Some people like to bitch about HBO original programming these days because every show they make isn’t the greatest piece of programming in TV history. Sure, we’ve gotten two Hung‘s for every Deadwood in recent years, but we still got Deadwood and Rome (I think True Blood is a win too, though recognize that it is polarizing). Now Boardwalk Empire looks very promising and I’ve got high hopes for the Game of Thrones adaptation. Of course, that means we need a few duds to even out the mix…

Page Six reports that the brain-trust behind Entourage, Mark Wahlberg and Steve Levinson, are collaborating with James Frey – yes, that James Frey; A Million Little Pieces enemy to Oprah James Frey – on a drama that “will focus on a giant video company under siege from Internet competitors and a girl from the Midwest whose boyfriend convinces her to move to Los Angeles to become a star. Reached by Page Six, Frey, who’s writing the pilot, said, “We’re going to make a sprawling epic about the porn business in LA. We’re going to tell the type of stories no one else has told before, and go places no one has gone before.”” The show will feature both actors and real pornstars in the cast.

I realize with regular cable elbowing in with amazing shows like Mad Men and Breaking Bad that HBO needs to justify their subscription fees, but I get bored when it seems like they’re just lazily relying on sexuality (Hung) and “envelope pushing” concepts (Big Love). And this new show kinda looks to be both. If this manages to be the Boogie Nights of television, I’m on board, but Wahlberg and Levinson don’t exactly fill me with bursting optimism.