Warning: This review contains several passages in which the reviewer (me) gets preachy.

Don't expect 73 straight minutes of the warm and fuzzies when you sit down to watch the new HBO documentary "One Nation Under Dog."

The documentary debuting Monday night, subtitled "Stories of Fear, Loss & Betrayal," is quite often painful to watch, but there are some uplifting moments to save you from total despair. And it should be required viewing for anyone who owns dogs or aspires to own dogs.

The film is sobering and fairly depressing, but it's the wake-up call about dog ownership that Americans need (and I'd argue the same themes touched on here apply just as strongly to cats).

George H.W. Bush is a nice guy.

That fact comes across clearly in "41" (9 tonight HBO), a documentary that features the former president at 87 (his 88th birthday was two days ago) talking about his life and career.

Unfortunately 'nice' doesn't make for a compelling hour and 40 minutes of TV.

Directed by Jeffrey Roth, the film is decidedly and purposely non-political; it features Bush sitting before the camera talking, interspersed with family and file footage and photos illustrating the moments in his personal history.

The second season finale of HBO's "Game of Thrones" airs Sunday night at 9, but if you're a little behind on the current season, you'll get a great chance catch up with the Season 2 marathon starting on Saturday (however, we do not suggest you jump into this series with season 2 if you haven't seen the first season).

The nine-episode marathon starts on the HBO Zone channel at 6 p.m. Saturday, airing all nine episodes back-to-back three times. And while all of these episodes are also available on HBO On Demand, a marathon is handy for DVRing.

The marathon will end in time for Sunday night's season finale at 9 on the main HBO channel.

And if you're that much of a fan of GoT, you'll no doubt want the show's Official Companion Cookbook -- "A Feast of Ice and Fire" by Chelsea Monroe-Cassell and Sariann Lehrer with a foreward by "Game of Thrones" author George R.R. Martin.

This tells you most of what you need to know about HBO's new "Hemingway & Gellhorn" movie (Monday at 9 p.m.): I felt a huge sense of relief when my computer crashed at work and techs told me they may need to sacrifice the half-watched screener dvd in order to get a recovery cd into the drive.

An hour and 20 minutes of this bloated two-hour-forty-minute flick was more than enough for me.

The movie, which tells the story of the tumultuous relationship between novelist Ernest Hemingway and war correspondent Martha Gellhorn, sports a certified Emmy-bait cast. For starters, Clive Owen plays Papa and Nicole Kidman plays Gellhorn. But there's also David Strathairn as writer John Dos Passos and Peter Coyote as Scribner editor Maxwell Perkins. Also on board: Parker Posey, Robert Duvall, Tony Shalhoub, Lars Ulrich and Molly Parker.

"Hemingway & Gellhorn" is beautifully shot most of the time (the frequent switches to a newsreel sepia tone were weird and distracting and didn't have the affect I'm sure the filmmakers were going for). And Kidman is captivating as Gellhorn -- particularly the glimpses we get of an elderly Gellhorn, who is narrating the film.

But the movie has big problems.

Here's a tantalizing look at Aaron Sorkin's new drama "Newsroom," coming to HBO June 24. It looks great. My only note to Sorkin: more Sam Waterston, please. Thanks.

HBO's new comedy series about four young women navigating their 20s in New York City is nothing like "Sex in the City." Let me disavow you of that notion, right off the bat.

"Girls," created, written and directed by Lena Dunham (who also stars as the main character, Hannah), is painfully honest, brutally awkward, and uncomfortably stark.
 
And yes, I'm using words like "painful" and "brutal" and "uncomfortable" to describe one of the best -- and funniest -- new shows in years.

"Girls," co-executive produced by Judd Apatow, is funny in the way that Louis CK's "Louie" is funny: both shows skew dark and are often hard to watch without occasionally wincing. But they also find subtle, beautiful moments of comedy in real, and sometimes painful, situations.

In an online interview last month, "Eastbound & Down" creators Danny McBride and Jody Hill gave a nice shoutout to the Triangle music scene. Asked their favorite bands, they listed Black Keys, Avett Brothers, Jesus and Mary Chain, Bob Seger, MC5 -- plus Dynamite Brothers and Lonnie Walker,  two groups that  call the Triangle home.

McBride and Hill come by their Tarheelia honestly, since they studied film at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. So it's no surprise that Sunday's episode of the HBO series will include a Lonnie Walker song, "Heartbreakin' Ball," which you can hear playing over the concluding synopsis and end credits. Tune in at 10 p.m. Sunday.

Dynamite Brothers have had songs on the show, too, and drummer Scott Nurkin even appeared in an episode this season, playing in an onscreen band.

"God is the Bigger Elvis," a documentary debuting tonight on HBO, tells the fascinating story of Dolores Hart, a movie star from the late 1950s and early 1960s who abruptly left Hollywood behind to become a cloistered Benedictine nun.

Hart, who now goes by Mother Prioress Dolores Hart of the Abbey of Regina Laudisas, starred in movies opposite Elvis Presley, Anthony Quinn and Montgomery Clift.

I first read her story last year in an Entertainment Weekly article, "Mother Dolores Hart: The Nun Who Kissed Elvis Presley." If the documentary is half as interesting as the EW article, it should be pretty great.

Hart's finance at the time she joined the monastery, architect Don Robinson, speaks candidly on the film about his heartbreak, saying that he never got over her. The two are still friends.

Click below for more information and to watch the trailer for the film.

I understand why Sarah Palin has a problem with "Game Change" (9 p.m. Saturday, HBO). I wouldn't want a movie made of my life either (and not just because it would be dull and some film exec would look at my hair and say, "Let's get Whoopi Goldberg!"). Who wants their life interpreted through someone else's eyes?

Of course, her protests have drawn more attention to the film. And you know, I think that might work to her advantage. Palin doesn't come across as a saint or a genius, but the film does give a sense of the enormity of what she experienced. It shows how difficult it might have been for anyone. It show how anyone could have been overwhelmed, how anyone could have misunderstood the rules of the political game, how anyone could lose themselves. What I'm saying is even Palin haters might feel sympathy for and/or empathize with Sarah Palin after watching "Game Change."

The ACC Tournament (1pm, WRAL) - Games scheduled for today at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.

Must Love Cats (8pm, Animal Planet) - Hello, Kitty. A new season of "Must Love Cats" opens with host John Fulton exploring the cat culture in Japan. Featured: Tama, the train station master cat (right); the Maneki Neko, or "Beckoning Cat;" Tashirojima (aka Cat Island); and a shelter for rescued cats, including ones left behind after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. An episode of "Too Cute" about something called "kitten dolls" airs at 9 and a different "Too Cute" about cats repeats at 10.

Of Two Minds (8pm, Lifetime) - A woman takes her schizophrenic sister to live with her family after her mother dies, but her sibling's disturbing behavior threatens their relationship.

Q Viva! The Chosen (8pm, Fox) - Two couples who dance the tango face a hard decision, and Marc Anthony embraces the Mexican pointy-boots trend.

Game Change (9pm, HBO) - This movie adaptation of the political best-seller by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann focuses on the John McCain-Sarah Palin storyline of the 2008 presidential campaign. Stars Ed Harris as McCain and Julianne Moore as Palin. Adrienne has a "Game Change" review.

The Firm (9pm, NBC) - Penultimate episode alert! Tonight, Mitch defends a woman accused of kidnapping a baby, Ray and Tammy find information on the Sarah Holt case, and Joey Morolto admits to being the head of the crime family.

Saturday Night Live (11:29pm, NBC) - Jonah Hill hosts with music guest The Shins.