It seems that Jonathan, George, and Ray have tackled their last case. HBO has cancelled Bored to Death after three seasons and 24 episodes.
Bored to Death revolves around a 30-year-old author of detective novels, Jonathan Ames (Jason Schwartzman), who casually smokes marijuana, loses his girlfriend, and finds himself fighting writers block. To stimulate his imagination, Jonathan becomes an unlicensed private investigator and tries to solve cases with the help of his friends; comic book artist Ray (Zach Galifianakis) and magazine editor George (Ted Danson).
The show debuted in September of 2009 and drew a 0.5 in the 18-49 demographic and 1.03 million viewers. Subsequent episodes fell slightly and the eight episode season ended up averaging a 0.4 rating with 770,000 viewers. Season two did about the same in the demo but the total audience average grew to 927,000.
In season three, the numbers took a big nosedive. Bored to Death ended up averaging just a 0.1 in the demo and only 225,000 viewers. HBO has now decided to end the show after three seasons, along with Hung and How to Make It in America. Of the three, Bored to Death had the worst ratings. Interestingly, they’ve decided to renew freshman Enlightened which garnered even worse numbers.
What do you think? Are you sorry to hear that Bored to Death has been cancelled? Why do you think season three’s viewership dropped so low? Would you have liked to have seen a fourth season?
Image courtesy HBO.
This show is laugh out loud funny — SO disappointed cancelled — Boo HBO
WE LOVED BORED TO DEATH…..IT’S A GREAT SHOW AND VERY ENTERTAINING…..WE WANT IT CONTINUED IF POSSIBLE…..PLEASE?
i have no idea why it was rated the worst out of the three. i mean really? Hung? you have got to be kidding me. Bored to death is one of the best shows ever created in viewing history. what the **** is wrong with ppl?
i can’t believe hung did better. are people really that dense?
We have only just got the 3rd series in the UK after a huge gap …. It’s such a great ensemble cast and love the wacky themes each episode. Ted danson is my favourite… I would say the series was never pushed much in the UK, it was shown at ridiculous times of the night…. Currently shows t about 1am, Andre ended up discovering it by accident initially as the title of the show doesn’t really draw you in I suppose….. Such a shame that this isn’t continuing…… It’s not often I sit and laugh out loud, but there are… Read more »
Another example of execs.out of touch with audience.
I loved it. so sad to hear it won’t be returning!
it was funny! Parts that weren’t great didn’t last long. Then there would be something like the bedroom dancing scene with Ted Dansen and Mary Steenburgen.
I want to see what the creators do next.
This show also was not funny at all and should be canceled.
What a shame. “Bored to Death” is the funniest, best written and best acted show on TV.
HBO couldn’t afford to produce eight episodes a year? I guess the economy is that bad.
[…] only is Jonathan Ames the creator, writer, and executive producer of HBO’s now-cancelled Bored to Death series, but he’s also the namesake of the show’s main character (as […]
Honestly, no idea why the numbers dropped. But thanks to pvr and series recording I have no idea what days or times its on so i dont know if it was moved or what. 🙂
But it was a fun quirky show that I enjoyed a great deal. Sorry to see it go.