Will I’m Dying Up Here season 2 renewal happen at Showtime?
The biggest test for a show’s long-term future is always going to be its ratings, but unfortunately, there just aren’t too many people interested in a show about some of the earlier days in the Los Angeles comedy scene. It’s cool subject matter, but the viewers just didn’t bite and we also don’t think that there was all that much in the way of off-network promotion, either. It feels like the bulk of the press this summer went to Twin Peaks instead, a show extensively covered but not always extensively covered. At times it’s felt like almost every person viewing that show is also out there somewhere writing about the show and coming up with theories. It’s really not our thing.
Anyhow, let’s get into specifics when it comes to I’m Dying Up Here and its future. This first season so far is generating just over 130,000 viewers in live+same-day numbers, and that’s not great. We’re trying to be diplomatic when we say “not great,” given that we love TV and appreciate so much of the work that content creators put into making shows happen. We’re not even remotely interested in being cruel.
A good comparison here is to the ratings for Twin Peaks, given that we personally consider those numbers to be somewhat of a letdown given all of the hype that was around it before it came on the air. This current run this summer is averaging just under 300,000 viewers — which is still more than double what I’m Dying Up Here is generating. You have to think that the show is canceled.
We hope that the failure of this show to generate big numbers doesn’t make Showtime stray too much from navigating interesting periods in history. What they should probably do better in the future is find a stronger way to market a show like this, or simply come up with an angle that intrinsically seems a little more interesting to the average mainstream viewer. We know that there are more viewers for the show than the live+same-day figures show (remember that there are DVR views and streams that need to be counted), but it would take a Herculean effort in those metrics to get this show anywhere near where we think it would need to be in order to get it reviewed.
For now, let’s just say that it’s nice that Showtime took the chance, since that is certainly not something that they had to do given all of their different programming options.
What do you think: Do you want to see a second season of I’m Dying Up Here? Be sure to share in the comments below!
Meanwhile, head over to the link here in the event you do want to see some additional news right now when it comes to the show. (Photo: Showtime.)