this time, it’s not trading on its nihilistic reputation. Instead, it’s asking audiences to trust in its international-relations acumen. It wants to be taken seriously. Or at least as seriously as it takes itself. Read More

By Daniel D'Addario 4/17/12 12:46pm

Ratings

Lena Dunham (Getty Images)

Slow Start Doesn’t Mean Doom for Girls

Girls, the ultra-buzzy new HBO series, didn’t do as well as its intense presence on your Twitter feed might have indicated–its 872,000 viewers make it a stronger performer than, say, its Sunday night comedy predecessor, Ricky Gervais’s Life’s Too Short (with 810,000 viewers), but a weaker one than its lead-in, the season finale of Eastbound Read More

By Felix Gillette 9/15/09 11:00pm

HBO, The Writers’ Network

Not long ago, in the spring of 2009, Colette Burson and Dmitry Lipkin, the husband-and-wife writing team, were running late on a crucial project. In a few short weeks, their half-hour series, Hung, would be premiering on HBO. At the time, they were busy cutting the all-important title sequence. On the morning it was due, Read More