HBO is staying in LA with I Love LA, the new comedy starring Rachel Sennott. The cable network has renewed the series for a second season, a few weeks after it premiered. Billed as a raunchier, modern version of Friends, the series follows several characters as they try to get a steady hold on life and love in LA. The comedy was renewed alongside The Chair Company, another new series that has been a hit for the network. I Love LA is the second-most popular new HBO comedy, only behind the aforementioned Tim Robinson dramedy. HBO reports that I Love LA is the second top freshman comedy in HBO Max‘s history, averaging nearly 2 million viewers in the Live + 3-day window in the U.S. across platforms.
Sennott serves as the creator and executive producer of I Love LA in addition to her starring role as Maia. Other cast members include Jordan Firstman as Charlie, Josh Hutcherson as Dylan, Odessa A’zion as Tallulah, and True Whitaker as Alani. The series has been enlisting famous actors as guest stars. They include Leighton Meester, Moses Ingram, Ayo Edebiri, Lauren Holt, Elijah Wood, Quenlin Blackwell, Josh Brener, Tim Baltz, Froy Gutierrez, and Colin Woodell. New episodes of I Love LA air on Sundays on HBO. In Episode 4, “Upstairses,” airing this Sunday, Tallulah is about to fall into some pitfalls of being an LA influencer. Its logline teases:
As Tallulah’s star rises, she receives an invite to a famous influencer’s party. There, Maia and Alani have an eccentric encounter with the home’s famous owner, Tallulah faces the reality of an influencing career, and Charlie is pulled into the orbit of a new guy.
Is ‘I Love LA’ a Good Show?
The comedy was well received by critics, earning an 84% rating on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. However, it didn’t receive similar acclaim from viewers, who rated it 47% on the same site. Collider‘s Emily Bernard reviewed the show and noted that while it has a rough start, the series improves with each episode. “The story may be told through a very specific lens, but it still speaks to the type of culture we are all living in,” she wrote in her review. Bernard added:
“One of its most revealing and heartbreaking moments is when Tallulah’s phone breaks, and she frantically stutters, “What am I supposed to look at?” By the end of its 8-episode first season, I Love LA has immersed you in a world you both want to live in and stay far away from in the best way possible. All of Sennott’s honed comedy and drama chops come together magnificently to carry a series that is hopefully just getting started.”
Catch new episodes of I Love LA Sundays on HBO.
via Collider