Alec Baldwin TV Show Canceled Amid ‘Rust’ Scandal, Loss of Mother

Alec Baldwin is still working on coming to grips with the tragedies his life, especially following the tragic shooting on the set of Rust. That incident injured director Joel Souza and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, with the moment Baldwin discovered the horrible truth captured on police cameras for all to see. While the 30 Rock star has returned to work on other projects, including a Santa Claus role in Rome with his brother, William, he won’t be returning to his biggest role on television. He’s also reeling from another major loss in his life.

ABC canceled a pack of their revived game shows on last month, including Baldwin’s version of Match Game. While the Rust situation has little explicitly to do with the cancellation, it is hard to deny it had to cast a shadow. Toss in the actor’s roller coaster personal life, including the loss of his mother and the impending birth of another child and you can’t be surprised. The actor faces several lawsuits stemming from the Rust shooting, including a real possibility that he could be found culpable in Hutchins’ death.

The suits seek damages from Baldwin, who is the producer of the film and faces responsibility if costa were cut to save budget while removing safety measures that could have prevented the accident. Baldwin has denied these allegations and says he isn’t financially responsible for the accident and wasn’t responsible for gun safety on the film’s set.

According to Variety, the decision to cancel Match Game is not directly connected to the aftermath of the Rust shooting. The show hasn’t been in production since 2020, before the start of the pandemic, and only aired two new episodes in 2021. These were holdovers from the prior production period, however.

Baldwin’s Match Game revival made its debut in 2016, right around the time when Baldwin also started to appear on SNL as Donald Trump. The Fremantle production was a take on the classic show hosted by Gene Rayburn where contestants tries to match answers with six celebrities in a game of fill-in-the-blank. The new series had contestants duke it out over $25,000 and ran for 69 episodes for ABC since premiering.

Going down alongside Baldwin’s show were a pair of reboots with far less shelf life than Baldwin’s Match Game. Card Sharks was brought back with host Joel McHale for two seasons, reviving the game that debuted back in 1978. Celebrity Dating Game, hosted by Zooey Deschanel and Michael Bolton, only ran for one season on ABC. The show used the old Dating Game format, but with celebrities trying to match with suitors who were out to guess their identity. Bolton’s musical chops also came in handy as he’d give goofy cues riffing on popular songs.