For fans of Avenue 5, we have good news: the show has been renewed for a second season by HBO. For the rest of us who have watched the show and wondered who blackmailed who to get this through HBO programming, read on.
CHECK OUT: Avenue 5 review, its Spaceballs without the comedy
Amy Gravitt, the executive vice president of HBO programming said “Armando Iannucci and his team are masters of smart and incisive comedy, and the ensemble cast, brilliantly captained by Hugh Laurie, is second to none. We can’t wait to see what’s in store for our hapless heroes in season two.”
Even the most ferocious Avenue 5 fan couldn’t be so positive about the show. My take is that Sky TV has held HBO to ransom on this one.
CHECK OUT: Friends unscripted special to cost HBO $20 million
Co-production standards
Avenue 5 doesn’t come close to the standard of content usually associated with HBO. So, it’s no surprise to find out Avenue 5 is a co-production with Sky TV. Sky have made a mixed bag of content, from the awful Hurricane Heist to the brilliant Patrick Melrose. They also worked with HBO on Chernobyl, one of the best shows of 2019.
The thing with Sky TV is that they have very little exclusive content, and even if Avenue 5 is terrible, it’s big-name content (Hugh Laurie, Armando Iannucci) that they can leverage in the ongoing battle between cable TV and cord-cutting. Avenue 5 definitely fits Sky’s “we’re desperate for content that we own because everyone is taking their best stuff back” mindset.
It looks like HBO is stuck taking one for the co-production team with this series.
CHECK OUT: Will HBO Max’s content justify its higher price point?
What is Avenue 5?
The series is set 40 years in the future on a cruise spaceship that has broken down. The show stars Laurie and Josh Gad, and in our review, we called the show “Spaceballs without the comedy”.
On Rotten Tomatoes, the show has a rating of 65 percent from critics and 41 percent from reviewers. On IMDB, the series has an overall rating of 5.9. The series is currently averaging 800,000 viewers across its first three episodes.
Check out the official Avenue 5 trailer below.