HBO has announced that the second seasons of the original comedy series Girls and Enlightened will debut in January of 2013.  The first seasons of Girls and Enlightened began airing in April and October, respectively, but the network now has a hole to fill in January after the unexpected cancellation of Luck.  I’ve yet to catch Enlightened, but I was a big fan of Lena Dunham’s Girls.  At once raw, hilarious, candid, and sweet, Girls proved to be one of the most entertaining offerings of the 2011-2012 TV season.

For those keeping score at home, next up on HBO’s original programming docket after True Blood and The Newsroom wrap up their current seasons is Boardwalk Empire and Treme, which both premiere in September.  Hit the jump to read the full press release.

The crime drama Meeting Evil (currently available through Magnolia Ultra VOD prior to the film’s theatrical release on May 4^th) follows John (Luke Wilson), a depressed suburban family man and recently fired realtor, who offers to help a stranger named Richie (Samuel L. Jackson) with his car.  Upon doing so, John is quickly sucked into a nightmarish murder spree that forces him to go to any length he can to protect his family.

During this recent exclusive phone interview with Collider, actor Luke Wilson talked about how he came to be a part of the project, that he had played golf with Samuel L. Jackson a few times prior to their working together, his attraction to the film noir feel of the film, playing husband to actress Leslie Bibb, and the most challenging scene to shoot.  He also talked about shooting Season 2 of the HBO series Enlightened, from creator Mike White and starring Laura Dern, and how much fun it would be to get to reprise his role from the first film for Anchorman 2.  Check out what he had to say after the jump.

I’ve just spent the past three hours watching and live-blogging the 2012 Golden Globe Awards.  My brain feels mushy.  After the jump and presented without comment is a list of this year’s winners. If you don’t even want to hit the jump, The Artist and The Descendants won Best Comedy/Musical and Best Drama, respectively.  If you want to awards prognosticate, I’ll save you the trouble: both were nominated for a Best Picture Oscar.  Those nominations haven’t been announced yet, but they were nominated.  Trust me.  I’m a professional.

Also, feel free to sound off on the winners and losers.  Lord knows I’ve been doing it for the past three hours.

For those of you who enjoyed this past season of Bored to Death, I hope it was good enough to hold you over until the end of time because THR reports HBO has opted not to renew the series for fourth season. The network has also decided to cut off Hung and How to Make it in America as new series like Luck, Girls, Angry Boys, Life’s Too Short and Veep all make their way to the network next year. However, amidst all of the cable network’s axing, there is a lone survivor. HBO’s freshman series Enlightened starring Laura Dern has been renewed for a second season. While Dern gives a solid performance, it’s not a show I looked forward to watching every week and I can’t say I’m too thrilled with HBO’s decision to renew it. Surely the Golden Globe nomination for Dern’s performance and the series itself helped the half-hour show survive though. Anyway, the future slate for HBO is enough to let me forgive their reckless executions of the aforementioned series for now.

The 2011 Golden Globes nominations have been announced.  I don’t pay them much attention as an awards barometer since their nominations can be purchased (the Globes are run by the shoddy Hollywood Foreign Press Association) and the event is more to get a bunch of celebrities in a room together and hand them an over-valued award.  But that doesn’t mean it’s not a fun show to watch and this year should be plenty entertaining with Ricky Gervais returning to host.

As for the nominees, you’ll find the usual suspects: The Artist, The Descendants, Hugo, The Help, and Midnight in Paris.  I have to give the Globes credit for having a separate comedy category, which allows actors like Brendan Gleeson (The Guard) and Kristen Wiig (Bridesmaids) to get nominated.  As for “snubs” (again, it’s tough to take the Globes nominations seriously), nothing from The Muppets was nominated for Best Song .  Hit the jump for the full list of nominees.  Winners will be announced on January 15th.

As more name actors make the jump back and forth from the silver screen to the flickering box, the great divide  of “success” between film and television actors has been dwindling.  Even further evidence of this closing gap can be seen in the talent behind the camera.  While film directors often direct the pilot of a new series for a big boost in viewership, more and more directors are being utilized for single episodes of series and HBO seems to have cornered the market.  Deadline reports the cable network’s new comedy series Enlightened has a lined up an impressive group to helm the episodes, including Academy Award winner Jonathan Demme (Silence of the Lambs)

Hit the jump for the rest of the directors and a refresher on the series’ story.

Kevin Alejandro of the star-crossed cop drama Southland will soon be pulling doubles.  Alejandro has just secured a regular role on HBO’s hit show True Blood as Jesus, “a Latino orderly who is taking care of Ruby Jean Reynolds (Alfre Woodard) at her care facility and becomes involved with her son, Lafayette (Nelsan Ellis).”  Since TNT has not yet officially decided to produce a second season of Southland, Alejandro will be able to work on True Blood.

Hit the jump for new casting on the upcoming TV shows Retired at 35, Enlightened, and Lights Out.

Writer, director, producer and actor Mike White is known for his rather eclectic dramedies, such as Chuck & Buck, The Good Girl, School of Rock, Nacho Libre and Year of the Dog, which is totally fine with him. Not looking to be a producer or director for hire, he enjoys working with his friends, like Jared and Jerusha Hess (Napoleon Dynamite) on their latest film, Gentlemen Broncos, about a lovable underdog (played by Michael Angarano) whose passion for writing science-fiction novels is turned upside down when his idol, the celebrated fantasy author Dr. Ronald Chevalier (Jemaine Clement), steals his story at a writers camp.

At the press day for the film, Mike White gave some updates on what he’s currently working on, including the HBO pilot Enlightened, headed into production in January 2010, as well as the status of Them (with Edgar Wright) and School of Rock 2. Look for what he said on “Gentlemen Broncos” very soon.

Continuing in their quest to regain television network preeminence, HBO has given the greenlight to yet another pilot.  “Enlightened”, the tentatively-titled, single camera comedy which stars Laura Dern, was developed by “School of Rock scribe Mike White.  More after the jump.