HBO

Taking a dark turn in may respects, season three of The Larry Sanders Show found familiar faces struggling with inner demons and the sometimes draining demands of a career in late-night television. Starting with the eponymous host living as a recluse and ending with him struggling to overcome an addiction to pain killers, the third season would lighten up somewhat in the middle with such humorous episodes as "Hank's Night in the Sun" and "People's Choice," though both Hank (Jeffrey Tambor) and Artie (Rip Torn) would face dark times in "Hank's Divorce" and "Arthur's Crisis." Despite the fact that the series contained some more downbeat themes, the writing on The Larry Sanders Show continued to be a strong as ever, and fans would certainly be pleased to find the show as fresh and pointed as the day it premiered. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

The stars of the hit HBO series reunite with original writer/producer/director Michael Patrick King to deliver this sequel that finds the ladies venturing outside New York City for the adventure of a lifetime. Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), Charlotte (Kristin Davis), and Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) are all married now, but they're still up for a little fun in the sun. When Samantha (Kim Cattrall) gets the chance to visit one of the most extravagant vacation destinations on the planet and offers to bring them all along, they surmise that a women-only retreat may be the perfect excuse to eschew their responsibilities and remember what life was like before they decided to settle down. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

 

The fifth season of the Hollywood satire finds the guys trying to help Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier) pull out of a career free fall after the flop of his film "Medellin." As the season opens, Vince and Turtle (Jerry Ferrara) lay low in tropical paradise, while back in L.A., manager Eric Murphy (Kevin Connolly) and agent Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven) do damage control. Upon his return to Hollywood, Vince sees his situation go from bad to worse as his accountant advises him to file for bankruptcy. Though Vinnie seems to have lost his mojo, things are looking up for Eric, who shops around a promising script written by two rednecks (Giovanni Ribisi, Lukas Haas). But negotiations become tense when the better offer comes from a studio that doesn't want Vince in the film. Meanwhile, Ari takes a big gamble, literally, to help Vince while playing golf with a big-time studio head. And later the cocksure agent contemplates a dramatic career move. Speaking of Drama, Johnny (Kevin Dillon) continues his long-distance romance with Cannes fling Jacqueline (Julia Levy-Boeken), makes a memorable appearance on The View and hires Turtle as his personal assistant. Despite that professional low point, Turtle's personal life improves considerably when he lucks into a seat next to Jamie-Lynn Sigler on a flight back home to Queens, where the boys head to regroup. The season-ending trip reveals whether Vince's star rises again, and discloses one of the series' best-kept secrets: Turtle's real name. Among the celebrities making cameos in Season 5 are Tony Bennett, Phil Mickelson, Whoopi Goldberg, Jeffrey Tambor, Eric Roberts, Peter Berg, and executive producer Mark Wahlberg. ~ Kathy LeSage, Rovi

Is bad love better than no love at all? A woman finds herself pondering that question in this dark comedy from filmmaker Yukihiko Tsutsumi. When she was a teenager, Yukie Morita (Miki Nakatani) was the sort of girl whom people tended to ignore, and her efforts to stand out among her fellow students invariably ended in failure. The one thing that made others take notice of Yukie didn't help her much -- her father attempted to rob a bank, but his scheme failed so miserably it earned him lasting local notoriety. Desperate to start over, Yukie left the coastal town where she was born and moved to Osaka, where she worked a series of unglamorous jobs. In her early thirties, Yukie waits tables at a diner, but she's head over heels in love with her live-in boyfriend, Isao Hayama (Hiroshi Abe). Yukie is so thrilled to have someone to love that she's willing to ignore the fact Isao drinks too much, throws away his money gambling, can't hold a job, and has a hair-trigger temper that results in broken furniture and upended dinner tables on a regular basis. But is she really as happy as she claims to be? ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

George Carlin's fourteenth and final special for HBO features the revered funnyman at his most cantankerous, throwing out verbally dexterous tirades about modern parenting, death, religion, and how annoying most people are. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

The abrasive comedian and his brethren take on pop culture, politics and all the things that most stupefy and pervert our society. With the help of comics like Patton Oswalt, Greg Giraldo and Andrew Daly, Lewis Black will help you find the Root of All Evil.

For the fifth and final season of this groundbreaking urban drama, series creator David Simon returns to his old stomping grounds at the Baltimore Sun, where he worked for many years as a crime reporter, to examine the media's role in modern society. This fictionalized version of what was once a newspaper of record is experiencing tough economic times, precipitating layoffs and a hollow mantra from management to "do more with less." These marching orders are met with derision by Gus Haynes (Clark Johnson), an old-school City Desk editor who encourages eager young journalists such as Alma Gutierrez (Michelle Paress) to hone their craft. The cutbacks at the Sun mirror those at City Hall, where Mayor Carcetti (Aidan Gillen) -- who's too busy angling for a gubernatorial run and convicting corrupt politico Clay Davis (Isiah Whitlock Jr.) to care-slashes the police budget to save money. But the decimation of the department's morale and matériel is too much for Jimmy McNulty (Dominic West). The maverick detective, who is not only back in Homicide but regressing to his tomcatting ways, fabricates a grisly crime that catches the eye of self-serving Sun reporter Scott Templeton (Tom McCarthy). And although his sensational articles about a rampaging serial killer are met with skepticism by Haynes, they're championed by his prize-hungry bosses. McNulty's scheme doesn't sit well with his partner Bunk (Wendell Pierce), but is embraced by Det. Freamon (Clarke Peters) if the means justify the restoration of funding to pursue drug lord Marlo Stanfield (Jamie Hector). Free of law-enforcement scrutiny, Marlo shields himself with onetime Barksdale attorney Maurice Levy (Michael Kostroff) on a quest to rule the entire city's drug trade, and tempts fate by luring stickup artist Omar (Michael K. Williams) back to town to settle an old score. Meanwhile, former addict Bubbles (Andre Royo) struggles to stay clean, but finds it hard to face his demons at Narcotics Anonymous meetings. ~ Joe Friedrich, Rovi