HBO has a tradition of debuting splashy new series and showing faith in them very early on, and they've continued it with the new horse racing drama Luck, which premiered on Sunday to 1.1 million viewers. According to The Los Angeles Times HBO has already renewed the show, which is an insider's look at the world of horse racing, gambling, and the people who center their lives around skinny-legged animals who run in cirlces around a track.
Even though Luck's 1.1 million viewers wasn't especially dynamite by pay cable standards, it's got a ton of huge names involved that should continue to draw attention, including stars Dustin Hoffman, Nick Nolte and Dennis Farina, director Michael Mann (Heat, The Insider), and creator David Milch, the mastermind behind Deadwood and NYPD Blue. The show is so heavily advertised and ever-present that, even as I pulled up the show's IMDB listing, the site was overtaken by a full-page ad for Luck. It may not be as overhyped as Smash, but it sure is getting there.
If you're already curious about where the series is headed, the second episode, which premieres on Sunday during Super Bowl madness, is already available via HBO Go. And if you've missed all this entirely, here's the series trailer embedded below.
