HBO is hoping that stories about the players from fictional tech company Pied Piper will continue to attract viewers. The cable channel has renewed their Silicon Valley comedy series for a sixth season.

Season five has eight episodes (down from the usual 10 installments) and only three of them have aired thus far. In the live+same day ratings, Silicon Valley has been averaging a 0.28 rating in the 18-49 demographic with 638,000 viewers. Compared to the fourth season, that’s down by 33% in the demo and down by 21% in viewers. Season five is the first without original cast member T.J. Miller.

An HBO sitcom, Silicon Valley stars Thomas Middleditch, Zach Woods, Kumail Nanjiani, Martin Starr, Josh Brener, Amanda Crew, Matt Ross, Suzanne Cryer, and Jimmy O. Yang. The story centers on the lives of a group of IT developers, who live together in Northern California. In the fifth season, Pied Piper has sufficient funding for decent offices and additional staff. Now it is time to introduce its peer-to-peer internet to the world. Of course, this new level of success comes with a brand new set of challenges.

Here are some excerpts from the HBO press release about the renewal. The cable channel also renewed newbie comedy Barry.

Following the recent season premieres of both shows, HBO has renewed the comedy series BARRY and SILICON VALLEY, it was announced today by Amy Gravitt, executive vice president, HBO Programming.

“While BARRY has delighted audiences with its deft interplay of comedy and drama, SILICON VALLEY remains as brilliantly and frighteningly prescient as ever,” noted Gravitt. “We’re thrilled that these two smart, funny shows are returning for another season.”

A collaboration between Mike Judge and Alec Berg, the Emmy®-winning and Golden Globe-nominated SILICON VALLEY returned for its eight-episode fifth season March 25. The show takes a comic look at the modern-day epicenter of the high-tech gold rush, where the people most qualified to succeed are the least capable of handling success.

Among the critical raves for the current season, which concludes May 13, the Atlantic called the show “exciting” and “hilarious,” while the A.V. Club said SILICON VALLEY has “one of the best comedic ensembles on television”; Slant Magazine hailed the show for “gut-busting comedy,” and Vulture described the new season as “a very smartly designed software upgrade.”

Season five credits: SILICON VALLEY was created by Mike Judge & John Altschuler & Dave Krinsky; executive producers, Mike Judge, Alec Berg, Clay Tarver, Michael Rotenberg, Tom Lassally, Jim Kleverweis, Jamie Babbit; co-executive producers, Anthony King, Graham Wagner and Ron Weiner; consulting producers, Carrie Kemper, Carson Mell, Jonathan Dotan, Todd Silverstein and Josh Lieb.

What do you think? Are you glad that Silicon Valley? has been renewed for a sixth season? Did you think it would be cancelled instead? Do you miss Miller in the series?