April pops out at us with a bigger slate than we’ve seen recently. The satisfaction of knowing that as the months go on the production schedule will broaden and HBO will shine brighter keeps us going. But, for now, let’s look at what early Spring has to offer. We’re sure you’ll find something you’ll like.
A few quick points:
- Robert Downey Jr. Graces Us with His Presence
- As does Conan O’Brien
- As does a new set of Drag Queens in WE’RE HERE
- And how can we forget THE JINX
- Plus, the Cult of Fast Fashion
- And HOP for the Kids.
HBO Original Series: We lead off with a new limited series, one that we have heard a lot about; the same one that features Robert Downey Jr. in more than one role and the wonderful Sandra Oh, who has come a long way since HBO’s ARLISS. We are talking…
Based on Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name, the series is an espionage thriller and cross-culture satire about the struggles of a half-French, half-Vietnamese communist spy during the final days of the Vietnam War and his new life as a refugee in Los Angeles, where he learns that his spying days aren’t over. The seven-episode HBO Original limited series THE SYMPATHIZER debuts SUNDAY, APRIL 14 (9:00-10:00 pm ET/PT) on HBO and will be available to stream on Max. Park Chan-wook and Don McKellar share showrunner duties and executive produce. The series stars Hoa Xuande, Fred Nguyen Khan, Toan Le, Phanxine, Vy Le, Ky Duyen, Kieu Chinh, Duy Nguyen, Alan Trong, Emmy winner Sandra Oh, and Academy Award nominee Robert Downey Jr., who plays multiple roles.
Also on the limited series front, and wrapping up its run is the concluding installment of THE REGIME entitled “Don’t Yet Rejoice.” It debuts SUNDAY, APRIL 07 (9:00-10:00 pm ET/PT). With the palace walls now breached, Elena and Zubak find themselves on the run – and seeking help from an everyday citizen – to 
evade capture by the rebels. Later, Elena leverages her skills in diplomacy – and duplicity – in a last-ditch effort to stay in power. Starring Kate Winslet and Matthias Schoenaerts. Also wrapping it up on SUNDAY, APRIL 07 (10:00-11:00 pm ET/PT), but this time for good, is CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM. The 10th & final episode of the final season is “No Lessons Learned” which sounds just about right for Larry David after all these years. In it, Larry returns to Atlanta, where he gets involved in Richard’s love life and reveals a secret about Cheryl.
Next up is the return of an award-winning unscripted series we know as WE’RE HERE and it’s changing up for its fourth season with four brand spankin’ new hosts –
Season four follows renowned drag queens, Sasha Velour, Priyanka, Jaida Essence Hall, and Latrice Royale, as they continue the show’s mission of spreading love and connection through the art of drag across small-town America. This season, the queens work with participants in Murfreesboro, Tennessee and Tulsa, Oklahoma, as well as in surrounding towns, and take an in-depth, immersive look at recent anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, and the effect it has had on the community. The show debuts FRIDAY, APRIL 26 (9:00-10:00 pm ET/PT).
We hope you are into John Oliver and/or Bill Maher because both of their shows will be around for a while as they are both renewed through 2026! LAST WEEK TONIGHT WITH JOHN OLIVER airs beginning SUNDAY, APRIL 07 at 11:00 pm ET/PT. Plus, don’t forget him over on YouTube. And REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER starts the month on FRIDAY, APRIL 05 at 10:00 pm ET/PT. Plus Maher’s show airs on CNN Saturday nights and don’t forget Overtime on YouTube.
Original Series Exclusive to Max: Does anyone miss Team Coco? Well, Conan O’Brien is coming to Max 
in April. His unscripted original is CONAN O’BRIEN MUST GO. All four installments debut on Max THURSDAY, APRIL 18. The series features the Emmy-winning host visiting new friends he’s met through his podcast, “Conan O’Brien Needs a Fan,” where he dives deep with listeners from around the world. Making stops in Norway, Thailand, Argentina, and Ireland, O’Brien surprises some of his most memorable fans while also taking in local culture, cuisine, and sights. It’s a quick Team Coco travelog you could say.
The Max Original drama series THE GIRLS ON THE BUS continues its run in April. There are four episodes out on the campaign trail. They are “Binders Full of Men” on THURSDAY, APRIL 04; “The Debate” on THURSDAY, APRIL 11; “Nothing To Fear But Fear Itself” on THURSDAY, APRIL 18 and “Life Is A Highway” on THURSDAY, APRIL 25. The last TOKYO VICE of the season slips in on THURSDAY, APRIL 04 as well. And if that’s not enough, the last episode from the second season of ROYAL CRACKERS, entitled “Tracker”, drops on THURSDAY, APRIL 04 also.
HBO International Titles: We don’t have a lot of intel on DIVIDED YOUTH (Da Ponte Pra La) but it tops this category for the month. It is a seven-episode dramatic series out of Brazil, which means it is in Portuguese. Each episode, at 30-40 minutes each, is set in the city of São Paulo. The following is the plot translated from Portuguese – “The plot draws parallels about the social and cultural differences of young people from the outskirts and centers of large cities, at the same time that it talks about passion and mourning, themes contextualized between two worlds divided by a great mystery. In it, a young peripheral girl infiltrates the most exclusive school in São Paulo’s high society in search of a single answer: who killed her best friend?” It uploads THURSDAY, APRIL 04.
HBO & Max Theatrical Movies: The big debut this month is from A24. It is the Best Picture nominee THE ZONE OF INTEREST. It is a 2023 historical drama film written and directed by Jonathan Glazer, co-produced between the United Kingdom and Poland. Loosely based on the 2014 novel by Martin Amis, the film focuses on the life of Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss and his wife Hedwig, who live with their family in a home in the “Zone of Interest” next to the concentration camp. Christian Friedel stars as Rudolf Höss alongside Sandra Hüller as Hedwig Höss.
The filmmaker Steven Spielberg said the movie was the best film about the Holocaust since his film Schindler’s List (1993), and said: “It’s doing a lot of good work in raising awareness, especially about the banality of evil.” It debuts on Max FRIDAY, APRIL 05, and runs for 105 minutes.
Plenty of other movies, of course, hit the schedule in April. Max is highlighting comedies with such titles as The Naked Gun (1988), The Fluffy Movie (2014), Juliet, Naked (2018), The Spongebob Squarepants Movie (2004) Daddy Day Care (2003), and Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel (2009) just to name a few. Plus, we have to include some real oldies that most likely will appear in the TCM Hub. Have you ever seen Lonesome Luke, Messenger (1917), Next AIsle Over (1919), A Sammy in Siberia (1919), Spring Fever (1919) or The Square (2017)? They all star early actor Harold Lloyd.
HBO Documentary Films: There are two documentary films sandwiched between two docu-series in April. All seem worthy of your attention. Debuting on MONDAY, APRIL 01 (9:00 – 10:02 pm ET/PT) is the first installment of four of a work entitled THE SYNANON FIX – DID THE CURE BECOME A CULT? Did a controversial cure become a cult? This series explores the rise and fall of a groundbreaking drug rehabilitation program that over the decades transformed into a cult-like movement. Told through first-person accounts of former members, this docu-series explores the rise and fall of the controversial treatment center Synanon, which grew from a groundbreaking drug rehabilitation program in the late 1950s into a communal living experiment that would later draw criticism for abuse and cult-like behavior. A new episode, all directed by Rory Kennedy, airs Mondays through April 22.
–Episode 1: “Here Come the Dopefiends”
Debut date: MONDAY, APRIL 1 (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET/PT)
Recovering alcoholic Charles “Chuck” Dederich opened a storefront drug rehabilitation program in Santa Monica in 1958, offering addicts a welcoming space to work through their problems via emotional, verbal catharsis. Synanon, as he names it, soon attracts celebrities and non-addicts who donate their time and wealth to the program. The community grows into a social movement that expands across the country, with thousands of people saying Synanon saved their lives.
–Episode 2: “A War on Convention”
Debut date: MONDAY, APRIL 8 (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET/PT)
By 1970, Synanon has become a version of model society. The self-sustaining, member-run, communal living enclave boasts its own farm, a school, and multiple businesses. Chuck establishes “The Synanon Religion” and maintains their tax-exempt status. As Chuck becomes increasingly authoritative and dictatorial, he implements more extreme edicts, including mandatory head-shaving and living conditions in which the children are kept apart from their parents. Many members find themselves weighing the benefits and costs of the choices they’re forced to make.
–Episode 3: “What in the Hell is Happening?”
Debut date: MONDAY, APRIL 15 (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET/PT)
Chuck’s behavior becomes more belligerent and abusive. He forms a military-like boot camp for delinquent children where corporal punishment abounds. He mandates vasectomies and abortions and, when his wife dies, he quickly remarries and decrees that all current relationships must end so that everyone can find new partners. Many members divorce and remarry, which some of them later regret. TIME Magazine publishes “Swinging at Synanon” and Chuck sues for $76 million as his paranoia grows.
–Episode 4 “Strap Yourself to the Mast”
Debut date: MONDAY, APRIL 22 (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET/PT)
In 1977, the Los Angeles Times reports on the nine-day abduction of Frances Winn by Synanon. Lawyer Paul Morantz wins a settlement case in her favor. With media focus heating up, Chuck spends $62,000 on guns and ammunition, at the time the largest single firearms purchase in California history. Soon thereafter, he allegedly orchestrates an attempt on Morantz’s life. He is sentenced to five years probation. Drinking again and diagnosed with mental illness, Chuck loses everything and dies in a nursing home, leaving a troubled legacy as a creative, but unchecked genius. Many adherents are left to piece together their lives in the aftermath without Synanon.
Next up is the documentary called BRANDY HELLVILLE & THE CULT OF FAST FASHION. Through a calculated social media presence and impossible beauty standards, Brandy Melville became the must-have 
teen clothing brand around the world. This far-reaching documentary explores the company’s innerworkings, revealing a toxic work environment and allegedly discriminatory labor practices, while exposing a system of exploitation within the global fashion industry. Fast fashion isn’t all glitz and glamour – it’s an exploitative business that pollutes the planet for the sake of profit. You just knew it wasn’t going to be a glowing review of the brand, right? It premieres TUESDAY, APRIL 09 (9:00 – 10:32 pm ET/PT). Debuting on TUESDAY, APRIL 16 (9:00 – 9:50 pm ET/PT) is the title AN AMERICAN BOMBING: THE ROAD TO APRIL 19TH. The film looks at the surge in political violence through the story of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, showing the roots of anti-government sentiment and its reverberations today, along with the emotionally charged warnings of those who suffered tragic losses in the deadliest homegrown attack in U.S. history. It posits that the U. S. got a lot more violent from that day forward.
The other docu-series is a biggie in the world of documentary films. It is the conclusion to the deep-dive examination of the criminal plight of Robert Durst first brought to light by Andrew Jarrecki in THE JINX: THE LIFE AND DEATHS OF ROBERT DURST. At the end of the original series, viewers around the world were stunned to hear Robert Durst utter the words “Killed them all, of course.” Just hours earlier, based on evidence uncovered by the filmmakers, Durst had been arrested in a hotel lobby in New Orleans. The filmmaker now continues what happened to Durst after that moment in THE JINX – PART TWO. The six episodes will uncover hidden material, examine Durst’s prison calls, and offer interviews with witnesses who had not come forward until now. It all begins on SUNDAY, APRIL 21 (9:00 – 10:00 pm ET/PT) and runs on Sundays into May.
MAX Documentary Films: Max has a documentary title too, but as of this writing I can’t find anything about it. It is MASSACRE OF THE MORMONS, which could be from the CNN archives or an ID (Investigative Discovery) title. It uploads on THURSDAY, APRIL 11.
HBO Original Specials: Comedy Specials have been popping up at a regular pace as of late. I’ll catch up with them all at some point, but here is a bit about the latest stint coming our way. It is ALEX EDELMAN: JUST FOR US. This HBO Original Comedy Special debuts SATURDAY, APRIL 06 (10:00 – 11:31 pm ET/PT). After an acclaimed, extended run on Broadway, comedian Alex Edelman brings his solo show JUST FOR US to HBO and Max in this all-new comedy special. In the wake of a string of anti-Semitic threats pointed in his direction online, Edelman decides to go straight to the source – specifically, Queens, where he covertly attends a meeting of White Nationalists and comes face-to-face with the people behind the keyboards. What happens next forms the backbone of the shockingly relevant, utterly hilarious, timely stories that comprise this not-to-be-missed special. Here is a clip –
Max Kids & Family: Max seems very happy that a certain children’s program arrives in April. Acclaimed creator Marc Brown, the guy who created Arthur, the show about the aardvark kid, is thrilled to announce the premiere date of his latest animated children’s show, HOP. The eagerly anticipated series is set to debut THURSDAY, APRIL 04 on Max in the U.S., bringing a new kind, heartwarming, and enchanting world to young viewers. Led by Hop, an enthusiastic, empathetic frog with one leg shorter than the other, he and his quirky friends address kid-relatable challenges with a healthy dose of laughter, silliness, and adventure. Set in the aspirational community of Fair Village, every episode is grounded in emotional reality but soars into the world of fantasy. Be happy that the kids now have HOP.
Of course, there are plenty of DC stories to watch including one new one being added on MONDAY, APRIL 22. It is JUSTICE LEAGUE: CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS: PART ONE. Other parts will roll out over the year, but in this first one, based on a DC Comics storyline, the Justice League begins to venture to other realities to encounter alternative versions of themselves and the villains they oppose. Superman, Wonder Woman The Flash, and plenty of others are part of the action.
HBO Sports: There is no current series or documentary in this category but the Bleacher Report Hub on Max has a whole slate of games & events forthcoming in NCAA Men’s Basketball including the 2024 NCAA MEN’S NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP on APRIL 08; NBA Basketball; NHL Hockey; MLB Baseball; U. S. Soccer; MotoGP, including the RED BULL GRAND PRIX on APRIL 12 – 14; and Cycling.
Other Shows On HBO or Max: I guess the Adult Swim Metalocaypse thing is still a thing. A new movie 
has been released entitled METALOCALYPSE: ARMY OF THE DOOMSTAR and is said to serve as the finale to the series. The same thing happened to The Venture Brothers a while back. The epic (?) conclusion parks on Max on SATURDAY, APRIL 06.
Max is calling attention to humor in April and reminds us to catch some “Sitcom Gold” in April like Abbott Elementary for 2 Seasons, The Big Bang Theory for 12 Seasons, Friends for 10 Seasons, Full House for 8 Seasons and Young Sheldon for 6 Seasons. If “Definitely NSFW” is your thing they mention The Boondocks for 4 Seasons; EASTBOUND AND DOWN for 4 Seasons, ENTOURAGE for 8 Seasons, GIRLS for 6 Seasons, HACKS for 2 Seasons, HARLEY QUINN for 5 Seasons, THE RIGHTEOUS GEMSTONES for 3 Seasons, SEX AND THE CITY for 6 Seasons, THE SEX LIVES OF COLLEGE GIRLS for 2 Seasons and South Park for 26 Seasons.
Next Month’s Tease: This is more speculation than a tease but it is all we got. We know HACKS is on Max in May but will we be seeing THE SEX LIVES OF COLLEGE GIRLS Season 3 in May also? 
Last Month’s Tease: We gave you the name of Sasha Velour. Now you know she is one of the hosts (the bald one) of WE’RE HERE Season 4, coming in April. See?
Final Clip: A bit light on the videos this month so we offer you a double dose this time around. Here is Downey & O’Brien.
Enjoy HBO & HBOWatch!
