Michelle Wolf and Joel McHale's talk shows, The Break With Michelle Wolf and The Joel McHale Show With Joel McHale, are being canceled on Netflix after only being on the streaming service for a few months. Sources say that neither show drew the necessary viewership to sign either of them on for second seasons.
Netflix has been increasing its efforts in the talk show realm, greenlighting talk shows starring comics like Hasan Minaj and David Letterman. Netflix has yet to land on a format that allows for talk shows to effectively succeed.
Despite reaching the same fate, the two shows had very different runs. The Break, whose 10-episode season premiered in May, made an explosive debut following Wolf's highly praised performance at the White House Correspondent's Dinner. Once her show was formally announced, Wolf said that viewers should, "expect the types of jokes my former bosses would tell me we couldn’t do on TV.”
McHale's weekly show, which debuted in February, never received the same hype to that of his colleague's. The Joel McHale show also dropped an episode a week during its season, and Netflix commissioned six more episodes following the show's initial 13-episode run. Ahead of his show's launch, McHale told E!, "Now we're going to make fun of everything. We're going to make fun of streaming services, we're going to be making fun of reality shows in other countries. Of course, we will hit staples like The Bachelor or The Real Housewives. Those are like the basic food groups."
Both comedians still have a lot to look forward to in the coming months. Wolf has just received an Emmy nomination for her HBO series Nice Lady and McHale will continue fulfilling his role in Netflix's Santa Clarita Diet.
