‘Full Frontal With Samantha Bee’ is the latest casualty in late-night TV’s reshuffle
Showtime isn’t the only network facing late-night shakeups.
Television host and comedian Samantha Bee revealed on Monday that her series “Full Frontal With Samantha Bee” will not move forward with the TBS network.
“After 7 seasons, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee will not be returning to TBS this fall,” Bee announced Monday. “We’re so thankful for our loyal audience, our amazing team, and that we got to annoy the right people every week — that there wasn’t wrestling or baseball or a very special episode of Big Bang.”
Of course, Bee was throwing shade at TBS’ programing choices, which included sports and repeats of long-gone comedies.
TBS told The Times in a statement that “Full Frontal With Samantha Bee” got the chop as the network looks to “shape our new programming strategy.” It was among “some difficult, business-based decisions.”
“We are proud to have been the home to “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee” and thank Sam, and the rest of the Emmy-nominated team for their groundbreaking work,” the statement said. “We celebrate this extraordinarily talented cast and crew and look forward to exploring new opportunities to work with them in the future.”
“Full Frontal” has returned to the studio in a scaled back form. But host Samantha Bee can’t wait to be an audience member herself somewhere.
In her own statement, Bee said her show “made television history in the late night space, paving the way for female voices in what has traditionally been, and continues to be a male dominated landscape.”
“‘Full Frontal with Samantha Bee’ consistently broke barriers with Sam and her team boldly using political satire to entertain, inform and empower viewers, while embracing critically underrepresented stories, particularly about women.”
“Full Frontal” premiered on TBS in 2016 during the historic presidential race between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. A longtime correspondent on “The Daily Show,” Bee was, for part of her run, the only woman hosting a late-night TV show and brought her unique perspective to issues including abortion rights and the #MeToo movement.
She drew attention to issues often overlooked elsewhere in late-night TV — particularly, though not exclusively, related to women.
The ‘Full Frontal’ talk host was an early defender against attacks on the postal service. She shoots her show from her home in upstate New York.
Her show also had one of the most gender-balanced writers rooms in the field.
It was a key part of a wave of late-night shows featuring women and people of color as hosts, many of which are no longer on the air.
The show’s cancellation comes less than a week after Showtime announced the end of the talk show “Desus & Mero.” Hosts Desus Nice and the Kid Mero have split to separately pursue other projects.
“A Little Late With Lilly Singh,” the first broadcast late-night show hosted by a woman of color, was canceled last year after two seasons on NBC.
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