TV

Girls and Veep Get Second Seasons on HBO

 HBO has announced that two of its critically-acclaimed new comedies will be around for second seasons

By Rick Porter /

Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Vice President Selina Meyer on Veep

HBO renews both of its new comedies, Veep and Girls

HBO has picked up second seasons of its new comedies Girls and Veep, both of which have performed decently in the ratings and, in the case of Girls, sparked tons of discussion online.

Both shows will get 10-episode second seasons, presumably in 2013.

Girls debuted on April 15 to about 900,000 viewers for its initial airing and held that number last week (ratings for April 29 aren’t available yet). HBO says it’s reached a “gross audience” — including DVR, on demand and HBO Go viewing — of 3.8 million people so far. Seemingly about half of those people have written about whether creator-star Lena Dunham’s show is good for women, representative of women in their 20s, diverse enough for a show set in Brooklyn and on and on.

The relatively less-hyped Veep premiered a week later and drew about 1.4 million viewers; HBO puts its gross audience number at 3.7 million so far. The show from The Thick of It creator Armando Iannucci stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus as the vice president of the United States, who finds her job not nearly as powerful as she hoped it would be.

The pickups of Veep and Girls follow that for Game of Thrones, which HBO picked up for a third season earlier this month.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Vice President Selina Meyer on Veep