TVSquad

I must confess that I really don't pay that much attention to TV ratings. I realize that I'm just one girl, and whether I love a show or not doesn't make a wit of difference as to whether other people will love it -- and love it enough to keep it on the air. As a TV writer, I've pretty much resigned myself to the fact that TV shows come and go, and sometimes nobody watches the good ones, which results in them leaving the air far too soon.

But I've found myself gravitating towards HBO shows, because they seem to be consistently good, no matter the ratings. Sometimes I'm crazy about the shows right off the bat. Such was the case with True Blood, which I review here on TV Squad.

Sometimes I come to a series late, and then get drawn into watching one episode after the other, propping my eyes open into the wee hours. That's how it was with Entourage. And sometimes a show doesn't really hit on all cylinders for me right away, but there's enough there to keep me watching with the hope that it will continue to get better and better. That's how I feel about Hung.

So I'm thrilled that all three of these shows have been renewed, as Joel reported from the Television Critics Association. Hung will get a second season, True Blood a third and Entourage a seventh. The new seasons will debut sometime next year, with Blood on the schedule for next summer.

Just for the record, True Blood has averaged 3.8 million viewers (11.2 when you add repeats, DVR and On Demand viewing), Hung has averaged 3.1 million (10.2 million cume), and Entourage about 3.0 million (7.4 million cume).

Some of the other HBO shows I'm looking forward to include the WWII miniseries The Pacific, coming next March; Treme, a New Orleans drama from The Wire creator David Simon; and Martin Scorsese's Boardwalk Empire. All of these sound like the kind of quality programming I've come to expect from HBO.

What about you? Are you happy to see True Blood, Entourage and Hung renewed? Do you think Entourage is starting to lose steam? Are you watching Hung and True Blood?