Netflix Takes Another Shot at Talk Format With ‘Norm Macdonald Has a Show’
By Cynthia Littleton
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Netflix is taking another try at a comedic talk show format with the Sept. 14 launch of “Norm Macdonald Has a Show.”
The “Saturday Night Live” alum has set “SNL” boss Lorne Michaels, David Letterman, Jane Fonda, Michael Keaton, Chevy Chase, Judy Sheindlin, and M. Night Shyamalan as guests. has ordered 10 half-hour episodes from Lionsgate TV, which will be released all at once.
Plans for the “” launch come on the heels of Netflix’s cancellation on Aug. 17 of two topical talk shows, “The Break With Michelle Wolf” and “The Joel McHale Show With Joel McHale.” Netflix ordered Macdonald’s program to series in March.
Wolf came into her show with major momentum after her turn at the White House Correspondents Association dinner made headlines in April. “The Break” served up fresh episodes on Sunday nights. The quick hook for a show from a rising-star comedian suggests that viewership was low enough to discourage Netflix from investing more in promoting it as weekly appointment viewing.
“Norm Macdonald” is billed as a series of conversations with celebrity guests, with Macdonald and his “trusty sidekick” Adam Eget. In that format, the series might be more conducive to binge-watching than a show like Wolf’s built around topical jokes that might not age as well for those prefer to watch multiple episodes at a time,. Macdonald’s program sounds similar to the deep-dive conversation format of Letterman’s Netflix interview series “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction.”
Other guests lined up for “Norm Macdonald” include David Spade, Drew Barrymore, and singer-songwriter Billy Joe Shaver.
Lori Jo Hoekstra, a longtime collaborator of Macdonald’s, is co-showrunner alongside Macdonald. K.P. Anderson and Daniel Kellison are also executive producers. David Letterman is billed as “location scout” for the show, which lensed at Sunset Bronson Studios in Los Angeles.
(Pictured: Jane Fonda and Norm Macdonald)
