Bored to Death (2009)

Comedy · Crime · Drama

Jonathan Ames, a young Brooklyn writer, is feeling lost. He's just gone through a painful break-up, thanks in part to his drinking, can't write his second novel, and carouses too much with his magazine editor. Rather than face reality, Jonathan turns instead to his fantasies — moonlighting as a private detective — because he wants to be a hero and a man of action.

IMDb rating: 7.8 (36,318 votes)
Episode average: 7.5 -0.3 vs IMDb
Seasons: 3
Streaming (US): HBO Max
Language: EN
Type: TV series

Rating trend: this show's seasons do not settle into one shape. Rising Shows ranks whole shows by the shape of their rating trend rather than one average score, which is how you find a show that got better rather than a show that started well.

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Ratings refreshed Oct 3, 2026 · 3 seasons indexed

Cast

Seasons

Season 1 (2009)

7.39 avg 8 episodes 7.1 → 7.5 28 min avg

Season 1 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Stockholm Syndrome	7.1	702
2	The Alanon Case	7.2	534
3	The Case of the Missing Screenplay	7.5	513
4	The Case of the Stolen Skateboard	7.0	442
5	The Case of the Lonely White Dove	7.1	429
6	The Case of the Beautiful Blackmailer	8.1	507
7	The Case of the Stolen Sperm	7.6	394
8	Take a Dive	7.5	395

Season 2 (2010)

7.63 avg 8 episodes 7.6 → 7.5 26 min avg

Season 2 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Escape from the Dungeon!	7.6	360
2	Make it Quick, Fitzgerald!	7.7	348
3	The Gowanus Canal Has Gonorrhea!	7.8	345
4	I've Been Living Like a Demented God!	7.8	366
5	Forty-Two Down!	7.4	317
6	The Case of the Grievous Clerical Error!	7.6	337
7	Escape from the Castle!	7.6	316
8	Super Ray Is Mortal!	7.5	309

Season 3 (2011)

7.54 avg 8 episodes 7.5 → 7.9 26 min avg

Big finale

Season 3 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	The Blonde in the Woods	7.5	313
2	Gumball!	7.6	282
3	The Black Clock of Time	7.6	280
4	We Could Sing a Duet	7.3	269
5	I Keep Taking Baths Like Lady Macbeth	7.3	262
6	Two Large Pearls and a Bar of Gold	7.4	265
7	Forget the Herring	7.7	285
8	Nothing I Can't Handle by Running Away	7.9	298