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It’s a sad day for the internet. Showtime’s late night talk show Ziwe, hosted and executive produced by comedian and fashionista Ziwe, has been cancelled by the network after two seasons.
The surprising cancellation may have to do with a recent changing of the guard at the premium cable network. Chris McCarthy, President and CEO of Paramount Global’s Media Networks, succeeded previous Showtime CEO David Nevins last year and is rebranding the network as Paramount+ With Showtime in an attempt to better align the streamer and the linear network.
When taking over Showtime, McCarthy outlined his three priorities for the platform in an interview with The Wall Street Journal: franchises, diverse cultures and antiheroes. In the article, it was revealed that Showtime is planning up to four Billions-adjacent, including a spinoff set in Miami, plus other iterations being developed under the titles Millions and Trillions, hoping to capitalize off the network’s long-running finance drama. Since McCarthy’s tenure there have been a number of cancellations including Let the Right One In, American Gigolo, and The L Word: Generation (although Showtime is reportedly working on a new L Word reboot set in NY), while other highly-anticipated series like Shailene Woodley-led Three Women have been dropped by the network (Three Women was ultimately picked up by Starz). Showtime has handed out a series order to Mandy Patinkin-led family comedy Seasoned, and moved the Angela Bassett and Courtney B. Vance film Heist 88 from Paramount+ to Showtime.
The internet is already mourning the loss of the irreverent and Barbie-core late night talk show, whose twelve-episode second season ended three months ago. Premiering in May 2021, Ziwe burst onto the late night scene, carving a name for herself with iconic and viral interviews with celebrities including Chet Hanks, Charlamagne Tha God, and Julia Fox and sketches featuring stars like Laura Benanti and Jane Krakowski. With the cancellation of Ziwe, Showtime no longer has any late night talk show programming as it’s other popular late night series Desus & Mero ended last summer.
While Showtime is far from the only streaming platform currently undergoing a major overhaul as the streaming bubble bursts, it’s hard not to imagine that they’ll live to regret cutting loose Ziwe. Given that she has a book, The Book of Ziwe, set to be released this year and that she recently Runway-debut-mulger-fall-2023-show.html”>walked in Paris Fashion week and told Lisa Rinna, of all people, to “own it,” we suspect Ziwe will land on stiletto clad feet. Until then, raise a glass to the gonzo, confrontational yet always comedic interview stylings of Ziwe.
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