Bored to Death, the new comedy series from HBO, premieres on the cable network September 20, 2009.  However, for those of you adventurous enough to wade into the world of Internet streaming video, you can watch the entire Bored to Death premiere right now.  No, I’m not talking about some illegal torrent download site.  In fact, it just so happens that HBO has featured the premiere on Fancast.  I have no idea why HBO would release the full-length premiere online before the show unless they are really desperate to drum up some publicity and generate a buzz about the show.  Well, I won’t disappoint them.

 I’ll give them both.

*** Spoiler Alert***

Don’t read past this point if you want to watch the premiere on HBO in five more days.  I don’t want to ruin it for you. Isn’t that nice of me?

The first episode starts out with the separation of the main character, Jonathan Ames (Jason Schwartzman), breaking up with his girlfriend.  We find out that Jonathan is a pot-smoking, white-wine-drinking writer, struggling to complete his second novel.  On a whim, he decides to place an advertisement on Craigslist as an unlicensed “private detective.”  His first client is a girl looking to find her sister, who disappeared with her ex-boyfriend several days earlier.

Did I mention that Jonathan is a writer?  Well, as you can probably guess, he’s no Thomas Magnum.  In fact, when he finally catches up to the ex-boyfriend with the friendly snake tattoo on his neck, he retreats to the bathroom as the guy is threatening to burn him with a barbecue lighter.  No, I’m not kidding.  The missing sister is there, in the hotel room, tied up to the bed.  Ah yes, this is where the Mature Audiences rating comes in.  The ex-boyfriend claims the cheap hotel room with the bound and gagged ex-girlfriend is all part of a role playing game relating to the Stockholm Syndrome, where kidnap victims actually end up taking the side of their kidnappers.

In the end the police bust up the hotel room party.  The ex girlfriend and boyfriend appear to be getting back together.  Luckily for our new private detective they decided not to press charges against him.  However, the police don’t seem too thrilled that he’s playing private eye on Craigslist, so they tell him to stop.  Obviously since this is a new series, that’s not going to happen.  As the show closes, he picks up a new client via e-mail and contacts them on the phone.

There were a couple of scenes that I really didn’t discuss here, simply because I’m still not sure how they fit into the overall plot of the show.  Ted Danson plays Jonathan’s boss, George Christopher, who needs viagara and is now back on the pot, thanks to a restroom rendezvous with Jonathan.  Another scene has Zach Galifianakis playing Ray Hueston, a friend of Jonathan’s who is trying to get it on with a woman who has kids.  Again, I’m just not sure yet how these two will play into the show’s story lines.  I will say this: seeing Danson with completely gray hair makes me feel really old.  Does anyone else remember Cheers … the first time it was on the air?

Overall the show was pretty funny, with a few awkward moments thrown in.  I do like the soundtrack music and hope they keep that up.  I’m actually looking forward to watching this show develop and hopefully move past the six shows that HBO has already listed as completed.