Cinemax

Alan Ball has one of the most popular shows on cable with HBO's "True Blood. " Now he could be a double threat via HBO's sister network. The creator will executive produce a new series called "Banshee," which will serve as a key plank in Cinemax's original programming push. The series will be set in a small town in Pennsylvania Amish country (the titular Banshee), according to a person who was briefed on the project but asked not to be identified, and will feature an enigmatic ex-con who's also an expert in martial arts.

Customized TV Listings are available here: www.latimes.com/tvtimes Click here to download TV listings for the week of April 28 - May 4, 2013 in PDF format This week's TV Movies     SUNDAY Have scarf, will time-travel: "Doctor Who: The Doctors Revisited - The Fourth Doctor" salutes Tom Baker, whose 1970s-era stint on the show took that science fiction character to a whole new level of iconicity....

Bob Dylan and counterterrorism? Say what? It may sound like an odd pairing, but that's exactly what Cinemax is giving us with the new season of "Strike Back," the channel's series about a stealth counterterrorism unit crossing the globe to squelch threats. For the second season, debuting Aug. 17, two brand-new Bob Dylan songs will be featured. The first song, "Early Roman Kings," premieres Thursday on Cinemax, HBO and cinemax.com. The video for the song will feature scenes from the new season starring Philip Winchester, Sullivan Stapleton, Rhashan Stone and Michelle Lukes.

Customized TV Listings are available here: www.latimes.com/tvtimes Click here to download TV listings for the week of March 17 - 23, 2013 in PDF format This week's TV Movies   SERIES Community Dean Pelton (Jim Rash, above, with Alison Brie) tries to land a wealthy potential student for the cash-strapped school in this new episode of the sitcom. 8 p.m. NBC The Vampire Diaries Damon (Ian Somerhalder) takes Elena (Nina Dobrev) on a getaway to New York City on a new episode of the supernatural drama.

Carl Willis Johnston, who helped develop the wide-screen development systems known as Cinemax and Imax, died Friday of congestive heart failure at Clairemont Community Hospital. He was 67. Johnston had lived in San Diego since November. Before that he had lived in Quail Valley and also in Orange County and the San Gabriel Valley. Through his work at Robert Woltz Associates of Newport Beach, Johnston helped develop the Cinemax and Imax systems that are widely used in movie theaters today.

Those jonesing for "24" may find some comfort in Cinemax's new foray into original content, a hostage-taking, bullets-flying, explosion-rattled special ops drama called "Strike Back. " The continuation of a British show based on a novel by the same name, "Strike Back" revolves around the classified missions of Section 20, one of those elite bands of superheroes who can hack into any security system, outshoot any paramilitary mercenary, out-talk any rogue cell member and take down a phalanx of machine gun-toting terrorists while only armed with the hotel bath towel that had previously been wrapped around their waist.

'Strike Back' Where: Cinemax When: 10 p.m. Friday Rating: TV-MA (may be unsuitable for children under the age of 17)

The White Stripes Under Great White Northern Lights 2009 Showtime 9:45 a.m. Spider-Man 2002 Cinemax 10 a.m. In Harm's Way 1965 TCM 10 a.m. In Her Shoes 2005 FX 11 a.m. Thelma & Louise 1991 TNT 11 a.m. Lymelife 2008 TMC 11:50 a.m. Gran Torino 2008 Cinemax noon The Dark Knight 2008 HBO 12:15 p.m. Close Encounters of the Third Kind 1977 TMC 1:25 p.m. The Devil Wears Prada 2006 FX 2 p.m. My Darling Clementine...

The 1985 winner of the best foreign film Oscar is a work of surpassing subtlety and insight in which a dark-eyed, dark-haired Argentine professor of history (Norma Aleandro, right) begins to suspect that her adopted child (Analia Castro, left with Hector Alterio) might be the offspring of desparecidos. The film is set in 1983, in the wake of the crumbling of Argentina's military dictatorship. Directed and co-written by Luis Puenzo (Cinemax Saturday at 8 p.m).

Directed by Martha Coolidge, this 1995 release is an uncommonly accurate period piece, the kind that goes beneath the surface, and its stars, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio and Patrick Swayze (pictured), are in peak form. It's the summer of 1955, and Mastrantonio, a young Korean War widow with two sons (Joseph Mazzello, Seth Mumy), are in their car when she swerves to avoid hitting a dog only to strike its owner, (Swayze), breaking his leg.

SAN FRANCISCO - As the opening credits of the new Cinemax series "Banshee" begin, the dial of an old steel safe spins, tumblers locking to reveal a combination that viewers can use to crack open "the vault" on the show's website. This is where each week the creators of "Banshee" will spill the dark secrets hidden in haunting photographs that appear on the distressed surface of a wooden bar in the show's title sequence. "Fast forward at your own peril," the show's executive producer and showrunner, Greg Yaitanes, said of TV viewers who might be tempted to skip the opening credits.

There's a new sheriff in town, only he isn't really a sheriff, he's a recently released ex-con fully rigged with antihero requisites, including killer instincts and his own twisty-but-true moral code. It isn't really a town either so much as a place constructed in a pitch meeting, where a seemingly idyllic community (in this case Pennsylvania Dutch adjacent) is controlled by a man so blasphemous he has a crucifix tattooed on his back, so evil he feeds his dog human flesh. Welcome to Cinemax's "Banshee," population: Whatever it takes to keep this absurd storyline rolling.

Bob Dylan and counterterrorism? Say what? It may sound like an odd pairing, but that's exactly what Cinemax is giving us with the new season of "Strike Back," the channel's series about a stealth counterterrorism unit crossing the globe to squelch threats. For the second season, debuting Aug. 17, two brand-new Bob Dylan songs will be featured. The first song, "Early Roman Kings," premieres Thursday on Cinemax, HBO and cinemax.com. The video for the song will feature scenes from the new season starring Philip Winchester, Sullivan Stapleton, Rhashan Stone and Michelle Lukes.

Reporting from New York — For a long time, the approximately 12 million viewers who subscribe to Cinemax have pretty much known what they were going to get when they flipped to the pay-cable channel after the kids have gone to bed: big-budget Hollywood movies long past their moment and original series, such as "Zane's Sex Chronicles," meant to be watched with the lights out. But if executives at the network have their way, Cinemax will...

'Strike Back' Where: Cinemax When: 10 p.m. Friday Rating: TV-MA (may be unsuitable for children under the age of 17)

Those jonesing for "24" may find some comfort in Cinemax's new foray into original content, a hostage-taking, bullets-flying, explosion-rattled special ops drama called "Strike Back. " The continuation of a British show based on a novel by the same name, "Strike Back" revolves around the classified missions of Section 20, one of those elite bands of superheroes who can hack into any security system, outshoot any paramilitary mercenary, out-talk any rogue cell member and take down a phalanx of machine gun-toting terrorists while only armed with the hotel bath towel that had previously been wrapped around their waist.

Customized TV Listings are available here: www.latimes.com/tvtimes Click here to download TV listings for the week of March 17 - 23, 2013 in PDF format This week's TV Movies   SERIES Community Dean Pelton (Jim Rash, above, with Alison Brie) tries to land a wealthy potential student for the cash-strapped school in this new episode of the sitcom. 8 p.m. NBC The Vampire Diaries Damon (Ian Somerhalder) takes Elena (Nina Dobrev) on a getaway to New York City on a new episode of the supernatural drama.

"Under the Dome," a novel about a small town suddenly sealed off from the rest of the world by a huge transparent dome, is set in Maine, like nearly all of Stephen King's novels. But filming a television adaptation in King's home state of Maine was out of the question. Aside from the inhospitable winter season, Maine does not provide the kind of competitive film tax credit that is increasingly vital to producing television dramas. Producers considered Texas and Louisiana, but decided to base the CBS series in Wilmington, N.C., which offered the right mix of locations and tax breaks.

Alan Ball has one of the most popular shows on cable with HBO's "True Blood. " Now he could be a double threat via HBO's sister network. The creator will executive produce a new series called "Banshee," which will serve as a key plank in Cinemax's original programming push. The series will be set in a small town in Pennsylvania Amish country (the titular Banshee), according to a person who was briefed on the project but asked not to be identified, and will feature an enigmatic ex-con who's also an expert in martial arts.

The White Stripes Under Great White Northern Lights 2009 Showtime 9:45 a.m. Spider-Man 2002 Cinemax 10 a.m. In Harm's Way 1965 TCM 10 a.m. In Her Shoes 2005 FX 11 a.m. Thelma & Louise 1991 TNT 11 a.m. Lymelife 2008 TMC 11:50 a.m. Gran Torino 2008 Cinemax noon The Dark Knight 2008 HBO 12:15 p.m. Close Encounters of the Third Kind 1977 TMC 1:25 p.m. The Devil Wears Prada 2006 FX 2 p.m. My Darling Clementine...