Today HBO renewed Enlightened for a second season, which is truly unexpected given the shows abysmal ratings. It may have something to do with Laura Dern's recent Golden Globe nomination for the show or that critics have suddenly started praising it, after trashing the first episodes. It's so clear to me that most major TV critics have very little objectivity, especially when it comes to new shows - even though they claim to only review quality shows. It's weird that whenever an atypical or truly ambitious show has premiered in the past two years, it always takes them a while to realise. But what makes this news stranger is that HBO axed three shows that do better than Enlightened. Bored to Death, Hung and How to Make it in America will not live to see another day. In my opinion none of these cancelled shows were creatively strong on any consistent level, which should never have been good enough for HBO. Hung was the worst and should have been cancelled after its first season, but for whatever reason, and despite critical panning and declining ratings it was renewed twice. Bored to Death and Hung made it to three seasons and How to Make it in American had two.
Any sadness I have about Bored to Death, which I often enjoyed, going off the air is nothing compared to the joy of Enlightened's renewal. It truly makes me believe again that HBO does care primarily about quality, after a few very shaky years for the network. Ever since John From Cincinnati and Tell Me You Love Me were cancelled, they've made and renewed some very mediocre and typical cable shows - the kind you might find on Showtime. With this news, Game of Thrones returning, Luck premiering, Aaron Sorkin's news show being picked up, as well as Veep from the writer of British show The Thick of It, Armando Iannucci. The future of HBO is definitely looking as bright as ever.
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