TVSquad

(S01E10) "You're afraid of flies or something?" - Ray

All season long on Hung, there's been one lingering question. We knew it from the moment we met Tanya, and it was solidified in last night's season finale when she sat on her couch, in dirty sweat pants, reading The Power of Positive Thinking, only to run away terrified at the sight of numerous flies. One lingering question and finally, Ray is asking it too.

What the hell made Tanya think she'd make a good pimp?

So I've been watching Hung (because I'm flattered that they'd base a show like that around me). It's proven to be a much more entertaining take on the premise than I expected. Thomas Jane and Jane Adams are simply perfect in their respective roles as the reluctant gigolo and his high-strung pimp. I was digging Anne Heche as his wife, and even getting his bizarre kids.

I didn't even know the show needed anything more, until Ray booked his most demanding and bizarre client yet and Natalie Zea (Dirty Sexy Money) sashayed into the room. Wow, did Hung need her. And I don't mean because she's gorgeous, though that certainly helps. What a new dynamic she's brought to everything.

Going in, everyone in the crowd had to know that the panel for HBO's Hung was going to consist of puns and schoolyard humor. After all, it's a show about a down-and-out guy who uses his best asset -- his manhood -- and becomes a male prostitute. So it shouldn't have been a big surprise when a reporter started the questioning by asking whether the show continues a trend of shows about "ordinary working stiffs with a secret."

It went pretty much downhill from there, aided and abetted by the show's stars, Thomas Jane and Jane Adams.

Jane, on his audition process: "I had to go into the other room to disrobe, so I wouldn't hit anyone in the eye. It's for safety."

Adams told a critic that it was interesting he was making so many penis puns "While you're holding that mike."

Co-creator Colette Burson got into the act, calling the member of Jane's character of Ray Drecker as "The Platonic Penis. It's the ideal penis on a certain level."

HBO has billed their new series Hung as a comedy. But last week's pilot was pretty light on the laughs. That's not to say that the show doesn't have potential. I do think it's fair to say it's not living up to any of it, though. I didn't get around to watching the premiere until this weekend, which is when I realized that there was no new episode this week. It makes sense when you consider the Fourth of July holiday. But when you're trying to establish a rhythm and audience for a new show, it's a horrible idea.

Especially when your show is only "eh" to begin with. The biggest flaw in the premiere of Hung was how it ended. You have to consider that after only one episode to get to know your premise and characters, you're going to be asking people to wait two weeks and then come back for more. That means you have to grab onto them with something that makes them need to come back. Hung just kind of withered at the end.

Over the span of Hung's first few episodes, Ray Drecker utters a lot of depressing one-liners. Things like "everything's falling apart" and "I used to be a big deal" are common phrases for him. However, as the title of the show suggests, Ray Drecker (played by The Punisher's Thomas Jane) has at least one thing to be very happy about.

The new HBO dramedy is set in Detroit against the backdrop of a financially ruined automotive industry skyline, and as the world crumbles around him, Ray is forced to re-evaluate his life while everything he cares about slowly slips away. It's unsettling and sad, but in some ways, fortuitous ... at least for HBO anyway. Considering the current economic crisis many Americans are experiencing, a lot of people are going to relate to this show. Just probably not to the big penis part.

Hung is a new reality competition show that features various designers competing to see who can design, create, and hang the best drapes in one hour. Well, no. Actually it's a new comedy/drama about a guy who's having a terrible life until he realizes that he can market his giant penis. (Don't worry, no actual penis is shown in the clip below.)

There are going to be several lines that every reviewer will use to describe this show, so let's get one of out of the way now: "Hung is going to be huge!"

It's Dirk Diggler on the small screen. Sort of. Actually, it's the Punisher with a giant schlong. Well, sort of. HBO has picked up Hung, starring Thomas Jane for a 10-episode summer run. It's a show about a high-school basketball coach who's well ... hung. Well hung. Yeah, I meant to do that. The half-hour comedy is hoping to capitalize on the success of Entourage, Flight of the Conchords and virtually nothing else comedic on the network by using sex and a giant dong to capture ratings.

Hey, if Showtime can find success with the UK's Secret Diary of a Call Girl, then HBO should be good to go, right? The best part about the article is that writer Dmitry Lipkin said, "The show is very much about what's happening in the country, how people are trying to survive using what God had given them." I guess prostitution is on the rise then, because God gave lots of women the tools to do that. And I can't wait to get started on my career in modeling because God gave me all of this (just imagine Brad Pitt and Denzel Washington and think way more beautiful).