HBO
Winning time: The rise of the Lakers dynasty it has come to an end.
After Sunday’s season two finale, creator Max Borenstein confirmed the news on X.
“Not the ending we had in mind” he wrote “But nothing but gratitude and love.
Directed by Sally Richardson he followed up on Instagram s “When you give it everything you have, you have no regrets. I hope you enjoy the last episode @winningtimehbo I’m sure I’ll be doing many more hours of television and hopefully many features in the future, but I can say that right now I’m most proud of the work we’ve done on this masterful show.”
Second season Winning time returned to HBO on August 6 with 629,000 total viewers across Max and linear telecasts. That was a fall from grace considering the 901,000 people who tuned in for the Season 1 debut in March 2022. By May of that year, Series 1 managed to amass 1.6 million same-day viewers for the finale. (Though it might be worth nothing that Season 1 also most likely benefited from the buzz of March Madness, when basketball is already top of mind for audiences.)
The HBO series is based on the book by Jeff Pearlman, Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley and the Los Angeles Lakers dynasty of the 1980s. The second phase of the series focused on the period immediately following the 1980 NBA Finals through 1984, culminating in the first professional rematch between the biggest stars of the era: Magic (Quincy Isaiah) and the Boston Celtics’ Larry Bird (Sean Patrick Small).
Last month, Pearlman went on X to ask people to watch the second season. “I’m telling you – the future of ‘winning time’ is hanging in the balance,” Pearlman wrote on Twitter. “We need viewers. The stakes are crippling. Please help spread this information. Season 2 is amazing. But… HBO is big on #s,” he wrote.
Adrien Brody, John C. Reilly, Michael Chiklis) and Jason Segel star Winning timealongside Jason Clarke, Gaby Hoffmann, Hadley Robinson, DeVaughn Nixon, Solomon Hughes, Tamera Tomakili, Brett Cullen, Stephen Adly Guirgis, Spencer Garrett, Molly Gordon, Joey Brooks, Delante Desouza, Jimel Atkins, Austin Aaron Thomas, McCa McCa, Gillian Jacobs and Rob Morgan.
Writers/co-creators Borenstein and Jim Hecht, Adam McKay, Kevin Messick, Scott Stephens, Rodney Barnes, director Salli Richardson-Whitfield and Jason Shuman are executive producers.
