HBO Renews “Boardwalk.” Fox May Drop “Lone Star”

Posted Sep 22, 2010 by Walt Belcher

Updated Sep 22, 2010 at 10:05 AM

The official 2010-2011 TV season is only three days old and already HBO has renewed its gangster drama, “Boardwalk Empire,” after more than 7 million watched the debut on Sunday night.

Meanwhile, the Fox broadcast network reportedly is pondering the fate of its new drama “Lone Star” after a miserable ratings performance Monday night. Expect it to be pulled off the schedule before next Monday.

“Boardwalk,” starring Steve Bescemi as a corrupt city official and bootlegger in Atlantic City in the 1920s, was shown three times on Sunday night and the collective audience was 7.1 million. The first showing was close to 5 million which is considered a hit by cable television standards.

But the 4.1 million who watched the debut of Fox’s “Lone Star” is considered not nearly enough to be even a survivor on broadcast television which reaches a much larger base.

Both “Empire” and “Lone Star” are critically acclaimed and both were picked by a majority of TV critics to be among the best of the new series this fall.

On “Lone Star,” handsome actor James Wolk stars as a Texas con-man with two wives and two lives.