Vinyl Season 2 Abruptly Cancelled by HBO

Following lukewarm reviews and rocky ratings for the show’s first season, Variety is reporting that HBO has cancelled Vinyl Season 2 despite renewing the show in February shortly after the premiere.

“After careful consideration, we have decided not to proceed with a second season of ‘Vinyl.’ Obviously, this was not an easy decision,” HBO said in a statement. “We have enormous respect for the creative team and cast for their hard work and passion on this project.”

After Season 1 concluded in April, the network announced that Scott Z. Burns (The Bourne Ultimatum, Contagion) would be taking over for Terence Winter as showrunner, although Burns never got to turn in any scripts as he was still in the planning stages when the axe fell. HBO will now take the money it had intended to spend to revamp Vinyl and spend it on other shows.

Created by Mick Jagger & Martin Scorsese & Rich Cohen and Terence Winter, the show was a ride through the sex and drug-addled music business of the early 1970s at the dawn of punk, disco and hip-hop.

Vinyl kicked off its ten-episode first season on February 14 with a two-hour pilot directed by Scorsese, from a teleplay by Terence Winter and George Mastras, and story by Rich Cohen & Mick Jagger & Martin Scorsese and Terence Winter.

Starring Bobby Cannavale as Richie Finestra, a record label president who is trying to save his company and his soul without destroying everyone in his path, the first season of Vinyl also starred Olivia Wilde, Ray Romano, Ato Essandoh, Max Casella, P.J. Byrne, J.C. MacKenzie, Birgitte Hjort Sørensen, Juno Temple, Jack Quaid, James Jagger and Paul Ben-Victor.

Vinyl was created by Mick Jagger & Martin Scorsese & Rich Cohen and Terence Winter; executive producers, Martin Scorsese, Mick Jagger, Terence Winter, Victoria Pearman, Rick Yorn, Emma Tillinger Koskoff, John Melfi, Allen Coulter and George Mastras; executive music producer, Mick Jagger; showrunner, Terence Winter.