Terence Winter has exited as the showrunner of the HBO series “Vinyl,” TheWrap has learned.
Scott Z. Burns and Max Borenstein will take over as executive producers and showrunners on the series in Winter’s absence.
“As we head into the second season of ‘Vinyl,’ we have decided it is an appropriate time to make a change in the creative direction of the show,” HBO told TheWrap in a statement. “We have enjoyed a longtime partnership with Terry Winter at HBO on projects from ‘The Sopranos’ to ‘Boardwalk Empire’ to ‘Vinyl,’ and we look forward to our next collaboration with him. We are pleased to welcome Scott Z. Burns, executive producer and showrunner, and Max Borenstein, executive producer, as the new team helming the show.”
Winter won multiple Emmys for HBO for his work on “The Sopranos” and was nominated several more times for “Boardwalk Empire.”
Created by Mick Jagger, Martin Scorsese, Rich Cohen and Winter, “Vinyl” is a trip through the sex-and drug-filled music business of the early 1970s at the dawn of punk, disco and hip-hop.
Starring Bobby Cannavale as Richie Finestra, a record-label president trying to save his company and his soul without destroying everyone in his path, the first season of “Vinyl” also stars Olivia Wilde, Ray Romano, Ato Essandoh, Max Casella, P.J. Byrne, J.C. MacKenzie, Birgitte Hjort Sørensen, Juno Temple, Jack Quaid, James Jagger and Paul Ben-Victor.
Yet despite the show’s strong production pedigree and critical praise, it has failed to draw a major audience like other HBO shows do. It is currently averaging just 620,000 viewers per episode, with two episodes left in its first season. Nevertheless, HBO has already renewed “Vinyl” for Season 2.
Scorsese, Mick Jagger, Victoria Pearman, Rick Yorn, Emma Tillinger Koskoff, John Melfi, Allen Coulter and George Mastras are all executive producers on the show. Jagger is also executive music producer.