Love Me Not

So far I don’t love Tell Me That You Love Me.

HBO’s latest series, which attempts to tackle the sticky, complex topic of modern relationships, offers seriousness and scenes of graphic sex galore. Too bad nearly all of its characters are uninteresting, clothed or not.

Reeling from the loss of its signature series, The Sopranos (which won best drama series at the Emmys last night), the puzzling cancellation of Deadwood and a spotty season of Entourage, HBO seems to be grasping for relevance with Tell Me That You Love Me, a carnally daring (word is that the sex is not simulated) but dramatically inert series that, after two episodes, is destined to go the way of its intriguing but similarly laconic John from Cincinnati: cancellation.

That said, I’m still holding out hope: I need something besides Bill Maher to keep my interest in a post-Sopranos HBO, a movie channel whose television series are almost always more interesting than its repetitive, staid film programming.

(Photo courtesy of HBO.com)

— Jason Gargano