In what we’re sure is a total coincidence and not a nod to the admittedly easily amused stoner demographic, Deadline reports that today, April 20, 2015, HBO gave a six-episode order to the Vimeo series High Maintenance. Ben Sinclair stars as a Brooklyn pot delivery guy whose clientele can best be described as “eccentric,” a premise that leads to funny slice-of-life scenarios and the slow realization that the title of the show is a pun.
That sort of wordplay might not appear to be a great omen for the series, but High Maintenance has garnered all sorts of praise from critics over the course of its two-year run. In his writeup for The A.V. Club, Matt Crowley said that “sharp writing and nuanced performances ensure [the characters] never veer into stereotype,” calling the show “a charming, lilting treat.” (Also, let us not forget that Broad City went from a stoner-comedy web series to No. 2 on The A.V. Club’s best TV shows of 2014 in less than a year.)
High Maintenance was co-created by Sinclair and Katja Blichfeld, who won an Emmy for her work as the casting director of 30 Rock. The first 13 episodes of the show are available to watch free on the High Maintenance website, with the rest available to rent through Vimeo. No date has been set for the show’s HBO run, but the network says it will make previous “cycles” of High Maintenance available on HBO GO and HBO NOW later this year.