The world of cable television is about to get a bit smaller. Yesterday Syfy announced that it has canceled the Battlestar Galactica prequel Caprica, and today HBO revealed that Big Love season 5, premiering on January 16, will be the final season. However, there's also good cable news as HBO has renewed two of its comedies, the writer-detective show Bored to Death and the vulgar and offensively hilarious Eastbound and Down.

For Big Love, the conclusion seems logically. Season 4 ended with Bill Henrickson winning political office and coming out to the public as a polygamist. Now that his secret is out of the bag, there aren't a whole lot of places for Big Love to go.

However, the show remains topical thanks to the recent success of the reality series Sister Wives. With polygamy back in the news, Big Love season 5 promises to take a hard look at how Bill's family deals with their very public lifestyle.

Caprica Gets Frakked

While the decision to end Big Love came from the show's writers, Caprica's cancellation wasn't. Currently in the second half of its first season, I am eternally grateful to Syfy for canceling he show. I've watched Caprica from the beginning out of loyalty to Battlestar Galactica, but more and more the show has become a chore.

The pacing and storylines aren't very interesting, yet I still watched due to my fondness for the Cylons and Ronald D. Moore. Now that it's canceled, I can move on.

HBO Renews Comedies

However, the news for cable shows isn't all bad. HBO also renewed its comedies Bored to Death and Eastbound  and Down, meaning both will return for season 3. I'm especially ecstatic for Eastbound and Down, because Danny McBride's performance as foul-mouthed baseball player Kenny Powers is one of the funniest things on TV.


(Image courtesy of HBO)