"The Comeback" is a television series that aired on HBO in 2005 and 2014. It follows the story of Valerie Cherish, a washed-up actress who tries to revive her career by starring in a reality show. The show is shot in a mockumentary style, with the cameras following Valerie around as she navigates the ups and downs of her life.

Episode by episode, loyal viewers of "How I Met Your Mother" first forget and then cease caring that the stories supposedly are told as flashbacks from some uncertain future when a couple of the characters actually have children. Ted, ostensibly the main character, described by the pitchmen as "architect and eternal romantic, feels the urgency of finding the same true love his best friend Marshall has found with his wife Lily. Marshall is a little dorky, Lily is lovably flaky, and Robin"”Ted's premier love interest"”is gorgeous but better left among the cell numbers of "just friends." Oddball character Barney is the comic centerpiece of the show. Neil Patrick Harris plays Barney"”need anyone say more? Barney, as fiercely opinionated as he is devoted to designer suits for all occasions, specializes in impromptu development of foolproof schemes for meeting and making conquest of women. "How I Met Your Mother" contributes significantly to CBS's domination of Monday night tube, because approximately twenty million viewers agree with the Yahoo! reviewer who wrote, "Good writing and quirky characters played by likeable actors, this one consistently entertains me. NPH has created a classic character in Barney. And with the fabulous Alyson Hannigan on board *sighs*, I just can't stop watching."

The White Lotus is a television series created by Mike White for HBO. The show revolves around a group of wealthy vacationers who stay at a luxurious resort in Hawaii. Over the course of their stay, the guests' lives and relationships become intertwined, leading to tension and conflict. The show explores themes such as class, privilege, and power dynamics.

"Flight of the Conchords" is a television series that aired on HBO from 2007 to 2009. The show follows the lives of two New Zealand musicians, Jemaine and Bret, as they try to make it in the music industry in New York City. The show combines elements of comedy and music, as Jemaine and Bret frequently break into song during the episodes.

On HBO's critically acclaimed "Entourage," Jeremy Piven plays Ari Gold so convincingly that real Hollywood agents feel their skin crawl, experiencing the odd sensation the show is dramatizing their biographies. The sultans of Sunset Boulevard insist "Entourage" gives the most frighteningly real representation of high-powered talent agents since Tom Cruise revealed all the nooks and crannies in Jerry McGuire's character. "Entourage" producer Doug Ellin recently explained, "We always try to write the show starting with 'What's real?' not 'What's funny?,' " but the two questions may be opposite sides of the same coin, because uninitiated audiences find it belly-laugh-out-loud hilarious. "When you're on the inside like we are, good water-cooler television is hard to find," said Jay Sures, a partner at the United Talent Agency. "Entourage" compels the real Hollywood "ten-percenters" to engage in spirited discussions of the show's characters and situations, treating the fictions as if they were real colleagues and clients, because the work-a-day professionals willingly have suspended disbelief and taken Ari Gold into the fold. For the average cable subscriber, then, "Entourage" is the entre to life as a Hollywood insider.

Does "Californication" have an audience outside Los Angeles? "X-Files" hero and heart-throb David Duchovny plays a novelist who's addicted to both sex and drugs but takes a shot at raising his teenage daughter on his own. For the real Hollywood housewives, this Showtime staple may seem at least as ripped-from-everyday-life as their own weekly melodrama, but how does it play Omaha and Schenectady? If blocked writers really were seductive, a million part-time bloggers would feel empowered to rewrite Lady Chatterley's Lover. Two salient features keep premier cable viewers tuning in for their weekly dose of SoCal self-pity: First, son of a playwright and alumnus of Princeton, Duchovny has enough empathy for his ostensibly tortured character that he can invest "Californication's" uninspired screenwriting with a little angst, a lot of sex appeal, and a soupcon of roguish charm. Second, whatever "Californication" lacks in substance and depth, it more than makes-up in graphic sex. Wasn't there supposed to be some sort of relevant family drama woven-in there somewhere?