No Vinyl season 2 as HBO cancels Martin Scorsese and and Mick Jagger-produced drama

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HBO has learned the hard way that big names don’t necessarily mean big ratings.

First, True Detective languished despite bringing in Colin Farrell and Vince Vaughn, and now it's decided to cancel its 1970s music business drama Vinyl, produced by Martin Scorsese and Mick Jagger, after just one season, despite having initially renewed it for a second outing after just one episode.

“After careful consideration, we have decided not to proceed with a second season of ‘Vinyl.’ Obviously, this was not an easy decision,” HBO said in a statement. “We have enormous respect for the creative team and cast for their hard work and passion on this project.”

The show starred Boardwalk Empire’s Bobby Cannavale as a record mogul, with support from Olivia Wilde, Juno Temple and Ray Romano, but was labelled ‘messy’ in reviews and struggled in the ratings.

It’s probably smart that HBO has pulled the plug on the show now, rather than kept it going for prestige and talent relations reasons.

As Variety notes, it has done something ‘deeply unpalatable to her in order to serve a larger purpose … the right move, and one that might indicate that the network is finally ready to fight a realistic battle with the army it has and the tactics it needs.’

Olivia Wilde tweeted about the show’s cancellation, writing: “Thanks for all the kind words about Vinyl, my friends. We had a BLAST, and made something special. Party on.”