Frank Pallotta
CNN
NEW YORK CITY — (CNN) “The Nightly Show” is coming to an abrupt end.
Comedy Central’s late night talk show starring Larry Wilmore has been canceled, the network said on Monday.
Production of the show will end on Thursday.
“I’m really grateful to Comedy Central, Jon Stewart, and our fans to have had this opportunity,” Wilmore said in a statement. “But I’m also saddened and surprised we won’t be covering this crazy election or ‘The Unblackening’ as we’ve coined it… And keeping it 100, I guess I hadn’t counted on ‘The Unblackening; happening to my time slot as well.”
Comedy Central did not say what would permanently replace “The Nightly Show,” but thanked Wilmore and his staff.
“We thank Larry and the Nightly Show staff for their tireless efforts across the past two years and the conversations the show generated by addressing social issues of great importance to the country, always challenging people’s attitudes, perceptions and bias,” the network said in a statement.
The cancellation comes just a year and a half after the show replaced “The Colbert Report” following the departure of Stephen Colbert to CBS’ “The Late Show.”
Kent Alterman, Comedy Central’s president, told the New York Times the cancellation was a matter of viewership.
“Even though we’ve given it a year and a half, we’ve been hoping against hope that it would start to click with our audience, but it hasn’t happened and we’ve haven’t seen evidence of it happening,” Alterman said.
So far this season, Wilmore’s “Nightly Show” is averaging 695,000 viewers who watch live or over seven days of the broadcast, according to Nielsen data.
This put Wilmore near the bottom of the late night landscape.
Some felt that Wilmore had a great chance to reach a wider audience as host of the White House Correspondents Dinner, but his appearance was criticized as a bust.
The cancellation of the political satire series came just 12 weeks before election day.
Rory Albanese, the show’s executive producer, also commented on the cancellation on Monday.
“Sad to say @nightlyshow has been canceled,” Albanese tweeted. “I’m very proud to have been a part of a show that has been funny, diverse & extremely necessary.”
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