‘The Idol’ Is Canceled After Just 1 Season

HBO has confirmed that “The Idol” has been canceled after only one underwhelming season.

“After much thought and consideration, HBO, as well as the creators and producers, have decided not to move forward with a second season,” an HBO spokeswoman told CNN Tuesday. “The Idol was one of HBO’s most provocative original programmes, and we’re pleased by the strong audience response.”

The five-part series starred Lily-Rose Depp as a Britney-styled pop singer who falls in love with a cult leader and nightclub owner played by Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye, revealing the slimy side of the music industry.

Following its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May, some critics labeled the show harsh and filthy.

“The Idol,” like HBO’s blockbuster drama “Euphoria,” was created by Sam Levinson. (HBO, like CNN, is a division of Warner Bros. Discovery.

Variety dubbed it a “sordid male fantasy,” stating, “It shouldn’t take degradation and suffering to strengthen Jocelyn.” ‘Euphoria’ viewers won’t be surprised by (Levinson’s) despicable treatment of Depp’s character, as both she and the program look to be caught under The Weeknd’s control.”

HBO has confirmed that “The Idol” has been canceled after only one underwhelming season.

However, the project had been dogged by controversy for months. Rolling Stone claimed earlier this year that the initial director departed the program with around 80% completed, citing individuals who spoke of a hectic production environment.

The harsh feedback continued after the show aired.

“The expression ‘from the sublime to the ridiculous’ has seldom felt more fitting than in watching ‘The Idol,’ HBO’s new wannabe-sexy drama,” CNN’s Brian Lowry said in a review in June.

“HBO wound up with a laughably bad ‘Showgirls’ for our times, bringing its run of sterling dramatic successes (see ‘Succession,’ ‘The White Lotus,’ and ‘The Last of Us’) to a crashing and conspicuous halt,” Lowry later said.

While the show “bent over backwards (and occasionally forwards and sideways) to feel provocative,” Lowry said, “its most salient flaw wasn’t so much being offensive as simply boring, a quality that persisted over its five episodes.”

“HBO can write ‘The Idol’ off as an experiment in creative freedom that didn’t pay off, which happens all the time,” Lowry said.

SOURCE – (CNN)