This past spring, HBO’s The Comeback, starring Lisa Kudrow, staged its own much-welcome comeback.
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The beloved cult comedy, which started in 2005 and received a second season nearly a decade later, returned with a third and final season, which established Valerie Cherish as one of modern TV’s funniest – and most memorable – heroines.
This got everyone at Watch With Us thinking: what are some other great HBO shows that we’d love to see get a second chance?
So, we put together a ranked list of four classic HBO shows that deserve a reboot.
Our first pick is Carnivàle, a fantastic dark fantasy drama that was cut too short.
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Amy Jellicoe (Laura Dern) is a successful corporate executive who has gotten far in life despite her self-destructive behavior. After a very public nervous breakdown, Amy leaves her job and her life to spend three months in rehab in Hawaii, and it’s here that she has a reawakening and learns how to live a more enlightened life. Amy returns to live with her mother (Diane Ladd) to find that her new outlook isn’t quite as welcomed by her family, friends, coworkers or drug addict ex-husband, Levi (Luke Wilson), as she would’ve expected. With more chaos in her life than ever, Amy struggles to maintain her zen.
Enlightened comes from The White Lotus creator Mike White, and it showcases White’s nuanced character-writing and distinct sense of humor that managed to find more success in his later anthology, resort-set series. With White’s newfound television success, it makes all the more sense to return to his show that didn’t get enough love. Enlightened received great reviews, but the viewers just weren’t there, and it was cancelled as a result. Now that White and his writing are widely acclaimed, a second time around would surely find a better footing.
Brooklyn-based writer Jonathan Ames (Jason Schwartzman) is in a rut he can’t get out of. He spends most of his time smoking weed while his girlfriend (Olivia Thirlby) threatens to break up with him. To spice up his life, he posts an ad on Craigslist claiming that he is an unlicensed private detective, taking his fascination with crime novels and turning it into a part-time job. But Jonathan increasingly finds that his disintegrating personal life is getting in the way of his clients’ needs, on top of his demanding editor, George (Ted Danson). Still, Jonathan manages to find some solace in his best friend, comic book artist Ray (Zach Galifianakis).
Bored to Death received favorable reviews, but its ratings took a nosedive between its second and third seasons and it was canceled by HBO by the close of season 3. However, this didn’t stop the show’s fans from starting multiple petitions to keep the series on the air – which, of course, didn’t amount to a success story. Still, many fans believe that the series deserves a fourth season, and we’re inclined to agree. Bored to Death is a fun, quirky good time, carried by fantastic writing and great chemistry between Schwartzman and Galifianakis.
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This story was originally published June 21, 2026 at 2:05 PM.