Major PBS Show Canceled, Last Episode Just Aired

PBS News Weekend is over. That is, at least, for the foreseeable future. 

The company announced that the program’s final show would air Sunday. Budget cuts were the reason cited.

The show ran for 12 seasons prior to its ending. According to The Wrap, the series’ final episode aired on Sunday evening. The series premiered on PBS in 2013.

The host of the series, John Yang, appeared on Friday’s episode of PBS Newshour and spoke about the show’s impact throughout its decade-plus run. “We’re proud of the creativity and the dedication they brought to each and every segment week in and week out. I’ll be leaving PBS News at the end of the month, as I step back from full time work. But, I’m delighted to say, that many members of this team will be sticking around.”

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has been dissolved following the federal government’s decision to cut all funding. PBS NewsHour anchor Amna Nawaz spoke about the decision. “Due to federal budget cuts, we’ve had to make the difficult decision to rework our staffing and programming. And, this Sunday, our PBS News Weekend team will sign off the air,” she said in part. “Thank you doesn’t even begin to cover it. You and the team have done incredible storytelling and covered major breaking news every weekend.”

The weekend newscast averaged 827,000 viewers per show, which is roughly 1 million less than what NewsHour gets during the week, according to the Nielsen company. When asked whether the weekend newscasts could return if a future government restores funding to PBS, Sara Just, a senior executive producer for NewsHour said it’s a possibility, “I never say never, but this is not a temporary decision. I don’t see that program at risk in the near future.”