Actor Thomas Jane is testing his music skills on unsuspecting audiences across Los Angeles by playing secret coffee house shows in disguise.
The star lived on the streets of Los Angeles for months, surviving as a busker, before he made it big in Hollywood - and now he's decided to try his hand at music once more.
But Jane admits playing open mics under his own name still makes him nervous - especially after scoring a TV hit with Hung, about a well-endowed sports coach who turns to prostitution to make ends meet - so he's staying under the radar.
He laughs, "I don't want to throw people off and have people stare at my crotch the whole time so I tend to go in disguise."
But the actor risked blowing his cover on late night TV this week - when he showed off his talents to talk show host George Lopez, singing a country tune as he strummed an acoustic guitar.
HBO announced Wednesday that it has ordered a third season of Hung, the half-hour show starring Thomas Jane as Ray Drecker, a failed pro athlete and bored high school coach who takes advantage of his, um, endowments. The second season runs through September 12th, and the third season of 10 episodes will likely bow next summer.
The show also stars Jane Adams (Tanya Skagle), Anne Heche (Jessica Haxon), Eddie Jemison (Dr. Ronnie Haxon), and Rebecca Creskoff (Lenore Bernard). The series comes from creators Colette Burson and Dmitry Lipkin.
Either Thomas Jane was hungry for some attention or he really longed to flex his toes on the red carpet. The actor sported a pair of eye-catching athletic shoes at the second-season premiere of his HBO series, Hung.
While we can't bedgrudge Jane's desire for comfort, his choice of shoe is more than a little bizarre. The rest of the look is so very clean—maybe the footwear would have looked a little more appropriate paired with biker shorts and an oversized athletic tank top. Go hard or go home, as they say.
Here are this week's new releases on Blu-Ray, CD and DVD including the release of "Hung: The Complete First Season" starring Thomas Jane, Jane Adams, Anne Hecke and Natalie Zea.
MOVIES The Good Guy (B) Green Zone (B) The Last Station (B) Remember Me (B)
MUSIC Allstar Weekend - Suddenly Chamillionaire - Venom The Chemical Brothers - Further Cyndi Lauper - Memphis Blues Diana Ross - More Today Than Yesterday Eminem - Recovery Herbie Hancock - The Imagine Project Jaron and the Long Road - Getting Dressed in the Dark Keith Sweat - Ridin' Solo Macy Gray - The Sellout M.I.A. - XXXO (The Remixes) Miley Cyrus - Can't Be Tamed Ozzy Osbourne - Scream Sia - We Are Born Uncle Kracker - Happy Hour - The South River Sessions
TV SHOWS Entourage - 6th Season (B) Hung - 1st Season (B) Small Wonder - 2nd Season Swam Thing - The Series: Volume 3 Tom and Jerry - Deluxe Anniversary Collection
Thomas Jane stars in the HBO comedy "Hung" as high school history teacher and basketball coach Ray Drecker who, after attending a self help class while being down on his luck, decides to use the large size of his penis as a market to success.
Of course this has people wondering just how well-endowed the actor is and he actually share the info in the new issue of Men’s Fitness on which he is the cover subject.
Says Thomas: “I’m a textbook average guy. I’m 5′10″, I wear a model suit size — 40 regular, 32-inch waist pant — and a size 10 shoe. Everything about me is prototypical. Everything. I even have a right-down-the middle-exactly-average dick.”
It’s great to see Thomas in a hit series. He’s been doing movies for years including the stellar baseball drama 61* in which he played Mickey Mantle. He also starred in The Punisher, based on the Marvel Comics, The Stander, The Velocity of Gary and had supporting roles in Boogie Nights, Magnolia and The Thin Red Line.
Actor Thomas Jane lived on the streets of Los Angeles for months before he made it big in Hollywood, surviving as a busker.
The Punisher star slept on park benches in between street performances, and he is convinced that his tough times gave him the hunger he needed to finally succeed.
He says, "You have to sacrifice everything you have. I was homeless for a couple of months there. I stayed in welfare hotels in downtown L.A. and when I wasn't doing that I was living off of food stamps.
"I bought a guitar and I would sit on Hollywood Boulevard or on Santa Monica Boulevard and I would busk." »
I've become a HUGE fan of Thomas Jane ever since I started watching his new hit show: HBO’s Hung about a high school coach who moonlights as a male prostitute. He, the character anyway, has a very large penis.
Thomas, who is married to the beautiful Patricia Arquette, has done a fun Q&A with http://www.uinterview.com/ and I wanted to share a bit of it:
Q: Why do think the show has resonated with people so much? A: Yeah, they are a little insecure about their penises. We are born to be insecure about [our] penises. I was actually quite happy with mine until I did Hung. Now I don’t know what to think of it, maybe I’m not big enough. I was basically really happy with mine, now I’ve got all these iss
ues and I have to go see a shrink. [laughs] It’s a unique scenario playing a man with a large penis. I didn’t know my penis was going to be famous along with me! If I had known he was going to be famous, I would have treated him better in my younger years – I wouldn’t have rubbed him on the carpet so much and gotten that horrible rug burn. I would have treated him a lot better.
Q: What are some of the challenges working on set with all of the sex scenes? A: I feel very comfortable naked. I just feel comfortable when I’m nude. So I shoot in the nude, which becomes a problem during the teaching scenes – you have to add in the clothes digitally later. Those computer guys like a challenge.
Q: Do you get lots strange reactions from your fans? A: I know now what it’s like to be a woman because I now have to say during a conversation, ‘Hey my eyes are up here!’ They don’t even know that they are doing this. They look at me like they would someone on TV – ‘No actually I can see you too, this reality thing goes both ways.’
HBO announced the renewal of its entire summer lineup of original programing, ordering another round of freshman comedy "Hung," veteran comedy "Entourage" and hit vampire drama "True Blood."
Network executives addressing the critics at the Television Critics Association's semiannual press tour said "Hung" will get a second season, "True Blood" a third and "Entourage" a seventh. The new seasons will debut in 2010, with "Blood" planned for summer.
The freshly formed Sunday-night lineup has given HBO two consecutive hours of hit programing for the first time in years. "True Blood" in particular has managed to increase its audience with nearly every episode, giving the network its most-watched show since "The Sopranos."
"True Blood" has averaged 3.8 million viewers (11.2 when you add repeats, DVR and On Demand viewing), "Hung" has averaged 3.1 million (10.2 million total) and "Entourage" brings in about 3.0 million (7.4 million total).
Programing head Michael Lombardo and co-president Richard Plepler also dropped hints about the fates and air dates of other HBO programing during the network's executive session.
Next year HBO intends to air "Big Love" in January and roll out its highly anticipated World War II miniseries "The Pacific" in March. The war epic eventually will serve as lead-in for "Treme," the New Orleans drama from "The Wire" creator David Simon.
Emmy-nominated "Flight of the Conchords" also likely will return; executives made the prospect of a third season sound probable.
"When they're ready, we're ready," Plepler said of the show's musical comedy duo, Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement. "They have the added challenge of writing an album ... we're waiting for them to tell us they're ready."
Though HBO's full development pipeline is expected to present the network with some tough choices in the coming months, one project that looks almost certain to make the air is Martin Scorsese's period drama "Boardwalk Empire," starring Steve Buscemi.
"By everything we've seen, it's fantastic," Lombardo said. "It's big; it's everything we hoped it would be."
Executives were less certain about critical favorite "In Treatment" and "The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency," the latter program having lost executive producer Anthony Minghella, who died last year. But they didn't rule out the idea of either show returning.
"We're trying to put it together," Lombardo said of "Treatment." "It's adapted from a series (for) which there were only two seasons ... we're trying to see if it's possible."
The premiere of HBO's newest comedy, "Hung," was seen by 2.8 million viewers, making it the network's most-watched series debut in two years.
"Hung," about a well-endowed man (Thomas Jane) who becomes a hustler, was the strongest premiere for the network since "John From Cincinnati," which aired after the series finale of "The Sopranos" in June 2007.
Lead-in "True Blood," meanwhile, hit yet another series high, drawing 3.7 million viewers. "Hung" held 76 percent of the vampire drama's audience.
If you throw in encore presentations of both shows, the audience for "Hung" grows to 3.7 million viewers and for "Blood" to 5.1 million.
Life for basketball coach and teacher Ray Drecker (Thomas Jane) is in the crapper.
His team can't win a game, his wife (Anne Heche) left him, his twins are annoying adolescents, his neighbor is harassing him, and his home has just burned down. And all of this is happening in Detroit, where, as Drecker puts it, is "the headwaters of a river of failure."
But when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. When an HBO show gives you this setup, go for your big guns.
For those living in caves, "Hung" - premiering Saturday at 10:00 pm ET - is not the heartwarming adventures of an Asian family. It's a description of Drecker's sole useful asset. So when he meets un-cute with former one-night stand Tanya (Jane Adams as a self-righteous temp whose previous moneymaking idea was to put poems inside bread), they both get excited over the concept of pimping him out. Because, you know, he's hung.
That's a lot of setup, and it's easy to be of two minds about it. The basic concept - that these two entrepreneurs can make a bundle pimping Drecker out because he's a big man down below - is ludicrous beyond sitcom and scientific standards. Dirk Diggler was a porn star; "Boogie Nights" never indicated that he was the greatest lover in the world.
But try to be more Ray than Tanya on this: The show is pretty darned funny, especially once you get past the 45-minute pilot and into the half-hour regular episodes. The leads are a classic screwball couple, washed out and made hangdog by the system but fighting back in their own uniquely American fashion. Co-creator Dmitry Lipkin ("The Riches") again raises his unique periscope to peer into the darker corners of suburbia, crafting characters worth following even at their most repulsive.
Of course, this can't end well, and one of the pleasures of "Hung" is watching ambitious but not-too-bright people dig their own graves. Let's just say the ride is worth it.
Summer used to mean TV rerun hell, but that is so no longer the case. From HBO's Hung, which is a about a man with an oversized appendage, to NYC Prep, Bravo's reality answer to Gossip Girl, discover summer's new addictions and check out what's in store for your some of your favorite returning shows.
Check out our picks for this summer's best must-watch TV.
America's Got Talent (Season 4)
NBC - Tuesday, June 23rd, 9:00 pm
It might be a little difficult to top the force to reckon with that some people like to call Susan Boyle, after her groundbreaking performance on Britain's Got Talent, but rest assured be that on this whole, wide continent there is some spectacular talent still to be found. So much talent, in fact, that you can expect a two-hour premiere filled with it on June 23 as well as an additional hour on June 24. Get ready to watch dreams come true America!
NYC Prep
Bravo - Tuesday, June 23rd, 10:00 pm
If the faux-Upper East Side drama on Gossip Girl doesn't cut it for you realists out there, Bravo has heard your prayers and answered them with its' newest and possibly soon to be hit show NYC Prep. Follow the still faux drama (let's face it) of a real deal batch of spoiled prep school kids who are ready to show those Cali kids on the Hills that New York can do it better.
Hung
HBO - Sunday, June 28th, 10:00 pm
In the business of writing, blogging, or whatever it's called these days, sensational headlines are just a part of the package. But in this case, what you read is actually what you get.
HBO's latest dramady, follows the adventures and of a simple man, who is decidedly er, 'well hung,' and is determined to make it work to his advantage. Coming to term with his physiological gift is only the first step. "I've got a big dick, now what do I do with it?" We will certainly find out.
Check out the Hung promo below:
Great American Road Trip
NBC - Tuesday, July 7th, 8:00 pm
Roadtrips are great. Families can be great. However roadtrips combined with families sounds like trouble. On this adrenaline filled adventure, seven families square off to compete in a cross-country mission, tackling obstacle course after challenge, after obstacle course -- and we can only imagine that they all wrestle with some serious family demons along the way.
Entourage
HBO - Sunday, July 12th, 10:30 pm
It's rare to come across a show where every character has so much to offer, and that's what makes every season of this Hollywood drama worth watching. The antics of Ari, Lloyd and all the rest of the crew are simply a necessary part of the summer schedule. This season's guest appearances include Zac Efron, Lebron James and Tom Brady.
Hell's Kitchen (Season 6)
Fox - Tuesday, July 21st, 8:00 pm
It's questionable whether or not America really needs another season of Gordon Ramsay crushing the confidence and dreams of a batch of eager chefs, but after his recent publicity for letting his tongue slip a little too far, we'll watch just to see if he turns over a new leaf and decides to use positive reinforcement this time around instead.
Mad Men
AMC - Sunday, August 16th, 10:00 pm
Get a crash course in 1960s American culture with AMC's smash hit, penned by Sopranos writer Matthew Weiner. Mad Men returns for its' third season this August as six time Emmy winner.
Project Runway (Season 6)
Lifetime - Thursday, August 20th, 10:00 pm
After a five season run, it's safe to say that this show contains a few elements that can never get old: Heidi Klum, designer fashion, odd contestants, and Tim Gunn. Hopefully after another season of hearing Tim tell contestants to "Make it Work," we can finally start applying that advice to our own lives.
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Read all about our favorite stars of the "Entertainment World", visit picturesque places through the "Windows of the World", enjoy great "Culinary Experiences", or just sit back and enjoy my views on life.
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Actor Thomas Jane is testing his music skills on unsuspecting audiences across Los Angeles by playing secret coffee house shows in disguise.
NYC Prep
Hell's Kitchen (Season 6)
Project Runway (Season 6)
