Bored to Death, Hung Among HBO Cancellations

Well, this kinda sucks.

HBO has announced its newly-axed programs, the shows that won’t be coming back for another season on the successful yet sometimes capricious network. (Case in point: ask any Deadwood fan how they feel about HBO’s cancellation policies, or talk to any adherent of Bret and Jemaine from Flight of the Conchords.) Perhaps the network is a bit like Trader Joe’s in ruthlessly cutting beloved items to make way for newer, possibly more appreciable titles, but the propensity for snipping shows means that oftentimes, some wheat seems to go with the chaff.

So it is a bummer if not totally surprising that two HBO shows which seemed to be doing pretty okay fell on the wrong side of the cable network’s big swinging axe- the hipster mystery hit Bored to Death, and the male prostitute dramedy Hung. The former stars Zach Galifianakis, Jason Schwartzman and Ted Danson as a bromantic team that’s markedly more sensitive and less misogynistic than the dudes on Entourage, and the latter features Thomas Jane and Anne Heche in a depressed Detroit where a male teacher must turn to prostitution to make ends meet.

Also on the 86 list for HBO was the New York-based How to Make it in America, which won’t be returning for another season. It’s notably all the cuts were shows that ran for about half an hour, whereas the more popular hour-long shows including Boardwalk Empire and True Blood- both with huge followings- remain intact.

In a surprise move, one of the network’s less buzzed-about shows, the cancer dramedy Enlightened, starring Laura Dern, was also picked up for a new season. Will you miss Bored to Death, Hung or How to Make it in America?