HBO Seeks Programming Head; Also, Programming

According to the Hollywood Reporter, HBO may be close to naming Sue Naegle of United Talent Agency to replace Carolyn Strauss as its chief of entertainment. [Update: HR confirms the hire.]

Now all the pay channel needs to do is finds some, well, entertainment. Says TV Guide, the cupboards are sufficiently bare—post-strike, post-12 Miles of Bad Road's termination, post-John from Cincinnati, etc.—that HBO will not be airing new series this summer. Entourage, Big Love and Flight of the Conchords are to return this fall at earliest, when Alan Ball's vampire drama True Blood is also planned to debut. As for the summer, HBO will move up the premiere of Iraq miniseries Generation Kill, run movies, and... um... well, hey, it's summer! Shouldn't you be outside getting some exercise?

In cable-channels-that-are-actually-signing-up-new-series news, meanwhile, AMC has struck a deal with Darren Aronofsky to make "psychological thriller" Riverview Towers. (Link via TV Tattle.)

Sounds like the sort of thing HBO might have done, before its slogan became, "It's not TV, it's HBO. Also, it's not HBO either until around September, so in the meantime please enjoy this rebroadcast of Music and Lyrics."