14 November 2013

Totally Canceled

Last week I wrote about the time demand of watching four nightly topical humor shows. I fear that I may have unintentionally sent a jinx out into the universe, because yesterday the news came that FXX has canceled Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell, one of the shows we watch regularly.

This is unfortunate, and disappointing, because Totally Biased is funny, and offers a point of view that's different from other late-night shows because its host is black. It's also more overtly political, sometimes angrily so, while still being funny. The show was doubly burdened with a shift from FX to its new sibling channel FXX (which isn't on as many cable systems), and from a weekly show to four nights a week.

I don't know what the network's expectations were, but it seems like they've treated Totally Biased unfairly. The show's ratings have been poor since the switch, but it wasn't exactly set up for success and FXX only gave the show a couple of months. However, according to the reports I've read there may be other networks interested in the show. Bell's voice is original and his show deserves to continue, so I hope that happens somewhere.

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