HBO has renewed “Luck” for a second season, only two days after the series premiere of the horse racing drama, created by David Milch, directed by Michael Mann and starring Dustin Hoffman and Nick Nolte, among others. The new season will be 10 episodes – up 1 from the 9-episode debut season – and will premiere in January 2013.
“We couldn”t be more thrilled with the critical response to this beautiful piece of work,” HBO exec Michael Lombardo said in a statement, “and we are very excited about where David and Michael plan to take these incredible characters.”
The instant renewal continues a fairly reliable pattern of late for HBO dramas, where other recent series like “Treme,” “Boardwalk Empire” and “Game of Thrones” all got second season orders the Tuesday after their first seasons debuted. (Though not all new HBO shows of recent vintage have gotten this treatment; “Enlightened” had to wait til the end of its season to get the good word.) As a non-advertiser-supported channel, HBO doesn’t depend on ratings for its decisions (the “Luck” premiere, for what it’s worth, combined to get 3.3 million viewers over multiple airings, though the 9 p.m. airing only averaged 1.1 million) and decisions are made based on quality, buzz, creator relationships, etc. HBO has done a lot of business with Milch in the past, and while “John from Cincinnati” turned out to be a mess, it seems that the working arrangement he and Mann were able to reach proved satisfactory to everyone.
I enjoyed “Luck” a lot, and am glad to see it get the quick renewal.