HBO's 'Luck' Lives Up To Title, Gets Instant Renewal

It's rare one show's title seems so fortuitous.

Defying even irony's definition, HBO's "Luck" premiere didn't score the rosiest Sunday numbers - 1.1 million viewers in its 9 PM ET/PT slot, followed by 711,000 for the 10 PM replay and 420,000 for the 11 PM encore - but did well enough that the Michael Mann and David Milch-produced horses-and-gamblers drama received an immediate 10-episode order, reports Deadline.

Mann and Milch had already been developing the next season's scripts before receiving the official pick-up, and due to a finite window for Santa Anita racetrack shooting, Deadline reports that shooting should begin toward late February with a January 2013 premiere in mind.

"We couldn't be more thrilled with the critical response to this beautiful piece of work, and we are very ecited about where David and Michael plan to take these incredible characters," remarked HBO programming president Michael Lombardo.

The cast features Dustin Hoffman as career organized criminal and gambler Chester "Ace" Bernstein, who's just completed a three-year prison stretch and been picked up from the joint by longtime driver Gus, played by veteran bit player Dennis Farina. With Gus now made the proud official owner of a racehorse as arranged by Ace's friends, Ace now seeks to gain control of a racetrack to introduce casino gambling at the establishment.

According to Deadline's perspective, the initial numbers "Luck" drew would put it in line with other less-notable HBO series premieres such as "Treme" (1.25 million viewers) or "Bored To Death" (1.03 million). The premiere's viewership matched what a preview following December's "Boardwalk Empire" season finale pulled.