HBO cancels ‘Winning Time’ after dismal ratings for Season 2
After two seasons, HBO has canceled “Winning Time,” a sports drama that chronicled the Los Angeles Lakers’ Showtime era of the 1980s.
The show ran its Season 2 finale Sunday evening, and that episode will serve as its last, an HBO spokesperson confirmed to The Times on Monday, declining to comment further on the reasons for its cancellation.
However, Kevin Messick, an executive producer on the series, referred to a dip in ratings during the show’s second season, as well as the actors’ inability to promote the show amid the ongoing strikes by members of SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America, according to Vulture, which spoke with Messick and was first to report the show’s end on Sunday evening.
Messick, who also executive-produced “Succession,” told Vulture that HBO had suggested the showrunners film an alternate ending in January, before the strikes started, in the event of an early exit.
The Season 2 finale (Warning: Spoilers ahead) was supposed to show Magic Johnson (Quincy Isaiah) sulking in defeat against the Boston Celtics after the 1984 NBA Finals. Instead, the backup ending was shown, with owner Jerry Buss (John C. Reilly) talking with his daughter, Jeanie Buss (Hadley Robinson), about one day taking over the team, as well as a montage of the real-life characters and what they went on to do in their careers.
“Not the ending that we had in mind,” show cocreator Max Borenstein tweeted Sunday evening. “But nothing but gratitude and love.”
“9.5 years. We made the show of my dreams,” co-creator Jim Hecht said in a separate tweet. “That wasn’t the ending we hoped for but very grateful to everyone who watched and @jeffpearlman for trusting me with his genius book.”
The show’s oncoming demise had been teased by Pearlman, whose book “Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s” the series was based on. Over the past several months, Pearlman was vocal about struggling ratings and encouraged viewers to tune into the show on Sunday evenings on HBO.
“I’m telling you — the future of ‘Winning Time’ hangs in the balance,” Pearlman tweeted in midAugust. “We need viewers. The strikes are crippling. Please help spread the word. Season 2 is amazing. But … HBO is big on [numbers].”
He later added in a separate tweet that he was “worried there won’t be a season three,” and said he wanted the show to survive for the sake of “a cast of amazing young actors who live this.”
And behind the scenes,
HBO had also been transparent with its showrunners, Messick told Vulture. He said the channel was clear that given the show’s expensive budget, “we always knew that the ratings would have to achieve a certain level for it to make sense.”
The first season, which ran alongside NCAA’s March Madness basketball tournament in 2022, did well, but the ratings were down nearly 50% for the second season, which debuted Aug. 6. Shortly after, Messick said he was told the writing was on the wall for the series.