The Big Picture

• Loudermilk is a comedy starring Ron Livingston about a journalist-turned-substance-abuse-counselor with 3 successful seasons.
• The show faced uncertainty after the shutdown of its broadcasting network, Audience.
• Despite no official announcement, there's potential for a fourth season though it's unclear which network will host the show.

The three seasons of sobriety-centered comedy Loudermilk, about a washed-up music journalist starring Ron Livingston as the eponymous character, was a hit with fans. Still, it's not clear when we will get more of the series. The first three seasons of Loudermilk premiered on the now-defunct Audience Network, a subsidiary of AT&T that ran exclusively on the company's DirecTV premium television service. The parent company shut down the network before the third season's release, and while the show wasn't canceled, its broadcasting network was, and Loudermilk was left without a home. Fans scratched their collective heads, wondering if their favourite churlish Gen X'er and company would ride again.

Loudermilk

Sam Loudermilk is a recovering alcoholic and substance-abuse counselor with a bad attitude. Although he has his drinking under control, Loudermilk discovers that when your life is a mess, getting clean is the easy part.

What Is 'Loudermilk' About?

Loudermilk is an American comedy series created by Peter Farrelly and Bobby Mort. The series first aired on October 17, 2017, on the AT&T Audience Network and Season 3 finished on December 31, 2020, much to the ire of fans. Loudermilk stars Ron Livingston as Sam Loudermilk, Will Sasso as Sam's roommate and sponsor, Ben Burns, Laura Mennell as Allison Montgomery, his love interest next door, and Anja Savcic as Claire Wilkes, a woman deep in the grip of addiction whom Sam reluctantly helps to get her back on her feet.

The series revolves around Sam, a former big-time music journalist and recovering alcoholic who now spends his days griping about coffee and music and working as a substance abuse counselor in Seattle. Sam is, for all intents and purposes, a real jerk. He is a man, more or less, out of time, living out his waning Gen X years in a state of bitter enmity. He seems to be annoyed by almost everything in life. A lot of these scenes happen in coffee shops.

One, in particular, stands out as Sam hits up a Starbucks to get his morning medicine and bemoans his barista's vocal fry as she asks him if he'd like her to leave the room for cream. He mocks her, mimicking her annoying affectation. The poor barista confronts him, asking him, "Why you gotta be so rude," and he explains that it's the "way annoying teenagers and rich people talk to sound like they don't give a shit." His pleas go unabated with a woman at the back of the line reminding him that other people are waiting to order in her own detached vocal fry. The scene concludes with Sam throwing up his hands in defeat and proclaiming, "Fuck everybody," which is more or less Sam's attitude throughout the entirety of the series.

What makes this series so good is the journey of redemption the acid-tongued journalist is on. He's constantly trying to do the right thing despite his propensity for self-destruction and irritation with almost anything on this planet. His quest is admirable, specifically his reluctant interest in his sponsee, Claire Wilkes, who moves into his apartment with him and Ben rather unexpectedly. He's just as gloves off when it comes to her millennial behavior, but a degree of tenderness lurks beneath his gruff exterior. This motley crew of people on the mend is genuinely endearing, making for a bittersweet comedy that shows both the pains of struggling with sobriety and some of the comedy. That ability to laugh at the darkness cemented the show's audience and is why it endured for three seasons.

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What Happened to the Audience Network?

The Audience Network was a division of AT&T, a pay-for-use channel with its roots dating to 1999 (Sam's heyday) that shuttered its doors on May 22, 2020. The network was to be a low-cost streaming and Live TV service meant to provide a secondary option to the AT&T DirectTV service for budget-conscious consumers. It launched with 103 channels playing on a continuous loop at a price point of about $15. Customers could access various TV channels like VICELAND, Sundance, CNN, AMC, etc.

On January 8, 2020, AT&T announced that it would cease current operations and transition into a Barker Channel for HBO Max, launched May 27 of that same year. As a result, shows being produced for the dying network were thrown into upheaval, their fates now totally up in the air. Shows like Rich Eisen's Sports show suddenly found themselves in danger of being cancelled, having maintained their video simulcast through the Audience Network. This was true of The Dan Patrick Show and beloved fan favorite, Loudermilk. Luckily, the show wasn't without a home for long. Amazon jumped at the chance to snap up the distribution rights about a year after the show's impromptu cancellation, premiering the third season. The series' actors were subsequently released from their contracts, but the cast remains vocal about wanting to do a fourth season.

Will There Be a 'Loudermilk' Season 4?

Unfortunately, there has been no official announcement of a fourth season of Loudermilk. however, there is still a distinct possibility it could happen. Back when Loudermilk first premiered on Prime Video, Peter Farrelly told The Hollywood Reporter:

“ It’s a show that I’m extremely proud of and one that deserves to be seen by all. I would argue that it has the best ensemble cast on television and deserves to be in the conversation with Schitt’s Creek and Cobra Kai , shows that started on one network but found a much wider audience on another. This show is going to give you binge-watching at its best!”

However, with the cast and show now being free agents, the legal work and time necessary to get a fourth season into production might come at too great a cost, a massive hurdle for the much-beloved show. Cast members have invariably moved on to other projects; time has passed, people have aged, and what, if any, stories of Sam and his crew are left to tell? Faced with all this, Peter Farrelly seems undeterred having mapped out seven seasons. In an interview with ComingSoon this March, co-creator Peter Farrelly expressed that he was optimistic that the show still had at least two more seasons but was uncertain where the show would go. The show is no longer on Prime Video, but still streaming on Netflix. About future seasons, Farrelly said:

"The three-year break that we just got from the last one works right into it. Because the last episode, he sold his book, and now we cut to three years later — the book blew up. It’s a huge hit. Now he’s back in the high life. He’s having lunch with Neil Young, but he’s got these bananaheads he’s trying to take care of in his twelve-step group. And it’s a really interesting world. It’s sort of a cross between Loudermilk and a Larry Sanders show. So I’m really looking forward to it, but we’re gonna do it."

Without a home for future seasons, audiences will need to wait with bated breath to see their favorite wise-cracking cynic back in action and trust that someone will give this series one more chance.

Loudermilk is currently streaming on Netflx in the U.S.

Watch on Netflix

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