'Here and Now,' Starring Tim Robbins, Canceled at HBO

The Alan Ball drama was a little-watched critical misfire and will not return for a second season.


Here and Now's time has come and gone.


HBO has opted to cancel Alan Ball's family drama after one low-rated season.


The series starring Tim Robbins and Holly Hunter launched in February to a lackluster 541,000 same-day viewers. With DVR and nonlinear viewing, the 10-episode season averaged 2 million total viewers. That's on par with the since-canceled Vinyl.


Here and Now centered on a contemporary multiracial family in Trump's America and bowed to poor reviews. The Hollywood Reporter's chief TV critic Tim Goodman said there was "potential" in the series but it needed to "get past the hot-mess family presentation and make up its mind about what kind of show it will be." The series has a 24 percent rating among critics on RottenTomatoes.com but an 86 percent audience score (among the 166 people who left feedback).


"I hope that this show could be a forum for philosophical and ethical discussions; discussions about race, gender, sexuality and the nature of reality," Ball told THR about his hopes for Here and Now. The series marked Ball's follow-up series at HBO after Six Feet Under and True Blood, which ran for five and seven seasons, respectively.


Here and Now becomes the latest one-and-done drama at HBO, joining Vinyl, Luck, John From Cincinnati, K Street and Tell Me You Love Me.


This is Robbins' second HBO show to be canceled after one season. He previously starred opposite Jack Black in the political comedy The Brink, which was canceled after its season two renewal.