''Bored to Death'' is an American comedy series that ran on HBO from September 20, 2009, to November 28, 2011. The show was created by author

Jonathan Ames Jonathan Ames (; born March 23, 1964) is an American author who has written a number of novels and comic memoirs, and is the creator of two television series, ''Bored to Death'' (HBO) and '' Blunt Talk'' (STARZ). In the late '90s and early 2000s, ...

, and stars

Jason Schwartzman Jason Francesco Schwartzman (born June 26, 1980) is an American actor and musician. Schwartzman made his film debut in Wes Anderson's 1998 film '' Rushmore'', and has gone on to appear in six other Anderson films: '' The Darjeeling Limited'' ( ...

as a fictional Jonathan Ames—a writer based in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, who moonlights as an unlicensed private detective. The show also stars Ted Danson as George and

Zach Galifianakis Zachary Knight Galifianakis (born October 1, 1969) is an American actor and comedian. He appeared in ''Comedy Central Presents'' special and presented his show ''Late World with Zach'' on VH1. Galifianakis has starred in films including ''Th ...

as Ray, both friends of Jonathan. On December 20, 2011, HBO cancelled ''Bored to Death'' after three seasons and twenty-four episodes. Development of a television movie subsequently began in January 2013.

Cast

Main

as Jonathan Ames, struggling novelist, ''Edition'' journalist, and bumbling private investigator *

as Ray Hueston, comic book artist and Jonathan's best friend. The character is loosely based on comic book artist Dean Haspiel, a friend of the real Jonathan Ames. Haspiel also provides Ray's artwork used in the show. * Ted Danson as George Christopher, libertine editor of fictitious New York magazine ''Edition'', friend and father figure to Jonathan *

Heather Burns Heather Burns (born April 7, 1975) is an American actress, known for her role as Miss Rhode Island Cheryl Frasier in the 2000 film '' Miss Congeniality'' and its 2005 sequel, '' Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous''. Her other film appearan ...

as Leah, Ray's on-and-off girlfriend

Recurring

* Olivia Thirlby as Suzanne, Jonathan's ex-girlfriend (Season 1) * Oliver Platt as Richard Antrem, fictional editor of '' GQ'' and rival of George Christopher * Laila Robins as Priscilla, George's ex-wife and Richard's current wife (Seasons 1–2) * John Hodgman as Louis Green, a pompous author and rival of Jonathan * Jenny Slate as Stella, an organic food co-op member and pot smoker who becomes Jonathan's lover (Seasons 1–2) * Zoe Kazan as Nina, Jonathan's student who later becomes his girlfriend (Season 2) * Bebe Neuwirth as Caroline, Jonathan's literary editor *

Patton Oswalt Patton Peter Oswalt (born January 27, 1969) is an American stand-up comedian, actor and writer. He is known as Spence Olchin in the sitcom '' The King of Queens'' (1998–2007) and for narrating the sitcom '' The Goldbergs'' (2013–present) as ...

as Howard Baker, the owner of a spy shop that Jonathan, Ray, and George occasionally visit for gear * Kristen Wiig as Jennifer "Trouble" Gladwell, a barfly and one of Jonathan's first clients (Seasons 1–2) *

as Irwin, a Jewish man who Ray finds sleeping with Leah (Season 2) *

Richard Masur Richard Masur is an American character actor who has appeared in more than 80 films. From 1995 to 1999, he served two terms as president of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG). He is best known for Nick Lobo on ''Rhoda'' (1974-1977), Stanley Uris in th ...

as Ira Ames, Jonathan's father (Seasons 2–3) * Allyce Beasley as Florence Ames, Jonathan's mother (Seasons 2–3) * Mary Kay Place as Kathryn Joiner, a frank employee of a company that is helping ''Edition'' tighten its financial belt (Season 2) * Halley Feiffer as Emily, George's daughter who disturbs him with her engagement to an older man (Season 3) *

Olympia Dukakis Olympia Dukakis (June 20, 1931 – May 1, 2021) was an American actress. She performed in more than 130 stage productions, more than 60 films and in 50 television series. Best known as a screen actress, she started her career in theater. Not lon ...

as Belinda, an older woman with whom Ray cheats on Leah (Seasons 2–3) * Mary Steenburgen as Josephine, George's singing teacher and girlfriend (Season 3) * Isla Fisher as Rose, Jonathan's girlfriend. She is later revealed to be his

half-sister A sibling is a relative that shares at least one parent with the subject. A male sibling is a brother and a female sibling is a sister. A person with no siblings is an only child. While some circumstances can cause siblings to be raised sepa ...

, conceived in a fertility clinic that subsequently burned down as part of an insurance scam (Season 3) * Stacy Keach as Jonathan's biological father, operator of the fertility clinic, insurance scammer and con man (Season 3) * Michael Chernus as Francis Hamm (Season 1)

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (2009)

Season 2 (2010)

Season 3 (2011)

Production

Although loosely based in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn, the series is shot primarily on location in nearby Fort Greene, Brooklyn.

Reception

The first season received favorable reviews, and holds a

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

score of 64/100, based on 27 reviews. In a ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...

'' blog, James Poniewozik praised the "interplay between the low- and high-life of New York" and the casting choices, calling Danson's portrayal of George a "scene-stealing role". Nancy Franklin of ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' determined that "excellent casting and good writing" supported the series. However, in a blog for ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'', Maureen Ryan called the story "tedious," although she praised Danson and Galifianakis' performances. '' Variety's'' Brian Lowry called the series "too precious and quirky for its own good," instead wishing the series revolved around Danson's character. Reviews of the second season were favorable. Jennifer Armstrong of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular ...

'' said "the charm is in the details" and added that the "genius of Ted Danson and Zach Galifianakis" strengthened the program. '' TIME's'' Poniewozik wrote positively of the second season. Following ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'', ''Bored to Death'' had an audience retention rating of 92 percent of the total 1.1 million person audience according to Nielsen ratings. ''Bored to Death'' won the 2010 Primetime Emmy Award for Main Title Design, against other nominees including '' The Pacific'' and '' Nurse Jackie''. On December 20, 2011, the day ''Bored to Death'' was canceled, petitions on several websites including Facebook started circulating. Jonathan Ames responded to this by stating "It's very sweet. I don't want to discourage it, but I'm embarrassed."

Distribution

HBO Home Entertainment and Warner Home Video released the complete first season on September 21, 2010, the complete second season on October 4, 2011, and the third season on September 4, 2012.

Potential movie

After much speculation, it was announced in early 2013 that HBO would revive ''Bored to Death'' in the form of a feature-length network film. In March 2014, Jonathan Ames announced he was nearly done writing the script. In an interview in August 2015, Ames said he had done two iterations of the script, neither of which was quite right, and planned a third. In an interview in April 2018 however, Ames said that a movie is unlikely to be made, though he was considering rebooting the series as a book.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bored To Death 2009 American television series debuts 2011 American television series endings 2000s American comedy-drama television series 2010s American comedy-drama television series 2000s American crime drama television series 2010s American crime drama television series 2000s American mystery television series 2010s American mystery television series Fictional amateur detectives HBO original programming Television shows set in New York City Neo-noir television series English-language television shows Television series created by Jonathan Ames Television series by 3 Arts Entertainment Television series by Home Box Office Television shows about writers