HBO renews hit series

US cable network HBO has renewed dark comedy Hung, male comedy Entourage and vampire drama True Blood for new seasons.

The broadcaster also announced that it was hoping to launch a third season of musical comedy Flight of the Conchords and is open to working with former HBO chief Chris Albrecht’s new production company Foresee Entertainment.

The news comes as HBO execs Michael Lombardo and Richard Plepler addressed the Television Critics Association’s press tour.

Hung, which is produced by Canadian producer E1 Entertainment, has been given a second season, hit vampire drama True Blood will launch a third season next summer and Adrian Grenier-fronted Entourage will be back for a seventh series.

This comes as all three shows recorded big rating for the network; True Blood averaged 3.8 million viewers, Hung 3.1 million viewers and Entourage 3 million.

Flight of the Conchords is also likely to be given another series. Plepler said: “When they’re ready, we’re ready.  They have the added challenge of writing an album… we’re waiting for them to tell us they’re ready.”

He said that they could work with former boss Albrecht, who has been developing series under his new production company Foresee Entertainment, including a fashion series for Starz. “If he has something for us we’d be delighted to hear about it,” Plepler added.