With the final episode of Entourage drawing to a close, I have found hope in whisking away more time into TV after watching last night’s season premiere of HBO’s new comedy Bored to Death. Protagonist Jonathan Ames played by Jason Schwartzman, is a struggling novelist desperately looking to complete his second book, and due to an addiction to white wine and weed has just been left by his girlfriend Suzanne. Ames seeks therapy in the notion of immitating heroes from his collection of detective novels, and posts his services as an “unlicensed” private investigator on Craigslist looking to kill time between his bouts of writer’s block. When he gets his first call from a distraught Brooklyn woman concerned that her sister has gone missing after breaking up with her methhead boyfried, Ames is thrown into a mystery that ends up with in a run in with the law.
Great casting with Ted Danson playing a suave magazine mogul and editor of Edition magazine, Danson is also Ames’ part time boss with an addiction to weed. Zach Galifianakis plays Ames’ best friend Ray Hueston, a budding cartoonist who is dealing with his own issues of sexual frustration with his current girlfriend. Aside from the clever storyline and cool cast, it was also interesting to find out Schwartzman contractually required that all his outfits for the show were from his favorite brand Band of Outsiders.
