Cinemax, also known as Max, is an American pay television network owned by Home Box Office, Inc., a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched on August 1, 1980, as a "maxi-pay" service to complement the offerings of its parent network, Home Box Office (HBO), Cinemax initially focused on recent and classic films. Today, its programming primarily includes recent and classic theatrically released films, original action series, documentaries, and special behind-the-scenes features.
Six Feet Under is an American drama television series created and produced by Alan Ball for the premium television network HBO. The series premiered on June 3, 2001, and ended on August 21, 2005, after five seasons consisting of 63 episodes. The show depicts the lives of the Fisher family, who run a funeral home in Los Angeles, along with their friends and lovers.
Thomas J. Pelphrey is an American actor. He is known for playing the roles of Jonathan Randall on the CBS television series Guiding Light, Mick Dante on the CBS television series As the World Turns, Kurt Bunker on the Cinemax television series Banshee, Ward Meachum on the Netflix series Iron Fist, Ben Davis on the Netflix series Ozark, Perry Abbott on the Prime Video series Outer Range, Don Crowder on the Max limited series Love & Death, Joe Mankiewicz in David Fincher's film Mank, and Jason Derek Brown in the true crime film American Murderer. For his performance on Ozark, Pelphrey received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series.
The 16th Annual GLAAD Media Awards (2005) were presented at three separate ceremonies: March 28 in New York; April 30 in Los Angeles; and June 11 in San Francisco. The awards were presented to honor "fair, accurate and inclusive" representations of gay individuals in the media.
Jeremy Podeswa is a Canadian film and television director. He is best known for directing the films The Five Senses (1999) and Fugitive Pieces (2007). He has also worked as director on the television shows Six Feet Under, Nip/Tuck, The Tudors, Queer as Folk, and the HBO World War II miniseries The Pacific. He has also written several films.
Nancy Oliver is an American playwright and screenwriter who is best known for her work on the successful TV series Six Feet Under. Oliver was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 2008 for her debut screenplay, Lars and the Real Girl.
Michael Cuesta is an American film and television director, best known for his independent films, specially for having co-written and directed the 2001 film, L.I.E. He has directed and produced television series including Six Feet Under, Dexter, Blue Bloods and Homeland.
Grant Bowler is a New Zealand-Australian actor and television presenter who has worked in American, Australian, New Zealand, and Canadian film, television, and theatre.
Frankie Russel Faison is an American actor known for his role as Deputy Commissioner, and, later, Commissioner, Ervin Burrell in the HBO series The Wire, as Barney Matthews in the Hannibal Lecter franchise, and as Sugar Bates in the Cinemax series Banshee.
Peter Macdissi is a Lebanese actor and producer. His filmography consists mostly of television work, most notably playing recurring character Olivier Castro-Staal on Alan Ball's HBO series Six Feet Under. In 2007, he appeared in Towelhead, a feature film written and directed by Ball, who is also his partner. Along with Ball, he is one of the executive producers of the Cinemax series Banshee.
True Blood is an American fantasy horror drama television series produced and created by Alan Ball. It is based on The Southern Vampire Mysteries, a series of novels by Charlaine Harris.
"Strange Love" is the pilot episode of True Blood. The episode was written and directed by Alan Ball and originally aired in the United States on HBO on September 7, 2008. In the episode, Sookie Stackhouse meets vampire Bill Compton and saves him from vicious vampire drainers, while her best friend Tara becomes the new bartender at Sam Merlotte's bar and Sookie's brother Jason finds himself accused of murder. The episode received generally positive reviews from critics. It was rated TV-MA for Adult Content, Adult Language, Nudity, Strong Sexual Content, and Violence.
Rutina Wesley is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Tara Thornton on the HBO television series True Blood, and Nova Bordelon on OWN’s Queen Sugar.
Nelsan Ellis was an American actor. He achieved critical acclaim for his portrayal of Lafayette Reynolds in the HBO television series True Blood (2008–2014), for which he won a Satellite Award from the International Press Academy, among other accolades. He also starred as Shinwell Johnson in Elementary from 2016 to 2017, and played a variety of guest roles on television.
The first season of the American television drama series True Blood premiered on September 7, 2008 and concluded on November 23, 2008. It consists of 12 episodes, each running approximately 55 minutes in length and was, for the most part, based on the novel Dead Until Dark, the first entry in The Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris. The story takes place in the fictional town of Bon Temps, Louisiana, two years after vampires have made their presence known to mankind, and follows telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse as she attempts to solve a series of murders that seem to be motivated by a hatred of vampires.
The state of Georgia mostly improved in its treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents in the years after 1970, when LGBT residents began to openly establish events, organizations and outlets for fellow LGBT residents and increase in political empowerment.
Banshee is an American action television series created by Jonathan Tropper and David Schickler that aired on Cinemax for four seasons from January 11, 2013, to May 20, 2016, comprising a total of 38 episodes. Set in the small fictional town of Banshee in Pennsylvania Amish country, the series' main character is an enigmatic ex-con who assumes the identity of Lucas Hood, the town's murdered sheriff, to hide from powerful crime lord Rabbit. Imposing his own brand of justice, Hood attempts to reconcile with his former lover, Rabbit's daughter Anastasia, who has herself adopted an assumed identity, married, and raised a family during Hood's incarceration. Hood struggles to maintain his new identity while still embracing crime alongside his partners Job and Sugar and coming into conflict with local kingpin Kai Proctor.
Lili Marie Simmons is an American actress and model known for her role as Rebecca Bowman in the Cinemax series Banshee (2013–2016).
Christopher James Coy is an American actor. He is known for portraying L.P. Everett on HBO's Treme (2012–2013), Martin on AMC's The Walking Dead (2014–2015), Calvin Bunker on Cinemax's Banshee (2015–2016), Paul Hendrickson on HBO's The Deuce (2017–2019) and Jasper Baker on Prime Video's The Peripheral (2022).
