Game Theory with Bomani Jones season 2: Is it renewed, canceled?
We’ll be the first to admit that going into the show, our excitement was through the roof. We’re an unabashed longtime fan of Jones’ tracing back to his debut appearance on ESPN’s Around the Horn. We watched his show High Noon with regularity. From the jump, we wanted this show to be a huge success.
Was it? The truth here is that success is so hard to evaluate in the streaming era. Detractors of Bomani will refer to the show’s low numbers in traditional ratings and claim this as a reason for cancellation. Yet, the vast majority of potential viewers here don’t show up in traditional ratings; Game Theory has and will continue to thrive, if renewed, based on DVR viewership and streaming / On-Demand views. HBO does not release their HBO Max numbers publicly for any of their programming, unless they choose to do so in a traditional press release.
Creatively, we can easily say the show did enough to justify a season 2. While the premiere felt a tad disjointed at times, bringing in an audience for episode 2 helped dramatically to boost the energy and give Jones’ program the perfect vibe. You’d get some great humor in here, but also informative content and perspective on sports you don’t get anywhere else. We’re not sure personally we need the interview segments, but that’s just because of the limitations of the 30-minute format. We’ve also grown more accustomed to Jones’ free-wheeling discussions on his The Right Time podcast; it is hard to see those whittled down. (Yet, they are also a way to generate more attention to the show; in that sense, they may be necessary.)
The specific segments are next-level, whether it be a look into NFL coaching hires or the relationship between athletes and cryptocurrency. Many of these are worth your time to seek out.
Our hope is that we hear something more on a potential season 2 over the next couple of months; yet, HBO is unpredictable. This is not the sort of place where they make commitments or decisions without a lot of time or thought. Just know this: We want a season 2. Jones plus his writers and staff deserve it.
Do you want to see a Game Theory with Bomani Jones season 2 after tonight’s finale?
Be sure to let us know in the comments! Once you do just that, stay at the site for other updates. (Photo: HBO.)