If 2014 was the year of the McConassaince, is 2015 shaping up to be the Duplassissance?  Increasingly ubiquitous brothers Jay and Mark Duplass have seen a lot of success recently.  Jay stars in Amazon's Transparent series, while Mark is known to many as starring in the FX fantasy football comedy The League.  They've made a splash at Sundance regarding several of their movies, and now, Netflix just gave them a 4-film deal.

The brothers Duplass also collaborate on the HBO series Togetherness, which has just been renewed for a second season after its third episode aired this past Sunday  (you can read my review of the series here).

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Togetherness focuses on Brett Pierson (Mark Duplass) and his wife Michelle (Melanie Lynsky), and their life in the Eagle Rock neighborhood of L.A., which gets a major shakeup once Michelle's hot-mess sister Tina (Amanda Peet) crashes with them at the same time Brett's best friend (and floundering actor) Alex (Steve Zissis) also needs a place to stay.  The first series explores, over eight half-hour episodes, issues of marriage, fidelity, dating, family, and work, all with subtle humor and raw, relatable emotion.

In a joint statement, the brothers said of the renewal,

"We began our love affair with HBO in our parents’ living room in 1983, and to have these brilliant creative people put a ring on our fingers with a second season of TOGETHERNESS is a real-life dream come true."

While Togetherness's lead-in, Girls (now in its fourth season) was renewed earlier this month for a fifth season, its timeslot follow-up, the excellent Looking (currently in its second season) has sadly not been renewed as of yet.  Ratings data for these series are not available for now, since HBO has changed its format for counting views, but it's a safe bet that HBO's renewal of Togetherness means they are counting on the Duplass brothers' continued success both on their premium network and beyond.

Togetherness airs Sunday nights at 9:30 p.m. on HBO.  The second season will begin production in Los Angeles this year, for a 2016 premiere.

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