‘House of Lies’ season 5 official; show renewed by Showtime days after finale

We spent a few minutes over the weekend being marginally concerned over the future of “House of Lies” on Showtime, only to realize that there was never any reason to be. Showtime has now officially renewed the Don Cheadle – Kristen Bell workplace comedy for a fifth season, which will air at some point in early 2015. If there is one twist to this, it is that the new season will only run for ten episodes. This is in contrast to the rest of the series, which has run in 12-episode batches.

Why the shorter run next season? It could be for a number of reasons, whether you are talking about creative changes, schedules, or a desire for the cast to have more time to work on some other things. Bell has “Frozen 2” coming up, while Ben Schwartz is one of our favorite guest actors that appears pretty much everywhere.

In his statement, Showtime executive vice president of original programming Gary Levine said the following:

“When you have a gifted acting ensemble led by Don Cheadle and smart, acerbic writing led by showrunner Matthew Carnahan, you expect something special, and House of Lies delivers for us each season.”

We’re happy to have this news, but we cannot imagine that this show has an extremely long life ahead for it. The ratings for season 4 were down versus the one before, and most Showtime comedies tend to max out somewhere between season 5 and season 8. “Nurse Jackie” is the current program that is preparing to shut things down after a healthy run.

What’s your take on the renewal? Share some of your quick reactions today with a comment.