We’re only halfway through the first season of SMILF, the awkwardly named series created by and starring Frankie Shaw, but Showtime has already decided it wants more bleakly comic single-mom adventures. The pay-cable channel announced today that it was picking up the half-hour show for another year, and the crew plans to return to production sometime in 2018.
SMILF is doing well for Showtime, which is good, because it deserves an audience. Its premiere was the highest rated debut for a Showtime comedy since 2012, and is currently averaging 4.4 million viewers a week. Frankie Shaw possesses a brash and honest comic voice, and given that the episodes have been more or less improving from week to week, a second season will (fingers crossed) find the show in the full bloom of its creative powers. Here’s hoping Shaw has some tricks up her sleeve for season two—and that Showtime gives her more than eight episodes to build a larger story arc if she wants it.