Lately, television is safe. It rarely explores any new, exciting, taboo, or terrifying subjects. Channels like AMC have some “edgy” shows, but really, dealing drugs or putting bullets into inhuman monsters is considered safe; we hear about drugs every single day in the news, and murder is fine so long as it’s committed against monsters. Something needs to kick television in the pants. Sunday’s episode of Boardwalk Empire laced up some steel-toed boots and took a running start.

Word on the street is that Microsoft is in talks with various content companies, Comcast, and Verizon about getting some TV content for its Xbox Live service. The initial report comes from Bloomberg, which reports that an Xbox Live streaming content service might be announced as early as next week, according to someone who is not authorized to speak publicly on the topic.

According to another report by Digiday, Microsoft is also working on an agreement with Comcast whereby Xbox Live users can sign up (and pay) for Comcast content that can be streamed through the system itself. As for now, Xbox Live users can get streaming content through Netflix or purchase movie and show rentals through the Zune Store. It makes sense though, that Xbox would want to broker some streaming deals of its own so it can get a little closer to the real action (and the real money).

Game of Thrones is coming: Did you bring your coat? It was back in early March that HBO originally greenlit a series about George R. R. Martin’s series of novels, A Song of Ice and Fire. Now we’re getting confirmation of a 2011 release date, most likely in spring, and some sweet, dark, jittery footage to whet our appetites for the series.

HBO just released the trailer for the hotly — pun only somewhat intended — anticipated third season of True Blood. I won’t spoil it for you, but suffice it to say that Alan Ball and company look like they’ve brought their A-game for this summer. The series returns Sunday, June 13. Trailer after the jump!

Leave it to MTV to forcibly reference Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” while spreading juicy gossip about a potential adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman. Turns out Kick-Ass director Matthew Vaughn is very, very interested.

During an interview back in January with Comic Book Resources, Vaughn, who previously adapted Gaiman’s Stardust, announced that the world needs more Neil:

I think Neil deserves to have more stuff made. I think it’s weird that hardly any Neil Gaiman stuff has been made. The idea that no one has made “Sandman” yet is weird.

It is weird, isn’t it?

But seriously, any director willing to take on the Herculean task of adapting The Sandman for film risks red-shirting their career:

Get excited: HBO has greenlit A Game of Thrones, ordering a ten-episode series based on the first novel in George R.R. Martin‘s A Song of Ice and Fire saga.

Waaay back when, in early 2007, HBO got fantasy geeks excited by buying the rights to A Song of Ice and Fire, but that excitement slowly dissipated when proceedings went pretty slowly (the Wikipedia article on the TV series provides a good timeline; thankfully, we haven’t heard “The Sopranos in Middle-earth” anywhere around the new series yet); now, they’ve been sparked back to life, with the series set to debut next spring.

Read on...