Thomas Jane

The Gambler, the Girl, and the Gunslinger 9 p.m., Hallmark I love titles that just tell it like it is, no mystery or creativity getting in the way. So there’s this gambler, and this gunslinger, and they’re in a Wild West love triangle with this girl - er, lady. Allison Hossack is Liz Calhoun, Dean Cain is Shea McCall (above), and James Tupper is B.J. Stoker. Hung Tomorrow at 10 p.m., HBO Thomas Jane is fine as the man who decides to sell his body to make money to support his family.

CRUSH (HBO on Comcast) By setting his film in the quaint English Cotswolds, writer/director John McKay creates a Jane Austen-esque world tethered to social ritual and convention, where single, sexual, career women challenge the status quo by their very existence. The cast in this female buddy film is uniformly strong, but it is Andie MacDowell — as the American expatriate who romances a young former student — who shines, in her best role since “Four Weddings and a Funeral.’’ (R; runs through Sept.

CRUSH (HBO on Comcast) By setting his film in the quaint English Cotswolds, writer/director John McKay creates a Jane Austen-esque world tethered to social ritual and convention, where single, sexual, career women challenge the status quo by their very existence. The cast in this female buddy film is uniformly strong, but it is Andie MacDowell — as the American expatriate who romances a young former student — who shines, in her best role since “Four Weddings and a Funeral.’’ (R; runs through Sept.

AFI Life Achievement Award Honoring Mike Nichols 9 p.m., TV Land Like all directors, he has made a few unnotable movies (“Regarding Henry,’’ “Wolf’’). But the highlights of Mike Nichols’s career are extraordinary, including “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf,’’ “The Graduate,’’ “Carnal Knowledge,’’ “Silkwood,’’ and “Angels in America.’’ Tom Hanks, Cher, Meryl Streep (pictured, with Nichols), and Julia Roberts are among those in the house during tonight’s special honoring the 78-year-old director.

There’s an argument to be made that every single story about men and power, particularly when guns are involved, is, at least metaphorically, about penis size. And the spirit of Dr. Freud would of course need to be invoked along the way. But HBO’s new comedy “Hung’’ may be the first TV show to take the theme quite literally, as its middle-aged hero finds a quick solution to his small bank account and his shrinking self-esteem with his large penis. Actually, “Hung,’’ which premieres Sunday at 10 p.m., aspires to be something more than a haven for porny double-entendres.

Based on the Marvel Comics title, "The Punisher" is about Frank Castle (Thomas Jane), a former Delta Force operative who devotes his life and his one apparent facial expression to killing the people who killed his family. By "family," I don't mean just his wife and son -- although they're gunned down, too -- but the entire clan: mom, dad, aunts, uncles, cousins, the caterers. The assassins work for the shady, crypto-Latin "nightclub owner" Howard Saint (John Travolta), whose son died in the crossfire of one of Castle's assignments.

The 69th annual Golden Globe nominations for best actor in a television comedy series have been announced in Beverly Hills, Calif., by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. The category's nominees announced Thursday morning include: Alec Baldwin, "30 Rock"; David Duchovny, "Californication"; Johnny Galecki, "The Big Bang Theory"; Thomas Jane, "Hung" and Matt LeBlanc, "Episodes. " The Golden Globes will be presented Jan. 15 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, televised live by NBC and hosted by Ricky Gervais.

LOS ANGELES -- Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill" saga slayed its movie rivals once again, with part two of the vengeance tale following its predecessor as the country's No. 1 weekend draw. "Kill Bill -- Vol. 2," with Uma Thurman as an ex-assassin continuing her bloody quest for revenge against former colleagues, debuted with $25.6 million, according to studio estimates yesterday. That was up 16 percent from the $22.1 million opening weekend that "Kill Bill -- Vol. 1" delivered last October.

WESTERN UNFORGIVEN (1992) Last week in this space, we wrote about Clint Eastwood's typically intelligent work on "J. Edgar. " Admittedly, though, we gave the Hoover biopic a bit of a free pass for its occasionally blunt scripting by Dustin Lance Black ("Milk"), who managed to deftly navigate peccadillo territory, but not so much the historical exposition. If you want a fresh taste of Eastwood keeping the verbiage powerfully terse, consider the hardcover-packaged, 20th anniversary Blu-ray reissue of his directorial reputation-clincher.

► Today is Ash Wednesday, Feb. 22, the 53d day of 2012. There are 313 days left in the year. ► Today's birthdays: Announcer Don Pardo is 94. Actor Paul Dooley is 84. Hollywood "ghost singer" Marni Nixon is 82. Movie director Jonathan Demme is 68. Actor John Ashton is 64. Actress Miou-Miou is 62. Actress Julie Walters is 62. Basketball Hall of Famer Julius Erving is 62. Actress Ellen Greene is 61. Former Senator Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) is 60. White House adviser David Axelrod is 57. Actor Kyle MacLachlan is 53. World Golf Hall of Famer Vijay Singh is 49. Actress-comedian Rachel Dratch is 46. Actor Paul...

There’s an argument to be made that every single story about men and power, particularly when guns are involved, is, at least metaphorically, about penis size. And the spirit of Dr. Freud would of course need to be invoked along the way. But HBO’s new comedy “Hung’’ may be the first TV show to take the theme quite literally, as its middle-aged hero finds a quick solution to his small bank account and his shrinking self-esteem with his large penis. Actually, “Hung,’’ which premieres Sunday at 10 p.m., aspires to be something more than a haven for porny double-entendres.

Based on the Marvel Comics title, "The Punisher" is about Frank Castle (Thomas Jane), a former Delta Force operative who devotes his life and his one apparent facial expression to killing the people who killed his family. By "family," I don't mean just his wife and son -- although they're gunned down, too -- but the entire clan: mom, dad, aunts, uncles, cousins, the caterers. The assassins work for the shady, crypto-Latin "nightclub owner" Howard Saint (John Travolta), whose son died in the crossfire of one of Castle's assignments.

For all the ways that "The Departed" deserved the Oscars attention lavished on it a few years back, there was nothing about the film that made us say, "Who knew that Martin Scorsese had it in him?" Not so with "Hugo" (2011), Scorsese's new awards darling. Yes, there are elements that logically drew Scorsese to the story of a Parisian orphan (Asa Butterfield) whose life is transformed by the pioneering silent films of Georges Méliès. Scorsese's cineaste streak is well known, from his championing of the work of British auteur Michael Powell to his establishment of the Film Foundation, a preservationist...