HBO celebrates 4/20 by announcing plans for weed-centric comedy series

HBO celebrates 4/20 by announcing plans for weed-centric comedy series

Popular Vimeo web series will air six new episodes exclusively on HBO.

April 20 is considered a “marijuana holiday” by cannabis-lovers worldwide, and HBO is celebrating this year’s 4/20 by picking up a popular weed-centric web series. According to an announcement by the premium cable network on Monday, High Maintenance will soon be airing six new episodes exclusively on HBO, and the 19 existing episodes of the series will be made available later this year on HBO, HBO GO and HBO Now.

High Maintenance originally became popular on Vimeo, where its first 19 episodes appeared on a pay-per-episode basis. The experimental web series was created by Ben Sinclair and Katja Blichfeld in 2012, and stars Sinclair as a mellow pot deliveryman known as “The Guy,” who deals with an eccentric client base in Brooklyn, New York. The series won “Short Form New Media” in last February’s Writers Guild Awards, and has showcased notable guest stars such as Neighbors’ Hannibal Buress, Masters of Sex star Heléne Yorke and Dan Stevens, who will portray the Beast in Disney’s upcoming live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast.

Episodes of the series were originally only five or six minutes long, but two years after its debut, episodes grew to two or three times their original length and began to feature more characters, locations and storylines. HBO has not discussed whether any format changes are in store, but the move will presumably result in longer episodes.

“We have been growing this show organically for three years now, and we are elated to bring it into full maturity at HBO,” said Blichfeld and Sinclair in a statement.

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