This summer, HBO debuted two brand new comedies, which air after True Detective on Sunday nights. The first, Ballers, earned a quick renewal from HBO. However, on Wednesday, HBO followed that renewal with another one for The Brink, the brand new comedy starring Jack Black as a foreign officer for the United States embassy in Islamabad and Tim Robbins as the US Secretary of State.
While HBO has several programs that bring big eyeballs to the network, The Brink isn’t really one of its impressive performers. This past week’s episode pulled in just over 1 million total viewers in Live+SameDay numbers. Compared to Game of Thrones' numbers, that’s really small potatoes, but compared to several of HBO’s other comedies, like Veep and Ballers, those numbers are at least in the same ballpark. Deadline is reporting that HBO had to decide whether or not to renew The Brink for Season 2 while on a fairly tight schedule. Last week, the actors’ contracts were up and the subscription cable channel got an extension through this week, but a decision clearly needed to be made.
The Brink had a pretty quick turnaround to series, but it did not have a quick turnaround in terms of hitting the air. The network picked the show up to series way back in February of 2014. The comedy had some big names involved, including the late, great Jerry Weintraub, who also produced Behind the Candelabra for HBO. The basic premise of the series is that three men are pulled together under odd circumstances in order to keep WWIII from becoming a reality.
Currently, we have no word on when Season 2 of The Brink will premiere or when it will hit the schedule, but I wouldn’t be shocked if we got new episodes in June of next year. It would also make sense to continue pairing The Brink with Ballers, which has also been renewed for Season 2. While HBO has other comedies the subscription cabler could pair the show with, Veep and Silicon Valley are already a pretty good fit, and something tells me it wouldn’t fare well with the likes of Girls.
In terms of HBO’s summer lineup, now we just need to see whether or not True Detective earns a Season 3 renewal. That would also mean a new cast and a new location. However, since that drama isn’t under a casting time crunch, it could be a while before we know whether or not the network really wants any more of Nic Pizzolatto’s show. (The new season has, after all, been less critically acclaimed than the last.)
For now, new episodes of The Brink air Sunday nights at 10:30 p.m. ET. True Detective airs at 9 p.m. ET and Ballers follows at 10 p.m. ET.
