TBS cancels Samantha Bee’s ‘Full Frontal’
“Full Frontal,” the late-night TBS show hosted by Samantha Bee, has been canceled by the network.
A TBS spokesperson said in a Monday statement provided to ITK that the cancellation was a result of some “difficult, business-based decisions” made as part of its “new programming strategy.”
“’Full Frontal With Samantha Bee’ will not return to TBS,” the statement confirmed.
The TBS show, the most prominent late-night program to feature a female host, premiered in 2016.
Bee, a former “Daily Show” correspondent, made headlines over the years for her biting political commentary.
In 2017, Bee hosted a much-buzzed about event, “Not the White House Correspondents’ Dinner” in Washington, held on the eve of the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.
The frequent critic of former President Trump swiped at the then-commander in chief during the pseudo-gala, which was filmed as a TV special for her show, making references to allegations of sexual assault and harassment against him.
In 2018, Bee apologized after referring to Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter and then-senior adviser, using a vulgar term.
“I hate that this distracted from more important issues,” Bee, 52, said at the time.
A statement from Bee’s spokeswoman on Monday said that the comedian was “honored” to have hosted her Emmy Award-winning series for seven seasons.
“Bee 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,” the statement said.
“Full Frontal,” the statement from Bee’s rep noted, “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.”
Last month, despite a positive COVID-19 diagnosis, Bee appeared on her show to deliver an impassioned defense of abortion rights just ahead of reports that the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade was imminent.
“I’ll be honest, I feel hopeless. I feel rage that every woman in America has been left to make a plan of how to take care of themselves in a country that values a zygote more than them,” Bee said in the remotely filmed segment.
In a June decision, the Supreme Court reversed the 1973 landmark ruling that provided a constitutional right to abortion.
In its statement about axing “Full Frontal,” TBS said it celebrated the show’s “extraordinarily talented cast and crew” and that it would “look forward to exploring new opportunities to work with them in the future.”