Though last night’s big HBO premiere was the solid season four opener for Game of Thrones, the episode was followed by two other excellent debuts: the series premiere of Silicon Valley and the season three premiere of the fantastic Veep.  The former comes from creator Mike Judge (Office Space), and fresh off the highly positive response to the pilot, HBO has now made the full episode available online for free.  The comedy is Judge’s take on the modern tech world, revolving around a computer programmer who tries to build a Silicon Valley start-up with his roommates.  Judge’s encapsulation of the ego-fueled and hypocritical nature of today’s tech world is spot-on and hilarious, showing shades of his excellent 2006 satirical feature Idiocracy, and the ensemble cast is on-point and works extremely well together.  I’m definitely looking forward to the rest of the season.

Hit the jump to watch the full, half-hour pilot for Silicon Valley and click here to read Allison’s full recap.  The show airs on HBO Sundays at 10pm ET, directly after Game of Thrones.

Let the timeliness of the core concept pull you in and then Mike Judge takes it from there.  Not only does his new show, Silicon Valley, offer an abundance of highly relevant and insightful thoughts on the state of the dotcom craze, but they’re all packaged within an engaging scenario brimming with sharp humor, endearingly eccentric characters and the chance to come along for the ride while they try to make millions.  Hit the jump for my review.

Before the excellent True Detective finale last night, HBO debuted a number of trailers for its upcoming series and specials. We’ve already shared the new Game of Thrones trailer and the first teaser for the HBO movie The Normal Heart, so now it’s time to get to something a bit lighter: Veep and Silicon Valley.  The comedy series Veep really hit its stride in season two as one of the best comedies on TV, and this brief new trailer for season three promises it hasn’t lost its step.  As for Silicon Valley, we’ve already seen a few short trailers for creator Mike Judge’s new series, but this one delves a bit deeper into the plot, which revolves around a tech start-up company in Silicon Valley.

Hit the jump to watch the trailers.  Silicon Valley premieres on HBO April 6th at 10pm ET while Veep season three premieres April 6th at 10:30pm.

Earlier tonight, HBO released a new trailer for Mike Judge’s upcoming comedy series, Silicon Valley.  The story follows Richard (Thomas Middleditch), an introverted computer programmer, who tries to build a Silicon Valley start-up with his roommates Big Head (Josh Brener), Gilfoyle (Martin Starr) and Dinesh (Kumail Nanjiani).  Aside from Starr’s killer line at the end of the trailer, nothing here really jumped out at me, but it doesn’t matter since this show is from Mike Judge and I’m going to watch anyway.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  The show also stars T.J. Miller, Zach Woods, Christopher Evan Welch, and Amanda Crew.  Silicon Valley premieres on April 6th at 10:00pm EST.

The first trailer for Beavis and Butthead and Office Space creator Mike Judge’s new HBO comedy series Silicon Valley has landed online.  The show takes place in present day and revolves around the work of tech startups, venture capitalists, and tech blogs—but with a very heavy Mike Judge bent.  This first-look trailer is incredibly funny, as Judge’s sense of humor feels like the perfect fit for the tech world.  It also helps that the cast is filled out by skilled comedians.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  The series stars Thomas Middleditch, T.J. Miller, Zach Woods, Kumail Nanjiani, Martin Starr, Josh Brener, Christopher Welch, and Amanda Crew.  Silicon Valley debuts on HBO Sunday, April 6th.

HBO just made some premiere date announcements for season four of Game of Thrones and a couple of other series, but the network has also released the first images from a few new shows as well as the return of one of the network’s comedies.  Briefly:

• The Leftovers – Created by Damon Lindelof, the new drama takes place after what some believe to be the Rapture and centers on people in a small town that didn’t make the cut.  The show stars Justin Theroux and Liv Tyler and premieres this summer.
• Silicon Valley – The new comedy series from creator Mike Judge takes place in the high tech gold rush of modern Silicon Valley.  The show stars T.J. Miller and Thomas Middleditch and premieres April 6th.
• Looking – A new half-hour dramedy series starring Jonathan Groff that follows three friends in San Francisco who explore the fun and sometimes overwhelming options available to a new generation of gay men.  The show premieres January 19th.
• Girls – The third season of the comedy series starring Lena Dunham, Allison Williams, Zosia Mamet, Jemima Kirke, Adam Driver, and Alex Karpovsky premieres January 19th.  Additionally, HBO has announced that it has already renewed Girls for a fourth season.

Hit the jump to check out images from the aforementioned series.

HBO has ordered a pilot for Silicon Valley, a single-camera comedy developed by King of the Hill producers Mike Judge, John Altschuler, and Dave Krinsky.  According to Deadline, the series is set in “the high tech gold rush of modern Silicon Valley, where the people most qualified to succeed are the least capable of handling success.”  Judge is set to direct the pilot in the spring.  Scott Rudin (The Newsroom) will also produce as part of his overall deal with HBO.

King of the Hill signed off the air after 13 seasons in 2010, then Judge revived his breakout hit, Beavis and Butt-head.  The last episode of Beavis aired in 2011, and to my knowledge MTV has not ordered a ninth season.  So Judge may have the time to focus his full attention on Silicon Valley, his first live-action television comedy.  Judge is one of the sharpest satirists in the business, so I look forward to what he can do with HBO resources.

Just when I thought my limited edition poster appetite was satisfied, the Halloween season rolls around and Mondo drops this beauty from Ken Taylor for John Carpenter‘s masterpiece. Given that I wasn’t fortunate enough to attend the benefit at L.A.’s New Beverly Cinema where the print’s Regular edition of 225 was released for only $100 (which included a ticket to the screening no less!), I’m now banished to dealing with sellers who are already asking upwards of four times that number. Sigh. What’s a guy to do but drop ridiculous amounts of money on movie art?

But enough of Hoarders: Collectible Movie Poster Edition, standing out from this past week’s headlines is the huge news regarding Disney’s purchase of Lucasfilm and the launch of a new Star Wars trilogy beginning in 2015, Wreck-It Ralph interviews with John C. Reilly and more, our American Film Market 2012 coverage, Francis Lawrence helming the remainder of The Hunger Games franchise (including a two-part adaptation of Mockingjay), and special Election 2012 assets including Joss Whedon‘s endorsement of the Zomney Apocalypse and the return of Idiocracy‘s President Dwayne Elizando Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho. Hit the jump for a brief recap and link to each.

With only five days left until the Presidential Election, Idiocracy‘s President Dwayne Elizando Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho (Terry Crews) has traveled back in time to give his thoughts on the election, the economy, the Middle East (Mexico and Canada should watch out), jobs, and the “outgo tax” (the constipated shall live like kings).  If you’re worried this won’t have the flavor of Idiocracy, Mike Judge wrote and directed all these shorts.  Also, for those who took issue with Joss Whedon‘s zombie apocalypse warning, these Camacho shorts are decidedly apolitical.

Hit the jump to check out the videos, and don’t forget to vote on November 6th.

The first images from the R-rated comedy omnibus Movie 43 have gone online.  The film has been in development for years since it takes a while to find time in the schedules of a gigantic cast whose ranks include Emma Stone, Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet, Naomi Watts, Terrence Howard, Halle Berry, and Jason Sudeikis just to name a few.  The films in the collection were directed by Brett Ratner, Elizabeth Banks, Mike Judge, Peter Farrelly, Bob Odenkirk, Steve Baker, Damon Escot, and more.  While I’m sure the collection will be a mixed bag, these images show off the potential for some hilarious short films.  There will also be a major plotline, but Farrelly, who also produced the film with Charlie Wessler, wouldn’t tell EW what it is.

Hit the jump to check out the images and to learn about some of the plots.  The film also stars Gerard Butler, Kristen Bell, Chloe Moretz, Josh Duhamel, Johnny Knoxville, Elizabeth Banks, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Richard Gere, Anna Faris, Justin Long, Liev Schreiber, Uma Thurman, Seann William Scott, Kieran Culkin, Leslie Bibb, Jimmy Bennett, Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant, Kate Bosworth, Patrick Warburton, Tony Shalhoub, Chris Pratt, Jack McBrayer, Aasif Mandvi, and Bobby Cannavale.  Movie 43 opens January 25, 2013.

We’ve been hearing about their imminent return since February, and Comic-Con brought a sneak preview of what’s to come from the idiotic duo, but now you get your chance to see a trailer for the comeback of Beavis and Butt-Head for yourself. Fortunately, the animation style is just as it was back in the 90′s, but perhaps looking a little more like the higher budget feature film Beavis and Butt-Head Do America than the original series. It’s been 15 years since they had their series on TV, but the channel surfing couch potatoes still deliver as they find themselves wanting to become vampires and werewolves to impress chicks and riffing on MTV’s reality TV show Jersey Shore. This looks like a triumphant return for Mike Judge’s signature characters on October 27th at 10/9c, but you can decide for yourself by watching the trailer after the jump.

In 1993, show creator Mike Judge and MTV launched Beavis and Butt-Head, an animated series about a couple of idiots that quickly became a pop culture phenomenon. While they spent most of their time sitting on a couch and making fun of MTV’s music videos, fans of the series totally ate it up. Now, the boys are making their triumphant return, unleashing their hilarious and biting commentary on today’s society, music and pop culture, and giving a whole new audience the chance to experience this duo of lunkheads.At the MTV portion of the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour, Mike Judge (who also voices both characters) talked about why he decided to bring back Beavis and Butt-Head, and here are the most interesting points of the interview:

• Mike Judge felt like now was the right time to bring the series back to MTV because he enjoys doing it so much, he’s a better director now than he was then, and the resources to do the series are better
• Any talk of how much time has passed will be avoided on the series, but current technology was taken into account
• There will be an episode where Beavis and Butt-Head work tech support, and an episode where they see Twilight and try to become undead
• Even though the animation process has changed, Mike Judge is still using the same model sheets for the show
• Along with reality shows, Beavis and Butt-Head will still be critiquing music videos, which will now have clearance for future DVD releases as well

Check out what he had to say after the jump:

I had the good fortune of sitting at a relatively small roundtable discussion with Beavis & Butthead creator Mike Judge on Thursday at Comic-Con. Fourteen years after the series has ended, Judge has decided to revamp it with twenty-four original episodes, still airing on its original network MTV. Though the original audience in the mid ’90’s may not have MTV’s current queue set for DVR, Judge feels confident that if people want to watch something, they don’t care what channel it’s on. Furthermore, now the eternal-teenagers are using MTV’s new programming as fodder for, er…discussion.  Though Judge says he’s gotten into a few spats about harping on Sixteen and Pregnant too much, he isn’t too fazed, delightfully vowing to “put it up online” if producers have a real issue with it. In addition, we also asked him about directing again.  Hit the jump for more.

Returning to MTV this fall is Mike Judge’s superb satire of the American idiot, Beavis and Butthead. Originally a short for Liquid Television, Beavis and Butthead became a phenomenon spawning a movie, video games, t-shirts and allegedly even injuries to countless latchkey children.  Judge, aided by moderator Johnny Knoxville, came to Room 6A to discuss the return of the show and show the first footage from the re-launch.

Read on for a description of the footage and key quotes from the Q&A.

MTV is coming to Comic-Con, and today they announced what shows they’ll be bringing. Celebrating the triumphant return of Beavis and Butthead, Mike Judge will be on-hand for a panel focusing on the all new episodes with Johnny Knoxville acting as moderator. The cast and producers of Teen Wolf will appear for the new series’ panel, and Wes Craven will talk to the cast and producers of the new horror-comedy Death Valley.

In addition, there will be a panel for David Gordon Green’s (Pineapple Express) new animated series Good Vibes, with voice-cast members Adam Brody, Alan Tudyuk, Tony Hale, Debi Mazar and Jake Busey making an appearance alongside Green. Finally, a panel entitled “MTV Geek!” will feature Stan Lee revealing the story behind the new MTV Comics title The Seekers. Hit the jump to read the full press release, which includes the schedule and location for each panel.