Chelsea Handler’s talk show demise is a rare victory of traditional TV over the internet

Variety

“The show simply never generated much buzz,” Andrew Wallenstein says of Chelsea. “Netflix hasn’t shared anything in the way of audience data, but it presumably wasn’t good considering the show went from three episodes per week to just one midway through its run.” As Wallenstein points out, Chelsea’s failure is even more puzzling as late-night talk shows appear to be thriving in the Trump era, from Trevor Noah to Samantha Bee to the network hosts. “Handler has demonstrated a knack for drawing attention to herself with political commentary on social media, where she’s particularly adept, and in public appearances,” says Wallenstein. “But that didn’t translate to her talk show, which felt as if it was hermetically sealed within the Netflix world in a way that didn’t resonate in the larger media landscape. It’s not unlike the way Howard Stern’s public profile seemed to diminish when he made the switch from terrestrial radio to Sirius XM.” ALSO: Chelsea was "never a perfect show, but it was a trailblazing experiment."