Michelle Wolf, Joel McHale Talk Shows Canceled by Netflix

By Daniel Holloway

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Netflix has canceled two of its talk shows, “The Break With Michele Wolf” and “The Joel McHale Show With .”

The move comes just months into both shows’ runs — with McHale’s haveing premiered in February and Wolf’s in May. It also comes as Wolf has seen her star rise, thanks in part to an appearance hosting this year’s White House Correspondents dinner, where her speaking engagement drew rave reviews from viewers but prompted the WHCA to apologize for some of its content.

Netflix declines to release viewership information for its original shows, so it it unknown what size audiences Wolf and McHale drew. It remains to be seen whether the cancellations represent a retreat from the variety-talk format that the streaming service has been making an aggressive push into. A new season of David Letterman’s “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction” is in the works, as are new shows from Hasan Minhaj and Norm Macdonald. The streamer also recently picked up Jerry Seinfeld’s “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee,” luring the comic away from his longtime home at Sony’s ADVOD service Crackle.

Netflix last year canceled its first foray into the genre, Chelsea Handler’s celebrity talk show, following its second season.