HBO has pulled the plug on its 1970s music-biz drama Vinyl, Variety reports. The show was renewed for a second season in February shortly after its premiere.
It’s speculated that, along with less-than-average ratings and mixed reviews, the network’s recent overhaul of executives had something to do with the cancellation. Casey Bloys, former head of comedy at HBO, recently replaced Michael Lombardo as president of programming, who had been in the position for 10 years.
Said HBO in a statement: “After careful consideration, we have decided not to proceed with a second season of Vinyl. Obviously, this was not an easy decision. We have enormous respect for the creative team and cast for their hard work and passion on this project.”
Vinyl, which starred Bobby Cannavale, Ray Romano, Olivia Wilde and Juno Temple, certainly got off to a rough start in its first season, with showrunner Terence Winter leaving the series in April. Winter was replaced by Scott Z. Burns, who was in the beginning stages of planning season two, but hadn’t turned in any scripts yet. Martin Scorsese, Mick Jagger and Richard Cohen are credited on the series as creators.
The consensus is that HBO feels that money that would’ve been used to revamp Vinyl will be more wisely used in new shows with a little more promise. We can’t say we’re surprised, as we’ve chronicled every bit of ridiculousness from the patently over-the-top Vinyl. Game of Thrones is HBO’s biggest product, and it’s not going to last forever. As of now, we have a lot of hope for the freaky-looking Westworld, which premieres this fall on HBO.