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Dr. Jack Kevorkian highlights Real Time with Bill Maher, April 23

By April MacIntyre Apr 21, 2010, 18:51 GMT

10/29/2009 - Bill Maher - © Tina Gill / PR Photos

HBO has a brilliant film coming up featuring the later years of Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the American doctor who counseled critically ill patients and facilitated a self-administering "suicide machine" that enabled the terminally ill to decide when and how to end their lives.

Directed by Barry Levinson (Diner) and written by Adam Mazer, the film stars Al Pacino as Kevorkian, and "Treme" star John Goodman (somebody at HBO loves him). The film debuts on HBO this Saturday, has renewed interest in terminally ill patients' right to decide how they end their lives.  

The ex-pathologist, paroled from a Michigan prison in 2007 after serving eight years of a 10- to 25-year sentence for second-degree murder in the 1998 death of Thomas Youk, 52, of Waterford Township (hesuffered from Lou Gehrig's Disease), will be "Real Time with Bill Maher's" special guest this Friday.

Maher's show continues to push buttons and generally aggravate the right and the left with his unusual stances on many key issues that buck neat little compartments. His series on HBO continues its eighth season Friday, April 23 (10:00-11:00 p.m. live ET/tape-delayed PT), on HBO, with an instant replay at 11:00 p.m., following the live presentation. 

Maher's never boring  unique perspective on contemporary issues is highlighted by an eclectic array of talent, and the show includes an opening monologue, roundtable discussions with panelists, and interviews with in-studio and satellite guests.

The roundtable guests this week are journalist Matthew Continetti, international security expert Susan Eisenhower and Fla. Rep. Alan Grayson; counterterrorism expert Richard Clarke and right-to-die activist Dr. Jack Kevorkian are interview guests.

Maher most recent book, “New Rules:  Polite Musings from a Timid Observer,” made the New York Times best seller list, as well as best seller lists across the country.  He is also author of the books “When You Ride Alone You Ride with Bin Laden:  What the Government Should Be Telling Us to Help Fight the War on Terrorism,” “Does Anybody Have a Problem with That?  The Best of Politically Incorrect” and the novel “True Story.”  Maher also starred in the 2008 feature film “Religulous,” the seventh most successful documentary of all time.

Other HBO playdates:  April 25 (12:30 p.m., 3:30 a.m.), 26 (8:00 p.m.) and 28 (11:00 p.m.)

HBO2 playdates:  April 23 (2:20 a.m.), 24 (10:30 a.m., midnight), 25 (7:00 p.m.) and 27 (10:00 p.m.)