The good news: It won’t cost existing HBO subscribers anything extra.

The bad news: You’ve got to wait another six months.

“HBO Go” is the name of the pay-cable champ’s forthcoming online service, which will be available not just on the iPad, but on the Net, on mobile devices, and more. But don’t expect to see the network on Netflix anytime soon; HBO makes more money from it’s own direct subscribers, and continues to shun Netflix’s overtures.

HBO has announced that Entourage, the pay-cable network’s longest-running show, will be ending after its eighth and final season. The show is currently filming season seven, and HBO has negotiated with Entourage creator Doug Ellin for a shortened eighth season, which will likely comprise about six episodes.

There’s also talk of a film to follow the series, a la Sex In the City, but nothing is official yet. Meanwhile, HBO president of programming Michael Lombardo tells The Hollywood Reporter that he expects his network to sign Ellin for a brand new show of his own creation in the next few years.

It’s not exactly news that San Diego Comic-Con International is a big deal for Hollywood. Genre movies and TV shows can be made or buried by fan reactions to what they see at the Con.

Several networks have, in recent years, used Comic-Con as a launching pad to build buzz for their newest and hottest shows with panels and show-floor booths with swag giveaways. This year two of the most buzzed-about shows are releasing tie-in comic books as enticements for hungry fans.

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Dustin Hoffman has signed on to star in Luck, a new drama for HBO.

Deadwood writer David Milch is writing the script and A-list director Michael Mann is helming the pilot. The story concerns the world of horse racing, including provocative examinations of horse owners, gamblers, jockeys, and other industry players. Hoffman of course stars as the main character.

Also among Luck’s almost-entirely-boys-club cast are Dennis Farina (Law & Order), John Ortiz (Public Enemies), Kevin Dunn (Transformers), Richard Kind (Spin City), Jason Gedrick (Boomtown), Ritchie Coster (The Dark Knight), Ian Hart (Finding Neverland), Tom Payne (Wuthering Heights), Kerry Condon, Gary Stevens, and Nick Nolte.

Production begins this fall in Santa Anita and L.A., with no air date set.

HBO’s creator of the hit True Blood, and gone-but-not-forgotten Six Feet Under, Alan Ball, has signed on to create yet another TV show for the pay cable network.

And once again, Ball is using television to feed his obsession with death. His new title is All Signs of Death, and it’s based on a Charlie Huston novel called The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death. Huston’s novel is a crime noir thriller centering on a young man named Webster Goodhue, whose life gets complicated when he takes a job as a crime scene cleaner.

Ball himself will direct the pilot episode and oversee the series, while Huston himself is writing the pilot’s script. There’s been no cast announcements yet, but expect them soon, as production starts next month in L.A.

It should be no surprise that HBO wants to stay in the Alan Ball business. Six Feet Under got plenty of critical acclaim during its 5-season run, while True Blood, currently in its 3rd season, is the network’s highest-rated show. Like the Sookie Stackhouse novels that True Blood is based on, the main character in Huston’s Mystic Arts book is planned to recur in future books. Which should give Ball plenty of fodder for future seasons of his show.

If this isn’t a case of perfect casting, I don’t know what is. Ricky Gervais will be guest starring in on Curb Your Enthusiasm, Larry David’s mostly-improvised HBO comedy.

Gervais, like most of the stars and guests on Curb, will be playing himself, although it will no doubt be an exaggerated version of himself. He’s signed on to join the cast for a single episode late in the upcoming Season 8. On a show known for improvisation, you’d be hard-pressed to find a modern comedian more suited to the show.

In other HBO news, the pay-cable network has released the first trailer for its hotly-anticipated series, Game of Thrones, which is based on the novel by George R.R. Martin. The series doesn’t debut until next year, but here’s the first all-too-brief teaser.

Here’s the latest and greatest trailer for the forthcoming new season of True Blood, and this time the focus on the troublemakers of Season 3: werewolves.

Hm, vampires vs. werewolves… Now where have I seen that before?

Then again, when has True Blood ever done anything similar to other depictions of vampires or other aspects of the supernatural?

HBO’s ultra-hot vampire series True Blood returns June 13th with its third season, but fans can get their first taste of what’s to come with this little “minisode” HBO has made available to view only online. It’s the first of six vids planned to help make the wait more bearable until Season 3 finally gets here.

The minisode features Eric & Pam watching dancers try out for a position at their nightclub, Fangtasia. This clip is rated MA and as such is recommended for adults only.

TV networks are no strangers to spring cleaning, as this is traditionally one time of the year when renewals and cancellations are announced. But the process typically takes on different forms depending on the show and the network it airs on. Broadcast TV and cable have wildly different business models, leading to hugely different renewal and broadcasting practices.

Case in point: NBC’s fledgling new drama Parenthood has been picked up for a second season. After airing only a handful of episodes, the mid-season replacement dramedy got the greenlight for another season thanks largely to its clever writing that avoids cliches and an appealing cast full of actors that play off of each another with family dynamics that ring true.

When you move away from broadcast networks, things are a lot less structured. Shorter seasons and fluid time slots are quite common, because those networks can afford to change things up; audiences will follow quality shows wherever and whenever they pop up. Shows like HBO favorite Curb Your Enthusiasm, which just coaxed creator/star Larry David into signing on for an eighth season. The show’s lauded seventh season — which reunited the cast of David’s other creation, Seinfeld — ended in 2009, but the eighth won’t air until sometime in 2011. That’s a two-year gap, which would be unheard of on broadcast TV, but is a luxury cable can afford.

Similarly, FX has announced that Rescue Me will return for its sixth season on June 29th. The Dennis Leary vehicle hasn’t dealt with a lot of scheduling issues, but it’s been able to air seasons that are dramatically shorter than those on broadcast TV. Most of the show’s seasons have had a mere 13 episodes (lower episode orders arguably lead to higher quality episodes, but that’s a whole other topic). The show’s return for Season 6 was never in question, but the announcement came with some much bigger news: 2011’s Season 7 will conclude the show next year.

HBO will be airing True Blood season 2 this June 14th. I have to admit that I couldn’t care less about the show and that I really am quite perplexed that it actually has fans. Don’t get me wrong about being a vampire snob because when it comes to vampires I often can not get enough of it. I was obsessed with Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles and of course watched the film though I’ve read all the books. I love Underworld, Twilight is ok, and you can still catch me watching old episodes of Angel. So when I first heard that HBO was coming out with a vamp series I was really excited. Fast forward to episode one of season one and my first reaction was that I was floored. I was floored that I hated the whole thing. I was stunned how could HBO have messed up a vamp tv show?

The pilot episode’s tone was just not right. I couldn’t decide if it felt more like porn, lousy comedy, or drama. Whatever it was it seemed that they tried to cram too much in the first episode and in the end everything just fell flat. Despite my very negative experience with True Blood though I know that my mistake is not sticking around to even see any of the following episodes because it seems that it finally took off. Just goes to show though how important pilot episodes are. Hopefully season 2 will start of a lot better. If it does I might even bother to get a dvd copy of the first season and watch it all, except for the first episode of course.

What do you think? Should I give True Blood another chance? Are you a fan or are you one of those that was really turned off after seeing the show’s pilot episode last season?