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FX may be the best with this news.
The cable network has renewed critical darling comedy You’re the Worst for a second season on younger-skewing FXX, and Married for a sophomore run on FX. Both will expand their second-year runs from 10 episodes to 13.
You’re the Worst, from Weeds and Orange Is the New Black’s Stephen Falk, centers on two horrible people — Jimmy (Chris Geere) and Gretchen (Aya Cash) — and their misadventures in live, love and romance. Falk previously told THR that NBC canceling his Dane Cook comedy Next Caller after it was ordered to series but before its premiere had a “direct relationship” to making You’re the Worst.
“Writing You’re the Worst was really my sorbet from the experience of working for NBC, a network that I love and grew up on and hope does well, but the experience was not great,” he said. “When FX approached me to bring them an idea, I wrote it very specifically to get some demons out and to write something that tickled me.”
The series, which averaged 1.65 million total viewers and 1.09 million among adults 18-49 through its first seven episodes, opened to little fanfare after being packaged with higher-profile comedy Married, starring Nat Faxon and Judy Greer. For its part, Married has averaged 1.96 million total viewers and 1.35 million in the demo. Both shows rank among the top 10 in adults 18-49 and 18-34 for new basic cable comedy series.
Read more ‘You’re the Worst’ Boss on FX’s Twisted Rom-Com: It’s More Than “Are They Going to F—?”
You’re the Worst was a slow build but broke out critically midway through its 10-episode run, with Gretchen and Jimmy described as “TV’s best couple” and “one of TV’s most watchable courtships.”
“Marketing is tough because they have to pick an angle and attitude. And maybe the attitude they chose, while accurate, turned other people off,” Falk told THR of FX’s marketing campaign for the show. “It’s not going to hit for everybody. I saw more than once, comments like, ‘I didn’t think I was going to like this show. I didn’t expect to like it.’ It was more in-the-face edgy than maybe the show is. It was a little more aggressive — like we were trying to be edgy — and that’s not what we’re trying to do.”
The series, which co-stars Kether Donohue and Desmin Borges, has also explored subjects including PTSD and the armed forces, a subject that’s important to Falk.
The writer-producer also told THR season two will continue to explore the bad life choices and poor impulse control of Jimmy and Gretchen. “This isn’t a traditional rom-com,” he said. “We got rid of the ‘Will they or won’t they?’ immediately. … We’re trying to prove that there’s a lot more that’s interesting to an audience about their relationship rather than just, ‘Are they going to f—?’ “
You’re the Worst and Married return to an FX/FXX comedy lineup that also includes Louie, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, The League and upcoming entries Man Seeking Woman starring Jay Baruchel, Zach Galifianakis‘ Baskets, Billy Crystal‘s The Comedians and Denis Leary‘s Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll, among others.
Email: Lesley.Goldberg@THR.com
Twitter: @Snoodit
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