HBO Max has ordered 15 one-hour episodes of How To Survive Without Me, a family drama from Greg Berlanti and Berlanti Productions. Warner Bros Television is the studio. The order gives the streamer a high-recognition ensemble and a premise built to run as a long-form family saga.
The series assembles a cast designed for co-viewing. Ray Romano plays the De Angelis family patriarch, while Rita Wilson plays Beverly, the matriarch whose death sets the story in motion. After Beverly dies, the family begins to drift apart—until members discover she has devised a way to keep guiding them from beyond the grave. Kaley Cuoco, Joshua Jackson and Julia Schlaepfer are among the principal cast, alongside Jack Ball, Kylar Miranda, Julian Grey, Scarlett Abinante, Tommy Dewey, Matthew Kellison, Colette Porch and Ella Rubin.
- Order: 15 one-hour episodes at HBO Max
- Studio: Warner Bros Television, Berlanti Productions
- Pilot script: Greg Berlanti and Bash Doran, from a story by Berlanti, Doran and Robbie Rogers
- Executive producers: Doran, Rogers, Sarah Schechter, Leigh London Redman, Ryan O’Connell and Daniel Minahan
The pilot was directed by Minahan. The premise gives the family drama a speculative hook: Beverly’s guidance from beyond the grave adds a twist to an otherwise grounded grief story.
Why the order matters
For streaming watchers, the 15-episode count is the headline. That is a longer first commitment than the six-to-eight-episode runs common for high-end scripted series. It suggests HBO Max is positioning the show as a repeatable, broader-audience property rather than a tightly serialized limited swing—useful context for media planners thinking about campaign windows and for buyers tracking Warner Bros Discovery’s streaming slate.
The order also marks a return to family drama for Berlanti. His first series as a creator was Everwood, which premiered on The WB in 2002. Berlanti, who has an overall deal with Warner Bros Television, called the project his “most personal” work in years, drawing on his and husband Robbie Rogers’ family experiences of love and loss.
HBO Max original programming head Sarah Aubrey called the cast “a dream cast perfect for this emotional, extraordinary story,” and said the streamer was delighted to be back in business with Berlanti Productions and Warner Bros Television.
What to watch next
The announcement did not include a premiere window or international rollout details. The next useful signals will be how HBO Max markets the show’s family co-viewing angle, how it activates the talent’s fanbases, and whether the longer order becomes a template for other drama pickups. If HBO Max promotes it as a return to appointment viewing, that will tell us more about the platform’s programming strategy than the logline alone.
Source: C21media
