I’m an unapologetic fan of DEADLINE’s Nellie Andreeva; when I persist in giving her the adjective “intrepid”, it’s a compliment. She’s been around long enough for me to have had a few conversations with her, both on and off the record, at the numerous FX parties that would regularly launch seasons of its original scripted shows. Unlike a number of her peers, Nellie would actually be working those nights, getting background on some insightful piece that would usually tell more about a show and its tastemakers than the modified press releases that those who’d be indulging in our open bar would otherwise file. She has my admiration and respect, and it’s not just because she actually asked if my last name had a capital B.
So when her site gave an atypically bold presence yesterday to a story she filed about the state of comedy at HBO that she confessed came out of an interview she conducted at a premiere last week it caught my attention both because of the warm memories that provoked and the alarming reality that, these days, there are a lot fewer premieres of comedies for her to work. Her opening paragraph set the tone:
The comedy marketplace is coming off a tough year with few buys and even fewer greenlights as the number of networks and platforms focused on comedy fare shrunk further with Amazon Freevee’s shutdown after Comedy Central, TBS, TruTV and IFC had all gotten out of the live-action scripted comedy business over the last couple of years. The broadcast networks produce a fraction of the comedy output they had just a decade ago, and streamers prioritize noisy dramas over comedies in pursuit of subscriber acquisition and retention.
She then proceeded to give a pulpit to the network’s head of comedy who did her best to assure Andreeva and her readers that, in the manner of another long-gone comedy legend, W.C. Fields, reports of my death may be greatly exaggerated.
EVP Amy Gravitt, who succeeded in the role current HBO and Max Content CEO Casey Bloys almost eight years ago, spoke of the network’s comedy buildup amid genre’s downturn after The Righteous Gemstones Season 4 premiere last week.
“I personally need to stay in the comedy business,” she quipped, adding, “Casey is a comedy executive, so I am lucky in that regard, and in our long history of working together, he obviously trusts my taste. So I have full support inside the company to continue to keep the HBO comedy brand thriving.”
Nice to see that there’s some still sense of loyalty somewhere in this industry. Gravitt then proceeded to rattle off a series of upcoming projects she is shepherding, including a second season of THE REHEARSAL and buzzy works in progress featuring the likes of Rachel Sennott, Sharon Horgan (with Steve Carell along for the ride) and Kaley Cuoco. She even teased the possibility of a new Larry David tour de force as we are closing in on the one-year anniversary of when CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM departed after a 12-season run spread out over pretty much the entire 21st century.
But it’s not as if these will be seen anywhere any time soon, and as we know she and Bloys work for an increasingly impatient and cost-conscious taskmaster in David Zaslav. And he more than many is acutely aware that comedy these days, at best, is a niche business with limited upside.
For all the promotion and anticipation, not to mention strong critical acclaim, that GEMSTONES has received, even the story touting the performance of that Season 4 premiere from Sunday night which Andreeva’s equally auspiced colleague Lynette Rice authored late yesterday pushes out the cold reality of the mindset Zaslav and many of his peers have:
The Sunday installments of The White Lotus and The Righteous Gemstones earned HBO some bragging rights, with both comedies hitting milestones with viewers.
The third episode of the Mike White comedy hit a season high 3.4 million cross-platform U.S. viewers on Sunday, according to HBO. So far, the fourth season is averaging 12.2 million viewers per episode (including delayed viewing), which is 78% higher than last season during the same amount of time.
As for The Righteous Gemstones, the Danny McBride laugher enjoyed its strongest season premiere ever by luring 919,000 cross-platform viewers in the U.S. The Season 4 premiere outperformed Season 3 premiere by nearly 30%; season 3 went on to average 5.5 million U.S. cross-platform viewers.
Focus on the numbers: GEMSTONES held a mere 30 percent of its direct lead-in and delivered to that appointment time slot only a sixth of the number that eventually watched it when it last aired in the summer of 2023. That’s the very definition of a shrug.
At least it was well-liked and broadly based enough to get that renewal. Such was not the case for another one of Gravitt’s chosen, a sidebar the ever-intrepid Andreeva also dropped yesterday:
HBO in January canceled showbiz comedy series The Franchise after one season. The superhero movie satire from creator/executive producer Jon Brown had Oscar winner Sam Mendes and Emmy-winning frequent HBO collaborator Armando Iannucci as executive producers.
Andreeva then postulates that the subject matter may have been self-limiting:
Despite its great pedigree, The Franchise did not attract (a) large enough audience, leading to the cancellation. Was it because of its inside-Hollywood setup that the show didn’t really connect? The disconnect is not specific to The Franchise. While Hollywood produces the hit series viewers love to watch, its inner workings are rarely compelling enough for those not associated with the industry.
Apparently, her competitors at Apple TV+ didn’t see that memo, as evidenced by what they have coming up at the end of the month:
The Studio is an upcoming American comedy series created by Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, Peter Huyck, Alex Gregory, and Frida Perez, and will star Rogen, Catherine O’Hara, Ike Barinholtz, Chase Sui Wonders, and Kathryn Hahn. Matt Remick (Rogen) is the newly appointed head of Continental Studios. He attempts to save the floundering company in an industry undergoing rapid social and economic changes.
Not that Apple will even report how many folks will actually watch–or not. But it will underscore why a risky self-indulgent endeavor like this could be lousy for the industry at large. Even the broadest and most successful comedies are falling out of favor, as Andreeva’s third story from yesterday reminded:
CBS has picked up The Neighborhood for an eighth season, which will be the veteran sitcom’s last. It will air in 2025-26. A reliable Monday anchor, the series, starring and executive produced by Cedric the Entertainer, unexpectedly found itself on the bubble this year, not making the list of early CBS renewals last month. For The Neighborhood, the uncertainty over its future stemmed from its cost. As a series in its seventh season with a big-name cast, The Neighborhood is expensive.
And despite a robust number of episodes otherwise ideal for both traditional syndication and platform augmentation THE NEIGHBORHOOD has largely been relegated to afterthought time slots on weaker stations and is anything but a driver for Paramount+ (not that much beyond CRIMINAL MINDS and the Sheridan-verse are). So despite its arguable value to the mothership there’s not a business model appealing enough to keep it going.
It’s not like we haven’t mused about those realities before. In each of the past two years we’ve covered the devolving of back-end value and br0ad-based comedy. No, it’s not a laughing matter at all. Especially when there are lower-cost alternatives that are popping up in so many places that folks like Zaslav and whoever’s minding the Paramount + for the time being are aware of.
This week on still-sister streaming service BET+ we got yet another “edgy” animated work, L’IL KEV, which looks an awful lot like the animated EVERYBODY STILL HATES CHRIS and the shoddily executed reboot of GOOD TIMES that posthumously embarrassed Norman Lear. 
Last fall HBO/Max had surprising success with a lower-cost anthology that aired as a lead0ut to Bill Maher’s Friday night talkfest called IT’S FLORIDA, MAN. which mined comedy from absurdist stories that could only occur in the Sunshine State. 
And tomorrow night Netflix will return John Mulaney to the equally opportunistic minefield of Los Angeles for a weekly dose of EVERYONE’S LIVE, a show that tested well for a week last summer by being both unpredictable and cost-effective.
Will any of these be successful enough to merit awards like those that took home Emmys last fall? I’m dubious, especially when one recalls what we thought of those that got those accolades–were they even comedies? But in today’s cautious and at times paranoid climate, they might do adequately enough to warrant a renewal in the manner that IT’S FLORIDA, MAN did.
And if nothing else, we’ll be able to keep Andreeva busy at comedy premieres for at least a little while longer. Someone needs to remind me what actually qualifies as funny.
Until next time…