HBO Max orders family drama How to Survive Without Me to series
HBO Max has ordered 15 episodes of How to Survive Without Me, a family drama starring Kaley Cuoco, Joshua Jackson, Ray Romano and Rita Wilson.
The order, reported by Variety on 16 September, moves the project from pilot to series. A pilot means a single trial episode made first to test a show before a full order. This one was ordered in February.
Wilson leads the family as Beverly, a series regular, meaning a central character contracted across the series. Romano plays Leo, described as Beverly's widower. Cuoco and Jackson play Kate and Cooper, the children of Beverly and Leo.
The series was co-created by Greg Berlanti, Robbie Rogers and Bash Doran. Berlanti and Rogers are husbands. Berlanti and Doran wrote the pilot together.
Behind the camera, the executive producer team includes Berlanti, Rogers, Sarah Schechter and Leigh London Redman through Berlanti Productions, alongside Doran, Ryan O'Connell and director Daniel Minahan. Executive producers oversee the creative and business running of a series, from script to budget.
Berlanti Productions makes the show under an overall deal at Warner Bros. Television, meaning the company develops new projects for that studio first. That is the standard way major writer-producers are tied to a studio.
For viewers, this means 15 episodes are now on the way. No premiere date has been announced.
What makes this stand out is the scale of the commitment. Fifteen episodes is a full, old-school-sized season order. It gives the writers' room a long runway and keeps a large crew in work through production.
