Bored to Death

A professor hires Jonathan to track down a valuable item. George finds an alibi to explain the results of his drug test. Flushed with cash from his “Super Ray” comic book, Ray heads to the bar – and meets a familiar barfly.

George worries about remaining “intact” after getting some sobering news from his new urologist, Dr. Kenwood. A bad day for Jonathan gets worse when a pair of S&M henchmen kidnap him. They demand a ransom which calls “GI” George & Ray to action.

Jonathan is hired by Richard Antrem, George's nemesis and boxing foe, to investigate Richard's suspicions that his wife Priscilla, George's ex, is having an affair. Jonathan's insecurities resurface when Stella announces she's not over her first love. George has a new female urologist; Ray plots to win back Leah by penning a comic book.

Jonathan is hired by a police officer to erase the hard drive of an S&M club computer to prevent potentially embarrassing information from coming out as the officer has received word that the club is about to be raided. Leah breaks it off with Ray. George is asked to cut back on expensive meals to prevent the Magazine from going under.

Jonathan is hired to reclaim a kid's stolen skateboard from the neighborhood bully while Ray helps out a lesbian couple who wants to start a new family. George tries to woo a young publicist at the opening of a new restaurant in Brooklyn.

While attending a New York film society function, George introduces Jonathan to a filmmaker, who asks him to rewrite a screenplay. Later, he goes out with a party girl and leaves the script at her home, which happens to be a shrink's office. Jonathan asks Ray to pose as a patient to recover the script. Meanwhile, George encounters his ex-wife and her smug new husband.

As Jonathan tries to mend his relationship with Suzanne, another case falls onto his lap. This time, he is tasked by a woman named Jennifer to gather proof of her boyfriend Gary's infidelity. Jonathan, who learns his new client loves to drink as much as he does, tracks down Gary and stumbles upon an unsatisfying outcome.

Broken up after his breakup with his girlfriend Suzanne, Jonathan Ames reads through Farewell My Lovely, his favorite book by Raymond Chandler. Enlivened by the novel, Ames places an online advertisement as an unlicensed private investigator. His first unwitting client who seeks his services is a 19-year-old girl looking for her missing sister.

In this 15-minute special, series lead actor Jason Schwartzman (Jonathan Ames) and show creator/writer Jonathan Ames take the audience to a guided tour of the famous New York City borough of Brooklyn, where the series is filmed.

Prior to the airing of the series, HBO serves a 13-minute behind-the-scenes look at the making of its new quirky comedy about a struggling thirty-something Brooklyn writer who pretends to be a private detective.