‘Full Frontal With Samantha Bee’ Cancelled After Seven Seasons On TBS

TBS has pulled the plug on Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, the half-hour talk show that has aired on the network beginning in 2016.

It is the latest major cancellation at the Warner Bros. Discovery network following the merger of the two companies in April of 2022.

Since the merger, questions have arisen about the programming strategy for TBS. Recently, the second season of Chad, an original scripted comedy, was also killed, the very day it was slated to premiere.

The cancellation of Full Frontal is a blow for several reasons: it signals a drop in diversity with the loss of arguably the most high-profile female talk show host in the late-night arena, and because Bee was one of the few in the space to take deep dives into issue-oriented topics, including abortion, the backlog of sexual assault kits in the United States, and immigration issues.

During its run, Full Frontal scored four consecutive nominations in the Outstanding Variety Talk Series category, and while the series was not nominated in that category this year, the team behind it did secure a nod in the Outstanding Short Form Nonfiction or Reality Series category.

Bee, a former Daily Show correspondent, recently celebrated her 200th episode of the show. During the pandemic, she kept the series on the air, hosting it from the woods in back of her house.

When the news of the cancellation was announced, a message with the Twitter handled @FullFrontalSamB was posted, reading, “After 7 seasons, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee will not be returning to TBS this fall. We’re so thankful for our loyal audience, our amazing team, and that we got to annoy the right people every week—that there wasn’t wrestling or baseball or a very special episode of Big Bang. To our loyal fans – we love you, you’re very special. Go home, and go home in peace.”