HBO has just renewed both of its freshman comedies, Girls and Veep for second seasons. Neither have had really blockbuster ratings, with Veep besting Girls but not by too much, but with HBO that doesn’t really matter. Both shows have gotten generally favorable reviews and Girls in particular has become the internet’s favorite thing to verbosely bicker about. And you can’t buy publicity like that!
For my money, these are the two best new comedies of the year, if you consider the TV year a thing that starts in the fall. And thank goodness that HBO is around to give two shows that would never have gotten a shot on network TV plenty of time to grow. It’s kind of nuts that another great new comedy about female best friends in NYC, BFFs, was just yanked from NBC’s schedule after a mere four episodes and had two or three times the ratings of Girls. TV, it’s a strange place!