If Earn Marks and Sam Fox are struggling to catch a break, their respective series are having much better luck. Buoyed by strong ratings across the board, FX has today issued second season renewals for both Better Things and Donald Glover’s hip-hop drama, Atlanta.
When it comes to the latter, Glover’s passion project, one which chronicles the trials and tribulations faced by his budding rapper Earn, went down a storm with the FX audience, after the pilot episode became the most-watched basic cable primetime scripted comedy premiere in over three years. Quite the mouthful, but an impressive feat nonetheless. Better Things, on the other hand, is said to have struck a chord with the network’s female audience, something that lead star and executive producer Pamela Adlon will be hoping to continue long into 2017 – and beyond?
Out of the two, though, it was Atlanta that fared better in our review, with Isaac Feldberg showering praise on Glover’s assured, triumphant freshman show. Mitchel Broussard, meanwhile, found Better Things elsewhere on his telly, after labelling the Pamela Adlon-fronted drama as a refreshing modern sitcom, even if it proved to be a slog at times.
Keep your peepers peeled for more coverage of both Atlanta and Better Things as they ready themselves for each of their respective sophomore outings. For now, here’s the official word from FX reflecting on today’s two-fold renewal:
“It’s really gratifying to launch two new comedies that have received overwhelming critical acclaim right out of the gate,” said Nick Grad and Eric Schrier (original programming presidents at FX Networks and FX Productions) in a joint statement.