River Tees

The River Tees (/tiːz/) is in northern England. It rises on the eastern slope of Cross Fell in the North Pennines, and flows eastwards for 85 miles (137 km) to reach the North Sea between Hartlepool and Redcar near Middlesbrough.

Geography

The river drains 710 square miles (1834 km²) and has a number of tributaries including the River Greta, River Lune, River Balder, River Leven and River Skerne. Before the reorganisation of the historic English counties, the river formed the boundary between County Durham and Yorkshire. In its lower reaches it now forms the boundary between the ceremonial counties of County Durham and North Yorkshire, while in the highest part of its course it forms the boundary between the historic counties of Westmorland and Durham. The head of the valley, whose upper portion is known as Teesdale, has a desolate grandeur, surrounded by moorland and hills, some exceeding 2,500 feet (762 m). This area is part of the North Pennine Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Bill Maher

William "Bill" Maher (/ˈmɑːr/; born January 20, 1956) is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, media critic, and television host. As a television host, he is well known for the HBO political talk show Real Time with Bill Maher (2003–present). Maher previously hosted a similar late-night show called Politically Incorrect, originally on Comedy Central and later on ABC.

Maher is known for his sarcastic attitude,political satire and sociopolitical commentary. He targets many topics including religion, politics, bureaucracies, political correctness, and the mass media.

Maher supports the legalization of cannabis and same-sex marriage. His critical views of religion were the basis for the 2008 documentary film Religulous. He is a supporter of animal rights, having served on the board of PETA since 1997, and is an advisory board member of Project Reason. In 2005, Maher ranked at number 38 on Comedy Central's 100 greatest stand-up comedians of all time. He received a Hollywood Walk of Fame star on September 14, 2010.

Real Time with Bill Maher

Real Time with Bill Maher is a talk show that airs weekly on HBO, hosted by comedian and political satirist Bill Maher.

Much like his previous series Politically Incorrect on ABC (and before that, on Comedy Central), Real Time features a panel of guests who discuss current events in politics and the media. Unlike the previous show, guests are usually more well-versed in the subject matter: more experts such as journalists, professors and politicians participate in the panel, and fewer actors and celebrities are included. Additionally, many guests appear via satellite. Also, Politically Incorrect was produced four days a week and was pre-recorded, while Real Time only produces one episode a week which is broadcast live.

Real Time is an hour-long program with a studio audience, airing live on Friday nights at 10:00 PM (ET). It originates from Studio 33 ("The Bob Barker Studio") at CBS Television City in Los Angeles. Prior to 2009, approximately 12 new weekly episodes aired from February to early May, followed by another such set of new episodes from late August to November. In 2009, the show began airing as one continuous season. Because of the live, current-events nature of the show, HBO does not re-air old episodes between breaks, though occasionally a repeat will be shown when the program takes a week off during the season. In late August 2012 the talk show peaked at 1.4 million viewers on Friday, marking the biggest audience for the show in almost eight years.

HBO

HBO (Home Box Office) is an American premium cable and satellite television network that is owned by Home Box Office Inc., the cable flagship division of Time Warner. HBO's programming consists primarily of theatrically released motion pictures and original television series, along with made-for-cable movies and documentaries, boxing matches and occasional stand-up comedy and concert specials.

It is the oldest and longest continuously operating pay television service (basic or premium) in the United States, having been in operation since November 8, 1972. In 2014, HBO had an adjusted operating income of US$1.79 billion, compared to the US$1.68 billion it accrued in 2013.

Overview

As of July 2015, HBO's programming is available to approximately 36,483,000 households with at least one television set (31.3% of all cable, satellite and telco customers) in the United States (36,013,000 subscribers or 30.9% of all households with pay television service receive at least HBO's primary channel), making it the second largest premium channel in the United States (Encore's programming reaches 40.54 million pay television households as of July 2015). In addition to its U.S. subscriber base, HBO broadcasts in at least 151 countries, covering approximately 122 million subscribers worldwide.