BET pulls the plug on ‘The Rundown with Robin Thede’
Thede was the only Black, female, late-night host on television.
BET just announced that it has cancelled The Rundown with Robin Thede.
The late-night comedy show that premiered in October didn’t make it to a second season, despite a strong showing from its host, Robin Thede. As the only Black, female, late-night host on television, there was a lot riding on the show’s success and it’s a bit of a bummer that it won’t go beyond it’s initial, 24-episode run.
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“At this time BET Networks has decided not to renew ‘The Rundown with Robin Thede.’ We have so much love and respect for our Unicorn and look forward to finding ways to continue in partnership with Robin,” BET said in a statement.
The innovative show featured Robin Thede discussing current events and served up hilarious sketches, incredible musical performances, and documentary segments.
“I’m thankful that BET took a chance on me and the show,” Thede told Variety. “I’m already in development on several other projects and I’m looking forward to hosting the TCA Awards on August 4.”
Thede has been blazing trails in the comedy world for years. At The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, she made history as the first black woman to serve as “head writer” on a late night talk show.
Although she has never done stand-up herself, she has written jokes for some of the industry’s biggest names including Chris Rock, Kevin Hart and Anthony Anderson among others.
“I would imagine I have written over 100,000 jokes in my lifetime and I can hardly remember them,” she told theGrio.com in an exclusive interview. “I have no joke recall unless someone reminds me.”
She didn’t just host The Rundown, she was the weekly show’s creator and the executive producer and put her personal touch on every aspect from the music to the set design.
“It’s insane,” Thede says. “It’s an all day, all night job…I needed [the set] to look like the prettiest thing on TV. We worked for weeks on the set design and drew every aspect of that stage. There are more than 200 pictures of black people who mean something to me lining the walls. So much thought went into every little thing. We go out and produce these gorgeous, pop-up concerts. The sketches are on real locations because we wanted NYC to feel like a character on the show. It’s non-stop. I have no other life.”
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