Sad news for most HBO fans today. The network has gone ahead and cancelled three shows; Bored To Death, How To Make It In America and Hung. All three did well critically but struggled to find a large audience, which is what ultimately led to the cancellation.
All three shows were experiencing falling ratings and with the network facing an increasingly busy production schedule, that was only going to get busier in the new year, someone had to go. Neither of the cancelled shows will receive a chance to wrap up their storyline, which is also unfortunate.
In other HBO news, the network has renewed Enlightened for a second season, which many had expected. Despite its low ratings, lower than the three aforementioned shows, what likely saved it and earned it a renewal was its Golden Globe nominations.
Quite frankly, I think the cable giant is struggling a bit. I think their best days are behind them. Sure, they still have shows like Boardwalk Empire (which is probably their biggest asset right now), True Blood and Game Of Thrones, but the future doesn’t look too bright. The three shows they recently cancelled were all quite good, despite struggling to find an audience and now the network is gambling on shows like Luck, which premiered to a fairly underwhelming response last week.
There still hasn’t been anything as good as The Sopranos or The Wire in a long time and the network is struggling to find strong programming. Yes, Boardwalk Empire, True Blood and Game Of Thrones may all be fantastic shows but none of them (True Blood aside) have reached the level of popularity that shows like The Sopranos or Sex and the City did. And none of them come close to The Wire in terms of writing.
With Entourage gone and Larry David still unsure if he’ll resume his Curb duties, the network is also lacking in the comedy department at the moment. Although, Eastbound and Down is quite good, but still not on the level of Curb or Entourage.
2012 will be an interesting year for HBO as they are introducing a couple new shows that look somewhat promising. Hopefully they’ll be able to pick things up a bit because as a fan of the network, I’m definitely disappointed in these recent cancellations.