HBO Renews Enlightened; Cancels Hung, How to Make it, Bored to Death
Laura Dern
It's a good news, bad news day at HBO: The cable channel has renewed freshman series Enlightened, but opted to cancel Sunday night comedies Hung, How to Make it in America, and Bored to Death.
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Oddly enough, Enlightened, which stars Laura Dern as a self-destructive executive who tries to piece her life back together after suffering a public meltdown at work had a smaller audience than all three of the canceled series. The critical darling averaged only 1.5 million viewers (including repeats and on-demand) in its first season, but both the show and Dern earned Golden Globe nominations.
Among the canceled shows, Hung, which starred Thomas Jane as a male prostitute, was the most-watched averaged 3.9 million viewers. Bored to Death and How to Make it in America averaged 2.3 million viewers each.
The numerous cancellations come as HBO prepares to launch four new series in 2012: David Milch's Luck starring Dustin Hoffman, political comedy Veep starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Girls from producer Judd Apatow and a still-untitled cable news drama from Aaron Sorkin.
Which canceled show will you miss most?