HBO’s new show Hung premiered last night, as what I can only determine to be HBO’s answer to Showtime’s critically acclaimed hit show Weeds. Hung is about a down-on-his-luck guy who starts selling his body for extra cash…like you do. Apparently the main character (played by Thomas Jane) gets dumped by his wife, moves to his vacant childhood house, and then is lax about home insurance. Not exactly a problem until your house catches on fire and you have no choice but to start pimping your giant dick out in order to make ends meet. It’s happened to all of us, and now HBO is telling our story.
The very premise of this show (which I have not yet watched, and may not watch at all) touches on my main problem with Weeds. I realize these are television shows and therefore require some degree of suspension of disbelief, but these are not exactly people so hard on their luck that they have to stoop so low as to sell drugs or resort to prostitution. Things are hard, things look bad…but come on. I feel like these people could figure out some way, ANY other way. I know I am missing the point of both Weeds and Hung, but it infuriates me to the point that I just don’t enjoy the show because I can’t get past it.
The main character in Hung is a gym teacher, for God’s sake. While I’m sure that he’s not the only one who has managed to supplement his paltry teacher’s salary in the sex industry (the stereotypical hot teacher/stripper is a stereotype because it’s probably true, after all), I just find the whole premise to be annoying and not in the least bit endearing. Perhaps HBO is going for a non-redeemable character, but I highly doubt it. It sounds like a good excuse to get people naked, I will give them that. Thomas Jane is hot, but I’m not tuning in just to see him strip it all off. Might I suggest creating reasons for Alex Skarsgard on True Blood to get naked instead? I prefer to save my suspension of disbelief for things like vampires, anyway.
Hung airs on HBO every Sunday night at 9 PM CST/10 PM EST.
Jessica Fritsche is a writer and designer living in Dallas, TX. When she's not obsessing over the newest Joss Whedon show or catching up on obscure scifi shows, Jess blogs regularly about tech at