“Better Things” is coming back for a second season, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. FX has renewed the comedy after airing only two episodes of the series. The show was created by “Louie” and “Californication” actress Pamela Adlon, who also stars. “Better Things” is based on her experiences as a divorced single mother of three girls, and being a working actress in Hollywood without the glitz and glamour commonly associated with the job. Her character, Sam, spends as much time auditioning and in recording booths capturing the voices of animated characters as she does working on sets. It’s doubtful we’ll see Sam walking a red carpet anytime soon — she’s more likely to be found cleaning up her daughter’s messes.
FX clearly has a great deal of confidence in the critically acclaimed series, which has struck a major chord with female audiences in particular. According to THR, “Better Things” has “drawn FX’s most female-driven audience ever. With seven days of DVR, the premiere ranks as the second-most-watched basic cable comedy series premiere of the year among women 18–34 (behind only ‘Atlanta)’. The series debut, with seven days of DVR, delivered 1.4 million total viewers and 763,000 among adults under 50.”
“Better Things” isn’t just coming back for a sophomore season — FX has also ordered more episodes for Season 2. The next season will consist of 10 episodes, whereas Season 1 features only eight episodes.
Adlon serves as one of the series’ executive producers, and wrote or co-wrote most of the episodes in Season 1. She also directed the second episode of “Better Things.” Adlon is a longtime collaborator with Louis C.K.
“Not surprisingly, in many ways ‘Better Things’ does feel like the female counterpart to ‘Louie,’” Sara Stewart, Women and Hollywood’s TV critic, wrote in her review of the series. “Adlon is hilarious with the added benefit of having a strong pro-women streak and a devotion to calling men out on their bullshit. It’s easy to see why the two of them are friends, and to his credit, C.K. did a great job of showcasing her low B.S. tolerance on his own show. Here, though, she’s finally the star.”
FX has been taking major steps towards hiring more people of color and women behind the scenes. The network reportedly felt it was necessary to diversify after a 2015 Variety article by Maureen Ryan called out FX and other networks for their overwhelmingly white and male directing rosters.
You can catch “Better Things” on FX on Thursdays.
