Showtime cancels Black Monday and Work in Progress

Deadline

The period dark comedy Black Monday starring Don Cheadle, Andrew Rannells, Regina Hall, Paul Scheer and Casey Wilson has been canceled after three seasons. Dramedy Work in Progress co-created by and starring Abby McEnany has also been canceled, after two seasons. “Right before the Thanksgiving holiday, I got the extremely disappointing news from execs at Showtime that Work in Progress was not going to be picked up for a third season,” Work in Progress executive producer Lilly Wachowski wrote in a lengthy Twitter thread today. “It was a major bummer. We had been through a lot. The experience of shooting through covid was extremely difficult. The masks made the experience very antiseptic to me - the intimacy – the ability to convey and receive joy and love was acutely missing and I felt in a profound and harsh way, the grim reality of performing the function of a job that had brought me so much meaning and happiness was reduced to simple stark commerce. Commie-Me seethed at the experience. Post was hard too but with the vaccines, it gradually got better, joy and love seeped back into the experience. As we neared the end of the season editorially, the last episodes like train cars coming into the station, I was beaming with pride with everything we had accomplished. Though I still held fast to hope. I had a sinking feeling that we might not be renewed. The productions’ contracts were written in such a way that the actors’ salaries were locked for 2 seasons with an incremental bump from season 1 to 2. The studio would have to negotiate with a whole bunch of folks who had given them a very good deal at the outset and were due for a raise. So the network was probably running the numbers and even though a show like ours, super contained, entirely shot on location in Chicago with mostly local talent, the bottom line did not work for them compared to our viewership, which could be optimistically defined as discerning/niche.  We were told it went down from season 1 to season 2. (Ok, very discerning!)" In a statement, Showtime said of Work in Progress: “We are incredibly proud of the two seasons of Work in Progress and were thrilled to spotlight the enormous talents of Abby McEnany, Lilly Wachowski and the entire cast and creative team. We look forward to having our subscribers continue to discover this special series on Showtime’s streaming platforms for years to come.” Showtime said of Black Monday: “Don Cheadle, Regina Hall, Andrew Rannells, Paul Scheer and Casey Wilson led a fantastic cast, and we are grateful to Jordan Cahan, David Caspe and all who worked on the show for three hilarious seasons.”