HBO at TCA

TWO NEW SHOWS AND MINISERIES PARADE’S END TOPS THE NEW OFFERINGS

HBO, which is always standing room only attendance only, has announced two new series for this spring: sitcom Family Tree and newsmagazine Vice. Family Tree, created by Christopher Guest and Jim Piddock, tells the tale of a 30-year-old man (Chris O’Dowd) who losses his job and his girlfriend and inherits a mysterious box of belongings from a great aunt he never met. Vice, executive produced by Bill Maher, Shane Smith and Eddy Moretti and hosted by Shane Smith, will profile the stories usually overlooked by mainstream media outlets.

In original movie news, Julia Roberts and Mark Ruffalo will headline The Normal Heart, which tells the story of the onset of the HIV-AIDS crisis in New York City in the early 1980s. Glee and American Horror Story creator Ryan Murphy will direct.

In the miniseries department is five-part Parade’s End, which follows an English aristocrat (Benedict Cumberbatch) trapped in a marriage to an unfaithful wife spanning the world of London high society during, the battlefields of France and the English countryside. It debuts on Tuesday, Feb. 26 (from 9-11:05 p.m. ET), Wednesday, Feb. 27 (9-11:05 p.m. ET) and Thursday, Feb. 28 (9-10 p.m. ET).

The upcoming HBO documentary slate will include (in chronological order):

-Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God (debuting on Feb. 4), which examines the abuse of power in the Catholic Church through the story of Deaf men who set out to expose the priest who sexually abused them.
-Kings Point (March), which tells the stories of five seniors in an American retirement home who struggle with love, loss and the charging relationships after losing their spouses.
-American Winter (March), which is set in Portland, Oregon and focuses on the country’s worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.
-50 Children: The Rescue Mission of Mr. and Mrs. Kraus (April). The untold story of Gilbert and Eleanor Kraus, who traveled to Nazi Germany in the spring of 1939 to save 50 Jewish children is narrated by Alan Alda and Mamie Gummer.
-Which Way is the Frontline From Here?: The Life and Times of Tim Hetherington (April). The famed war photographer and filmmaker is the subject.
-Manhunt: The Search for Bin Laden (May), which recounts the tumultuous decade-long hunt for Osama bin Laden.
-Tales From the Organ Trade (May), which investigates international organ trafficking and the role the Internet plays in the black market exchange.

HBO, in addition, will introduce A Youngarts Masterclass, an ongoing series of half-hour documentaries that follows high school students who participate in a program to be mentored by America’s greatest artists.