Maybe the entertainment stakes are so serious with “Game of Thrones” and “True Detective” and frivolous with “Veep” that HBO felt the need to strike a balance with a sobering mix of comedy and drama, or what is called “dramedy” in the rarefied atmosphere of show business.

However one may wish to characterize the Sunday night lineup of “Ballers” and “The Brink,” two new series that seem oddly derivative, HBO succeeded in picking leading cast members with wide appeal beyond the narrow confines of the television medium.

Few big screen stars, particularly of the action variety, are more popular today than Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

Actually, we can drop “The Rock” moniker, because this massive, hulking man (more of a gentle giant) is so much more than the sum of his muscles and brawn.

Nevertheless, it seems fitting, if not exactly the usual typecasting, to put Dwayne Johnson front and center in “Ballers,” which explores the whirlwind lifestyle and real-life problems of a group of former and current football players.

Johnson’s Spencer Strasmore, a retired NFL superstar, is trying to reinvent himself as a financial manager for current players in sun-drenched Miami, where pretty girls in bikinis are more plentiful than pink flamingos and everyone seemingly drives a fancy sports car.

It does not seem coincidental that show creator Stephen Levinson was the mastermind behind “Entourage.”

Spencer has his own posse, an inner circle that includes Ricky (John David Washington), a talented wide receiver, and Charles (Omar Miller), a reluctantly retired lineman.

Tapped by his jerk boss (Rob Corddry) to deliver well-heeled athletes as financial clients, Spencer has trouble adjusting to his new position, and things are made more complicated as he tries to lure rookie sensation Vernon Littlefield (Donovan Carter) to a big contract deal.

Life in the world of “Ballers” consists mostly of raucous yacht parties, fast cars, copious drugs, and topless women cavorting in spas.

There’s some football practice thrown in just to keep it real, but other than that, it’s like an adolescent fantasy paradise.

Keeping it real, however, is Dwayne Johnson’s charismatic star quality. To be sure, the always likable action star is fun to watch.

And yet, an undercurrent of solemnity touches on the subject of neurological damage suffered from Spencer’s playing days.

As “Ballers” unfolds over 10 episodes, this series may have more on its mind than the just the wild and crazy antics of football players.

The thinking behind “The Brink” may be a little more difficult to fathom. Is it a satire on foreign diplomacy, or a comedy about the absurdity of geopolitical intrigue?

On its face, “The Brink” could be viewed as a contemporary take on “Dr. Strangelove.”

The fate of the world hinges on the actions of disparate characters: a sex-obsessed secretary of state, a bellicose secretary of defense, a fighter pilot high on morphine, and an inept, low-level bureaucrat at the American Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan.

The linchpin to the possible outbreak of World War III just might be the idiotic Alex Talbot (Jack Black), the lowly Foreign Service officer who uses the Embassy driver Rafiq (Aasif Mandvi) to take him to the local bazaar where he can score the best weed.

Meanwhile, street riots break out as the lunatic General Zaman stages a coup to install himself as the new leader of Pakistan.

Talbot takes refuge at Rafiq’s home, promptly putting the entire Pakistani family in danger of political reprisals.

Back in the United States, Secretary of State Walter Larson (Tim Robbins) is hoping to defuse an international crisis, while the secretary of defense (Geoff Pierson) is urging the president (Esai Morales) to launch a preemptive strike on Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal before Zaman can use the weapons.

Having trouble keeping his pants zipped, Larson is perpetually horny but somehow manages a frenetic schedule of shuttle diplomacy.

Even though in need of urgent surgical treatment for a kidney stone, Larson hops over to Pakistan and India to mediate disputes, all the while sizing up opportunities for his next sexual conquest.

By sheer dumb luck, Talbot scores incriminating psychiatric documents about the mental instability of General Zaman, which he’s only too eager to parlay into getting a plum assignment to the Embassy in Paris.

On the other hand, the nutty American ambassador to Pakistan (John Larroquette), thinking that the apocalypse is at hand, blames local unrest on Talbot and considers that his best option is to send the obscure State Department employee to a post in war-torn Baghdad.

Aircraft carrier fighter pilot Zeke (Pablo Schreiber) and his dim-witted co-pilot Glenn (Eric Ladin) mistakenly ingest mind-altering drugs instead of painkillers and veer off-course while shooting down foreign satellites.

They end up grounded by the Taliban and then stranded in the desert, only to be found by an eccentric British couple.

“The Brink” has a scattershot approach to its targets and renders almost every character little more than a grotesque caricature. Considering the increasingly dangerous geopolitical landscape of our times, it’s not an easy job getting laughs, but there is some oddball humor to “The Brink.”

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.

COBB, Calif. – Cobb Mountain Artists presents its 12th annual Open Studio Art Tour on Saturday, June 20, and Sunday, June 21.

The tour takes place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days.

You are invited to come to members' studios to view and purchase an amazing variety of art, from bowls to elaborate paintings and everything in between. Ask the artists about their process and inspiration and stumbling blocks.

Many of the studios will be hosting guest artists from around the county, too.

Maps will be available at Mountain High Coffee, Cobb; The Loch Lomond Store, Loch Lomond; the Middletown Art Center, Middletown, and all participating studios. And, there are studios open in Middletown as well as Cobb.

New this year, the Middletown Art Center will have a preview of participating artists' work from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Friday, June 19. The event includes live music. So begin the tour by having an evening out at Middletown's Friday Night Live.

For more information call Alana at 707-928-8565.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – La Voce del Vento Chamber Players present “Brasstasticks” on Sunday, June 21, at 3 p.m. at the Soper Reese Theatre. 

The brass quintet’s featured musician is Gary Miller who plays alongside R. Dale Spencer, Mike Thompson, Brynn Stirling and Jacob Turner. 

The program includes selections from the music of George Gershwin and such fanciful pieces as “The Flight of the Tuba Bee” and “Zombie Apocalypso.”

Reserved seat tickets are $20 and $15, and are available online at www.soperreesetheatre.com ; at the theater box office, 275 S. Main St. in Lakeport from 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Fridays; or at The Travel Center, 1265 S. Main St., Lakeport, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. 

For more information call 707-263-0577.

KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – Moore Family Winery's summer concert series will feature the group the Wonderbread 5 on Saturday, June 27.

Doors open at 6 p.m. at the winery, located at 11990 Bottle Rock Road.

For more than a decade, the Wonderbread 5 have been thrilling audiences while maintaining its original band line up.

Michael, Jackie, Jermaine, Marlon and Action Jackson round out this unstoppable, international rock and roll party machine.

Unlike those “other party bands” that seem to plug in a new member every month or so and play the same tired songs from the 1980s, the Wonderbread 5 covers everything from Motown to Bean-town and back again.

Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, these globe trotting rockers have performed their amazing stage show in over a dozen states (several times each) and have traveled as far as Puerto Rico, Hawaii and Mexico, bringing an unparalleled excitement to the young and not so young alike.

Tickets are $15, with children ages 13 and younger welcome to attend for free.

A barbecue dinner also will be available for purchase.

To purchase tickets online visit http://www.moorefamilywinery.com/ or call 707-279-9279.

COBB, Calif. – The Friends of Boggs Mountain (FOBM) cordially invite the community to a delightful melding of music and nature with Karen Rhoads at the classical piano on Saturday, June 27, at Boggs Mountain Demonstration State Forest.

Rhoads will play from 10 to 10:45 a.m. and again from 11:15 a.m. to noon. Admission is free.

Rhoads is a Cobb resident and FOBM board member. While growing up in Springfield, Ill., she studied piano with several teachers, most notably, with well-known instructor, George Ecklund.

“I had drifted away from my music over many years. As my parents aged and became ill, I wanted to reach back to good times when we enjoyed music together,” said Rhoads.

The head of the Santa Rosa Junior College music department put Rhoads in touch with Dr. Rudolph Budginas to help her get back “in the groove.”

“Rudolph not only has a performance career; he is that rare genius who also teaches brilliantly,” she adds.

Rhoads will play favorite selections by Bach, Chopin, Schumann, Scriabin, Grieg and Kuhlau, providing introductory comments about each piece.

The community is invited, and children are welcome. Bring folding chairs or blankets, and relax and enjoy the music in a shady grove at Boggs.

The site is wheelchair-accessible with assistance. Refreshments will be provided.

Boggs Mountain Demonstration State Forest is at the end of Forestry Road, about 1.5 miles north of Cobb off Highway 175.

For more information, contact Karen at 707-321-4964 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

I once knew an artist who seemed to live on those little envelopes of free sugar that one can find on tables in restaurants. And he took the little “watercolor pans” of jelly, too, stuffing his pockets.

Here’s a poem by Ned Balbo, who lives in Baltimore, about another sugar snatcher.

The Sugar Thief

If it was free, you taught, I ought to grab it
as you did: McDonald’s napkins, pens,
and from the school where you were once employed
as one of two night shift custodians,
the metal imitation wood wastebasket
still under my desk. But it was sugar
that you took most often as, annoyed
on leaving Dunkin’ Donuts, pancake house,
and countless diners, I felt implicated
in your pleasure, crime, and poverty.
I have them still, your Ziploc bags of plunder,
yet I find today, among the loose
change in my pockets, packets crushed or faded—
more proof of your lasting legacy.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation ( www.poetryfoundation.org ), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright 2010 by Ned Balbo, “The Sugar Thief,” from The Trials of Edgar Poe and Other Poems, (Story Line Press, 2010). Poem reprinted by permission of Ned Balbo and the publisher. Introduction copyright 2015 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. They do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.