HBO is now airing Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, an new documentary by Emmy and Oscar winner Alex Gibney, whose works as a director include We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks, Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God (the winner of three primetime Emmy awards), Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (nominated in 2005 for Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature); Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer (short-listed in 2011 for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature); Casino Jack and the United States of Money; and Taxi to the Dark Side (winner of the 2007 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature), focusing on an innocent taxi driver in Afghanistan who was tortured and killed at Bagram Air Force Base in 2002.

If all you think of Scientology is as that wacky religion with Tom Cruise, John Travolta, and a supposed belief in ancient aliens, you are in for a surprise.

Going Clear is one hell of a movie. It's an expose of the church, yes, but it's one that has as its main interviewees some of the top people in that church, who have all now left it.

It is one evil organization. The film suggest Travolta is a prisoner and victim of extortion, and that Cruise is a delusional, arrogant puppet who is controlled by church leader, David Miscavige.

Scary stuff, but absolutely fascinating.

2nd Going Clear.
Makes you wonder what kind of stuff they have on Travolta, Cruise, etc.
I'd heard and read a lot of the stories about Scientology, but to hear the actual people confess the things they did is a whole different level. Solid case for removing the tax exempt status of religions.

Less than 50k members worldwide, and they gave a war chest of over $4B. Amazing.

I've been rewatching the last few Mad Men and am now totally psyched for the home stretch. Don Draper ftw

I just power rewatched the first 7 episodes of this final season and am really psyched for the finish. If they stick the landing and I have every reason to think they will, I think MM will surpass Deadwood as my all-time favorite show.

Wanna start a religion with me?

Its fantastic and hilarious, I was hooked in the first 5 minutes

I enjoyed this as well and found the content disturbing and reminiscent of the Twilight Zone.

Looks like they only made 6 episodes, what a shame

Just discovered this on Amazon Prime last night, its hilarious and needs WAY more pub!

Watched Going Clear the other night. Really interesting movie. I've always thought that Scientology was a big scam and this movie backs it up. Kind of amazing what they do and how they get away with it.

Just watched, creepy as hell environment they foster behind closed doors, its a glimpse of what the atmosphere in Germany must have been like in the 1930's to mid 40's

Being in the middle of them for years, it was such a great watch. It does explain a lot of what I saw and heard all that time.

You were in the COS? If so, you should do an AMA about that!

Wolf Hall. A BBC Masterpiece Theater production. Saw the first installment tonight. Excellent. Really well done and historically accurate with superb acting. This is essentially the political intrigue, religious reformation, and court doings of Henry the VIII seen through the eyes of Thomas Cromwell. There are, I think, 5 more installments of this. I plan on seeing them all.

Oh god no!! **** that ****!!

I lived in the middle of Hollywood (2 blocks away from one of their main shops) from '99 - 2010 where a lot of their buildings and people are based. In fact, the school I attended was on the same block, and a coffee shop I worked at was next door. Everytime they'd come in, it would just feel bizarre. Hollywood/McCadden was a pretty brutal corner. They'd pass out their flyers and have tables set up for the stress and personality tests, and a few hundred musicians had to deal with them on a daily basis. They'd do surveys and interviews about music and art then would all of a sudden twist it into how Scientology could help. Not nearly as many fist fights (or any, really) as you'd expect, but some wicked shouting matches occurred all the time.

DC, I lived right off Franklin, pretty close to the Celebrity Center. But I never saw anyone go in or out...this was in the 90s.

I rarely saw anyone in or out of there either.

Anyone else see the two-part doc on Sinatra on HBO? Pretty great.

He was one hell of a vocalist...amazing, jazzy inflections and intonations. Plus, he was probably the biggest star of the 20th century...maybe ever.

There are 7 episodes. The third episode was a Christmas special in 2014 (I haven't seen it yet). I think the series will continue, but only two seasons are on Netflix so far (because the third season seems to be in progress).

Awesome, I like the show but the show seems to drag out. I'm not sure that's not deliberate by the director/writer/other to convey the feeling of being in the circumstances portrayed in each episode. I would imagine if I found myself in some of those scenarios, I'd feel like time had slowed to a crawl.

An American Version of ‘Black Mirror’ Is in the Works

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt - If you want to work in comedy in any respect, study Tina Fey and Co. These are masters of comedy writing.

Luther http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1474684/
Idris Elba plays Luther, a gritty London cop fighting gritty London crime.
I've watched the first two seasons of this so far and think it's a
well written, nicely paced thriller. Solid performance by Idris Elba.
Easy 8/10.

Peaky Blinders http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2442560/

Brutal, uncompromising gangster epic set in post WWI Birmingham.
Really well written and produced with a great soundtrack and
solid performances by Cillian Murphy, Sam Neill and Tom Hardy.

Easy 9/10, am eagerly awaiting season 3.

I highly recommend "Wolf Hall" on PBS. 6-part miniseries I believe. Fantastic acting, especially Mark Rylance as Cromwell. I am not usually a huge fan of historical drama but this is great and it doesn't have the stuffiness of so many period dramas. It feels contemporary. Definitely worth watching.

Wolf Gall sounds right up my alley