Unreal TV Review: Hung

Well, I decided to finally sit down and watch the premiere episode of HBO’s new series Hung.  I haven’t heard much about it yet, Thomas Jane is pretty cool (Is he a poor man’s Aaron Eckhart?  Discuss.), and I liked him as a shark wrangler, Micky Mantle, and The Punisher, so why not watch him as a dude with a ginormous shlong?  HBO’s track record for original series is outstanding – with the notable exception of John from Cincinnati – so my expectations for Hung may have been a bit high.  Still, premiere/pilot episodes function mostly to set up the story and introduce you to the character, and with that in mind, I think the premiere of Hung was pretty good.  Put it this way:  I’ll be watching the second episode when it airs on Sunday night.  Keep reading for the full review:

Thomas Jane plays Ray Drecker, a former high school stud who is currently teaching high school and coaching the boys’ basketball team.  The episode begins with Ray giving his team a fiery speech but, right before the game begins, he leaves the gym to go to the hospital for a painful kidney stone.  Or so it seems.  Ray – who serves as the show’s narrator, too – was faking, and he’s on his way to his first man-whore gig.  Where did this come from?  We flash back, and Ray tells the audience how it all came to this.

After losing his wife to a dermatologist, his house to a fire, and his kids back to his ex-wife, Ray’s life is on a downward spiral that no one should have to experience.  He sleeps in a tent in his backyard and eventually musters up enough courage to crawl to his ex-wife and beg her for a loan.  She doesn’t outright deny him, but his prospects don’t look good.  Desperate, Ray attends a meeting in a hotel for wannabe entrepreneurs.  It’s at this meeting where Ray reunites with Tanya, a poet he slept with in the past.  Tanya remembers Ray, mostly because his enormous member really, uh, pleased her.  The wannabes are given an assignment to think of their unique “tool” (Hung will have no shortage of penis puns, and this is a good thing), and Tanya and Ray decide to shack up again for old time’s sake.

Ray determines that his tool is his huge wang, but keeps this from his fellow wannabe entrepreneurs.  He doesn’t know how to market himself, though, and that’s where Tanya comes in.  The pimp/ho dynamic is established, and the show can move forward.  He earns $50 from his first gig – which ends pretty anticlimactically – and Ray is able to give his son the money to see a goth concert.  For the first time in a long time, Ray feels like he’s doing alright.

Thomas Jane is a good enough actor to carry the lead role, and Tanya (played by Jane Adams) is pretty good herself.  The show’s comedy isn’t slapstick, and it does seem to have some soul.  Ray cares very much about his kids, and you can sympathize with his unfortunate situation.  If I had to compare it to something else, I suppose it’s a lot like Californication.  That’s a compliment, but unfortunately, Ray Drecker is no Hank Moody…yet.  I’m interested enough to watch the second episode, so if things pick up, HBO may have another great series on its hands.  If not, then there’s always True Blood.

And no, we don’t get to see Ray’s dick in this episode.