Ric Robertson Taking Paid Summer Hiatus From Movie Academy … 
‘The Big C’ Finale Airs On Showtime Tonight 
Obama Scandals Bring MSNBC 7-Year Low While Fox News Rises 
Ang Lee Departs FX Pilot ‘Tyrant’ 
DreamWorks Eyes January For ‘Glimmer’ And Dylan … 
Warner Bros TV & ‘Smallville’ Co-Creators … 
How Many Times Does Seth MacFarlane Have To Say No To The … 
UPFRONTS 2013: TV Spinoffs’ Almost Perfect Year 
OSCARS: Animated Feature Rule Change 
Cannes: Relativity Sets ‘Hunger Games’ Liam … 
RATINGS RAT RACE: Billboard Awards Surge From 2012, … 
Cannes: Park Chan-wook’s ‘Sympathy For Mr. … 
Cannes: Stanley Weiser To Script ‘Three Graves … 
Yahoo CEO Foresees Big Opportunities To Sell Ads On Tumblr 
Disney, Lucasfilm Animation Prep ‘Star Wars … 
Cannes: Deadline Crashes Palais Forum With Costa Gavras, … 
Hammond On Cannes: Sun Comes Out As Parties, Deals And … 
Kelly Rowland, Paulina Rubio In Talks To Join ‘X … 
‘Fast & Furious 6′ Breaks Records In … 
Specialty Box Office: ‘Frances Ha’ Triumphs As … 
‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ $164.5M Global: Lower … 
UPDATE: 
Here’s Mike White’s reaction to his series Enlightened getting a second-season renewal by HBO: “I know HBO has had to make some hard decisions. I feel very lucky that they are letting us make more Enlightened. We will do our best to make something cool.”
PREVIOUS: Those two Golden Globe nominations sure helped. HBO has just picked up the Mike White-Laura Dern comedy Enlightened for a second season, while canceling three other comedy series: Hung, Bored To Death and How To Make It In America. Enlightened drew critical praise but struggled mightily in the ratings on Mondays. However, ratings have never been the deciding factor in HBO’s renewal decisions as evident by the longevity of David Simon’s New Orleans drama Treme. The network was already leaning towards picking up Enightened for Season 2 when the dark comedy earned two Golden Globe nominations last week, for best comedy series and best actress in a comedy series, Dern. Hung and Bored To Death are ending their runs after three seasons, How To Make It In America after two. Of the four comedies that learned their fate today, Hung has been the highest-rated, and star Thomas Jane recently landed his second Golden Globe nomination for his role. But in the end that wasn’t enough.
This is quite the end-of-year house-cleaning on the comedy side at HBO, which had kept a slew of marginal performers around for a while. With Entourage done and Larry David yet to make up his mind whether to continue Curb Your Enthusiasm, Enlightened for now is HBO’s only returning comedy series next year along with Eastbound & Down, whose Season 3 kicks off in February. They will be joined by four new half-hour series: Armando Iannucci/Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Veep, Lena Dunham/Judd Apatow’s Girls, Ricky Gervais/Stephen Merchant’s Life’s Too Short, and Chris Lilley’s Angry Boys. HBO has two other comedies in the pipeline from auspices with strong track records at HBO — half-hour pilots 40, written by Entourage creator Doug Ellin and starring Ed Burns, and Viagra Diaries, penned by Sex And The City creator Darren Star and starring Goldie Hawn.
TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.
Loading ...
I LOVE KELLY O
Not Bored to Death, man, I loved that show. It’s too bad. This is a real disappointment. I guess it’s doom was spelled when Ted Danson was “loaned” to CBS for CSI. Looks like Zach will be in more movies, now, though.
Not sad about Hung or How to Make it in America, thought those shows should’ve been gone a long time ago.
I’m with this guy, Bored to Death was a favorite.
Yeah, Bored to Death was great. I liked Hung a lot too. Can’t get into Enlightened.
I loved the cast of Bored to Death and the characters they played, but I never felt the storytelling was very good. The plot lines were bland and had potential to be amazing.
What asshole renewed Enlightened but canceled Bored to Death? I just realized the only HBO series that leaves me is True Blood.
FX should pick up Bored to Death.
PLEASE someone pick up “Bored to Death!” It’s too funny and smart to let die.
Nooooooooooo! I loved Bored to Death also. I’m gutted. Ted Danson is Emmy-worthy in that show IMHO.
NO! I really liked “How To Make It In America”!!
You’re the one.
I loved its realism. As someone trying “to make it in America” I felt like the show did an excellent job of depicting the experience.
are you being sarcastic? i can’t even tell.
realism ? I’m in the rag trade and nothing in this story has anything to do with the apparel business. Even the store they got the big order from – its been out of business for years
luv that show
How To Make It In America is the only one of those shows I ever heard anybody ever say they watched. And liked.
you need to hang with a better class of people. bored to death was the best comedy on hbo in years and how to make it in america was just a low budget entourage for people who think hip hop started with kanye.
Im very happy for enlighten but Im quite upset that bored to death and hung won’t becoming back
Hung is excellent
Happy to hear about Enlightened, one of the best new shows on TV. It will be tough to maintain the standard set in season 1. Not surprised about Hung or Bored to Death, torn on How to make it. I love the world but didn’t like the characters too much, except for Louis Guzman, love that guy.
Can HBO develop a new show for Lake Bell to get topless on? That was the best part of “How To Make It In America”.
by far
Here! Here!
That girl is amazing
it’s hear, hear stupid
Haha! Thanks, you before me.
Just can’t stand twerps who hear things but don’t investigate what they actually mean.
Lake Bell needs a new job immediately. Where she is the star.
Definitely, of all the nude scenes on all those originals on HBO, Showtime, etc, that was the one I fondly remember. Not to be a total bro in the locker room, but man-oh-man did she look great.
I hate to agree – but Lake Bell was and is a daily fantasy of mine – How to Make it sucked in it’s freshman year but delivered the goods i season TWO – SO SAD TO hear it has gone down along with HUNG. While there is no question that Enlightened is the best show in recent years = these others deserved to stick around. Depressing news -jfk
That’s too bad about Hung and Bored to Death. In looking at both programs and their international sales, you’d think there would be a good case to keep the programs going for a couple more seasons….
Enlightened was saved by that nomination. The show is still boring as hell. It will gain minimal new viewers.
Shows aimed at men get canceled while crap aimed at histrionic women who act like toddlers can renewed. Yawn.
and you will stay pressed and emotional about it. *giggle*
Thank you hbo! Enlightened is truly amazing
Wonder if that means HBO is liking Doug Ellin’s 2 pilots “Da Brick” and “Forty”? I thought Da Brick would match up well with How to Make it in America but I guess not…..
Isn’t the real issue here the complete lack of mojo the once mighty HBO used to have?
Seems like Showtime and Starz have a lot more interesting shows in development and production.
HBO is not what it used to be…talent is afraid of them. they have too many projects and is run by committee
oh, just like a network…it’s not hbo, it’s nbc
Yeah, okay. We’ve got The Corrections (with Ewan McGregor) in the pipeline, Luck (Dustin Hoffman, anyone?) about to leave the gates, and not to mention Visit from the Goon Squad (hello, Pulitzer) and Swamplandia.
The Dark Tower series and Hobgoblin, penned by Michaal ‘freakin Chabon and directed by Darren Aronofsky, are also in the works.
Talent is reaaaallllly afraid of HBO.
Actually Christine (read hbo insider), talent is absolutely getting bored of the over-development, the attitude and the endless waiting just to hear more silly notes and no real point of view. And I don’t mean just the writers (of which I am one). I met with a top-name actress yesterday who had had enough as well. Do yourselves a favor and stop thinking you’re all that and just do good work with good people who want to work.
I can’t say I blame HBO. These were three shows that, on the whole, didn’t seem to inspire much passion. They were very ‘eh’, mostly inconsequential. I thought they were all probably at their best in these last seasons – being exactly what they set out to be. But the reality is that was unspectacular.
This can’t be good news for The Life and Times of Tim which DOES deserve to stick around.
Wish both the creators of Hung and Bored To Death were given some notice as they would have gone out on high notes.
Both series were excellent and must see in my house.
We gave up on Enlightened after 4 episodes to open up DVR space for better shows.
Bored To Death was an outstanding show with some of the best acting and dialogue on TV. As for Hung, I’ll miss Ray and Tania and not knowing how they both ended up in the end sucks.
Bad job today HBO. Really bad job. You let crap like Big Love go to conclusion and you neuter 2 of your most creative series w/o giving them a chance to put a period on the sentence?
You could tell by the season finale of Hung that they knew it might be the last episode. It wrapped up all the story lines (somewhat quickly) and the last shot was of Ray and Tonya driving off (presumably into the sunset).
Excuse me? Big Love was one of the best shows of the last ten yearson Amererican television. Great acting, amazing writing, bold decisions,…I rewatched the whole series recently and it is even better when you how it ends.
RIP – HUNG. They need to make a series around LENORE. Best part of that show.
I hate Lenore.
Lenore most likely is SPOILERS
.
.
.
.
DEAD
Ok, Love HUNG, but I understand that its time has come, but How to Make it in America and Bored to Death, wtf? Maybe Bored wasnt really going anywhere, but How to Make it in America seems like it could have just 1 more season to see where these New Yorkers end up in the fashion industry then decide after that.
How to fake it in America sucked. Thank you for putting it out of it’s misery… And stop shoving Brian Greenberg down our throats please…well….
I love Bored to Death. HBO, you screwed up!
As someone who watched “Bored To Death” regularly, it was clear that the writing was on the wall. This past season was a clear drop in quality, not to mention the move to Mondays, away from the nice spot after “Boardwalk Empire” on Sundays it had last season, didn’t do it any favors. Can’t speak for “Hung,” but what was the point of having “How To Make It In America” when people had already had their fill of “Entourage?”
It’s very daring on HBO’s part to keep “Enlightened.” It’s not the easiest show to get into, but if you stick with it, it gets better as it goes on.
Enlightened needs more than a few episodes to really get into. I almost packed it in because Amy the main character, while portrayed incredibly, sometimes seemed THICK! But then I stuck with it, took in the characters’ back stories, great cinematography, writing and mood, and really got into it. It’s modern, right up to the moment – all the characters, even the ‘evil’ ones, are so lost, so screwed up – a great show, but specifically a great ‘L.A.’ show (via Riverside, its true locale)
You fraud. You’re not Dougy!
He’d never say/write anything this thoughtful.
Hung was garbage and Bored to Death did exactly that… it was a pathetic attempt to copy Wes Anderson’s signature tone.
All 3 of those shows were awesome! How to Make it in America was hands down one of my favs on TV. Bad move HBO, I am seriously thinking about canceling you now! AMC and F/X has better shows anyway, and you don’t have to pay extra for those.
Hung and Bored to Death may not have been HBO’s best series, but compared to most of the crap on television…these shows were okay.
And, from the sneak pilot…”Luck” may be in need of some luck as it did not come blazing out of the starting blocks like The Sopranos or Boardwalk Empire.