Netflix Cancels ‘The Joel McHale Show With Joel McHale’ and ‘The Break With Michelle Wolf’

Netflix’s latest attempt to launch successful talk shows has failed, as both The Joel McHale Show with Joel McHale and The Break With Michelle Wolf have both been cancelled, reports Entertainment Weekly.

The Joel McHale Show launched in February with 13 episodes, one posted each week. Six more episodes were produced all at once and were released in mid-July. The show followed the same format as McHale’s old E! Network show The Soup, where he would make fun of reality shows for a half-hour.

The only difference was the participation of Bridesmaids director Paul Feig and McHale could curse without being censored.

The Break With Michelle Wolf, hosted by the veteran of Late Night With Seth Meyers and The Daily Show With Trevor Noah was a political satire show that began in May with 10 weekly episodes. Netflix probably had high hopes for the project, since Wolf made headlines for her performance at the White House Correspondents Dinner, infamously drawing the ire of the Trump Administration for her jokes about Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

While Netflix has had success with stand-up specials with comedians, the streaming giant’s track record on talk shows is spotty at best. Back in 2016, Netflix made a splash by signing Chelsea Handler after she left E!, but her talk show only lasted two seasons and was cancelled in October 2017.

On the contrary, David Letterman’s My Next Guest Needs No Introduction has continued successfully with one new episode a month. Jerry Seinfeld’s Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee also made the jump from Sony’s Crackle to Netflix with new episodes. Norm Macdonald Has A Show launches Sept. 14.

Hasan Minhaj also left The Daily Show to host Patriot Act With Hasan Minhaj, which nabbed an astonishing 34-episode order and debuts on Oct. 28. Episodes will be published weekly.

According to Vulture, the series was co-created by Prashanth Venkataramanujam and counts Daily Show veteran Jim Margolis as executive producer. The project makes Minhaj the first Indian-American to host a weekly comedy show.

In June, Netflix ordered The Fix, in which Jimmy Carr, Katherine Ryan, D.L. Hughley and guest comedians try to solve one world problem each episode. Netflix ordered 10 episodes.

Netflix is also building its unscripted reality show library. Westside is a unique upcoming show about a group of young musicians from various genres coming together to perform at a Los Angeles nightclub.

Sugar Rush is another food competition show, this time pitting bakers against the clock. The series was released last month.

Photo credit: Netflix