HBO has announced that the story of Big Love is coming to a close. The fifth and final season will begin airing on Sunday, January 16, 2011.
The TV show has never been a big ratings winner for the pay-for-view channel but has earned several Emmy nominations and positive critical reviews. Many, including series star Chloe Sevigny, expressed disappointment with season four but the producers believe that season five will be the best yet.
Here’s the official press release from HBO…
ACCLAIMED HBO DRAMA SERIES BIG LOVE TO RETURN FOR FIFTH AND FINAL SEASON JAN. 16
LOS ANGELES, Oct. 28, 2010 – The acclaimed HBO drama series BIG LOVE will return for its fifth and final season SUNDAY, JAN. 16, it was announced today by Michael Lombardo, president, HBO Programming.“It has been an honor and pleasure to work with series creators Mark V. Olsen and Will Scheffer on this unique and provocative series, and I’m happy that they will be able to bring the story to its close the way they always envisioned,” noted Lombardo. “We look forward with great anticipation to collaborating with Mark and Will on their next venture.”
“When we created BIG LOVE in 2002, we had a strong conception of the journey the Henrickson family would make over the course of the series, of the story we had to tell,” said Mark V. Olsen and Will Scheffer. “While we were in the writers’ room this year shaping our fifth season, we discovered that we were approaching the culmination of that story.
“BIG LOVE has been our all-consuming labor of love for the past eight years. We are very grateful for HBO’s continuing support and for the collaborative effort of our partners at Playtone, our producers, our fine cast and our fellow craftsmen and crew for making this show the exceptional and joyful experience that it’s been. This coming January, we look forward to presenting our audience with the most vibrant and satisfying final season of a television series that we can produce.”
“BIG LOVE has been a truly rewarding experience in every way for Tom Hanks and me,” observes executive producer Gary Goetzman. “We’ve been so fortunate to have had such a tremendous cast over the five seasons, and we’ve never been less than amazed with their brilliance and willingness to take risks. We’ve thoroughly enjoyed our partnership with Will and Mark and have always been blown away by their storytelling abilities. We believe this final season of BIG LOVE will be the best ever.”
BIG LOVE tells the story of Salt Lake City businessman Bill Henrickson, who balances the needs of his three wives – Barb, Nicki and Margene – their nine kids and three houses, and his own entrepreneurial ambitions. Bill Paxton, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Chlo? Sevigny and Ginnifer Goodwin star in the series, which is executive produced by Playtone’s Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman, David Knoller, Bernadette Caulfield and series creators and show runners Mark V. Olsen & Will Scheffer.
Mark V. Olsen and Will Scheffer have a continuing relationship with HBO, and their next project for the network will be announced when it is confirmed.
Emmy?- and Golden Globe- nominated in the category of best drama series, BIG LOVE continued to inspire critical acclaim for its fourth season, which concluded in March 2010. The Wall Street Journal hailed the series’ “spectacular performances,” while the Salt Lake Tribune called the show “one of the finest hours of drama on any network,” and Entertainment Weekly termed it “bracing,” praising “the mighty performance of Bill Paxton.”
BIG LOVE is produced by HBO Entertainment in association with Playtone and Anima Sola Productions; created by Mark V. Olsen & Will Scheffer; executive producers, Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman, David Knoller, Bernadette Caulfield and Mark V. Olsen & Will Scheffer; supervising producer, Patricia Breen; producer, Seth Greenland; producer, Peter Friedlander; co-producers, Dauri Chase and Don Bensko; co-producers, Melanie Marnich and Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa; executive story editor, Julia Cho; story editor, Jami O’Brien; staff writer, Aaron Allen; casting, Junie Lowry Johnson, C.S.A., Libby Goldstein and Lisa Soltau.
What do you think? Are you sorry that Big Love is ending or is it time for it to go?
Image courtesy HBO.
It would be fun to see what happened to the family after all these years. Bill Paxton would be missed but they have enough characters to continue on.
It sucks they took big love off i loved tht show
One of the few great shows my wife and I watched with great intent. There is so much crap on t.v yet a truly good show gets taken off. What a waste! This is why I rarely watch t.v.
Very sad this show ended. It’s the only reason I got HBO. Oh well, canceling HBO now.
Wish it could go on..great acting, but better this than going on too long
SO MAD! this show was great.. no reason it should have ended. it had alot more life to it than it was given. I can name a number of crappy shows that should be cancelled that are still airing. Television is being overridden by junk shows and reality idiots. Who ever is running the networks these days don’t know what they are doing. Ask the viewers next time!
HBO,
Another great show gone to early, please use my hand and choke yourselves with it.
EXTREMELY upset that the show has ended…..I wanted to see them make more milestones and reach more goals…….from Bill getting laws passed to seeing Albie rot in prison…………this is the one thing I hate about programs on HBO, it’s bad enough that we have to wait 9 months to watch new episodes (that only last 12 wks!), but their programs seem to end so suddenly, leaving viewing wanting more, with many questions unanswered. Glad I got to watch 5 (so called) seasons……wishing they would have polled viewers for their opinions!!!! And p.s……Bill Paxton will FOREVER be Bill Henrickson…..so good luck… Read more »
I am sad it’s gone now. It was a good finale, shocking too I didn’t expect it. But they don’t even say why they ended the show. That I DO NOT like. Yet, they can have a real polygamist have his own show and continue being picked up? LAME!
I am very upset this show was cancelled. They should have polled the audience to get a better idea if they should cancel the show