The final installment of “Wilmore” is slated to air Thursday. “Unfortunately, it hasn’t connected with our audience in ways that we need it to”, network president Kent Alterman told The Hollywood Reporter.
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“The Nightly Show” debuted in January 2015 after comedian Stephen Colbert left Comedy Central, ending his popular “The Colbert Report” to become host of “The Late Show”. A replacement for Wilmore will be announced next year.
Comedy Central executives have been frustrated that the show hasn’t clicked with a wider margin of viewers. In what might be the show’s most celebrated regular feature, “Keeping it 100”, Wilmore rewarded panelists who answered his provocative questions in an authentic manner.
In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, Wilmore said he’s “saddened and surprised we won’t be covering this insane election or “The Unblackening, ‘ as we’ve coined it”.
Comedy Central has given Larry Wilmore the ax by canceling his well-respected late night show.
“The Nightly Show” replaced “The Colbert Report” almost two years ago after Stephen Colbert joined CBS. I mean, really our show was at its best when the news was at its worst. “People ask me what it is, and I say, ‘If you’re watching The Daily Show, and it feels like it’s getting a little darker, you’re probably watching The Nightly Show”.
So, no, Alternan explained, this had nothing to do with Wilmore’s controversial White House Correspondence Dinner performance, nor was the timing tied to any electoral process. If the network had renewed the contracts, Wilmore and his staff would have been back for another season, and Comedy Central was already prepared to cut its losses.
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The late night landscape is a cutthroat world, and even some of the sharpest minds in the business can’t find a way to make it happen.
