Comedian and weekly talk show host Hasan Minhaj had some somber news for his Twitter followers on Tuesday morning: Netflix has canceled the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning Patriot Act after six seasons. “ Patriot Act has come to an end,” Minhaj tweeted alongside a picture of him standing on set. “I got to work with the best writers, producers, researchers, and animators in the game. My 2 babies were born and grew up with the show. TY to Netflix and everyone who watched. Now it’s time to return these screens to Best Buy.”
TVLine confirms that the series was canceled by the streamer after its most recent season, which was an 8-episode extension of the show’s original 32-episode order and filmed entirely in quarantine. (Only 39 episodes remain on the platform, as one was pulled by Netflix for its criticism of Saudi Arabia.) The final episode began streaming on June 26.
Though Netflix has largely struggled to strike a working equilibrium with its talk show slate, Minhaj’s Patriot Act was easily the most success weekly talk show on the platform. The Daily Show alum used the show as an opportunity to tackle today’s issue with humor, with the latest season touching on police brutality and, obviously, the administration’s handling of the coronavirus.
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Really sad to read about the cancellation, enjoyed the show a lot. Still can’t say I’m surprised as the show’s focus kind of narrowed to a degree it started feeling contradictory to Netflix’s direction.What I mean by that is that while the US audience remains a core one for Netflix, it is clearly relying more and more in its ability to reach international audiences. Yet the problem with Patriot Act was that it begun to focus more and more on subjects that were very US-specific and thus wouldn’t carry that same weight with the international markets.
That bit about how one episode was pulled for criticizing Saudi Arabia may hint at a different, related problem — while the episodes were written largely from a U.S. perspective, he did spend a lot of time criticizing foreign governments (particularly autocratic ones) who are contributing to American problems or mirroring them in some way. So beyond appealing mostly to liberal American audiences, he was also pissing off foreign dictators who have more control over the content available to their people. That probably added up to more trouble than Netflix considered the show to be worth.
I feel this show was more about international challenges than any other comedy deep dive current event shows, such as Last Week Tonight. His jokes that landed on really young viewers is probably part of it. I’m in my 30s and half the jokes flew over my head. I like the stories and topics covered and will be happy with these kinds of revealing shows no matter what platform the are on. Also Netflix was great to move it to the top of my recommended list every Sunday when it aired. I use the Windows app which is way different than other apps or browsers (nothing autoplays a video, which can make previewing things harder). It also kept thinking I should go watch Season 1 Episode 1 every time I caught up with the latest thing. They do have some work to do on non-binge shows.
His hosting was rough at the beginning, but it didn’t take long to smooth that out & win me over. It’s a shame that his show’ll be gone, but hopefully he’s open to continuing being a voice in the future!
I like Hasan and the show was decent, but I just don’t associate a weekly release or talk show with Netflix. I go to Netflix for complete seasons to binge. Move it to HBO or something.
It was also just har to keep track of in all honesty. I would login to Netflix and be like “Oh, there’s new episodes of that?” Only to realize I’d missed like 3 or 4.
Yeah, HBO has habituated me to check each week for new episodes, Netflix hasn’t
I also still have linear HBO so it goes to my DVR and then it’s just there which helps. That’s how I’m a consistent John Oliver watcher.
Netflix needs to lay off the talk show format. It does not fit their platform. But dude is funny and smart.
These don’t ever seem to work for them. Plus they don’t exactly have rewatchability (sp?) which streaming services really like. I doubt anyone puts this show on for hours in the background. A general interview show with comedians and a host could maybe work, but timely topical issues while important doesn’t seem to work for them.
The Letterman interviews work well, but there’s been no sign that those are returning for a third season.
i think that’s why the best patriot act episodes weren’t ones about what’s going on in the news but stuff about larger ongoing topics
i do. sooooo
Well I used to put on Twin Peaks Fire Walk With Me all the time as background and Psycho, not a lot of people will also do this though.
there’s just no way to make it work unless they figure out how to make it a live ‘event’ or something. or maybe make them mega-long like a video podcast with higher production values? i feel like youtube really eats netflixs lunch with this kind of stuff.the UI is also trash when it comes to this kind of thing. i shouldn’t have to search the show every week if i want to watch it, but people who don’t want to watch it shouldn’t have it forced on them either. either way it’s getting lost in the shuffle.
I think they could all do better if Netflix put any effort into advertising them. I didn’t know the Joel McHale show existed until I read an article about its cancelation. Like, give them their own category of daily shows near the top or something, I’m just spitballing here.
I think they could make something like The Green Room with Paul Provenza work. They’re just as rewatchable as any stand-up set.
Yes that could def work.
Weirdly, Hulu’s approach would work way better for shows like this and The Joel McHale Show.
i disagree, i think they just give up on them too quickly. i watched every ep of this and Wolf’s show, plus (not) the Soup.
maybe better promotion would help.
Last week tonight is topical and seems to work okay on a streaming platform. I probably wouldn’t put them on in the background, but I do occasionally re-watch episodes
More blood on the hands of MBS.Netflix seems to be the place where shows like this—not of TDS spawn, specifically, but of talk/variety programming—go to die. The Break with Michelle Wolf, The Joel McHale Show with Joel McHale, Chelsea, Norm MacDonald Has a Show. I think of those, only Patriot Act and Chelsea were really given a chance.
You used “TDS” unironically? K
Probably to abbreviate The Daily Show, there.
Got it. My apologies above.
The Daily Show, not Trump Derangement Syndrome (presumably).
Ok cool my bad in that.
Feel free to delete my comment I was corrected, sorry.
“We needed to clear space for our spinoff series 13 Reasons Why: The College Years.
Let us glorify college age suicides!
The episode about safe spaces will have you talking for days!
I know this is nit-picky because Hasan Minhaj is funny and sharp and I mean no ill will, but he talks with his hands like the way Eminem moves his hands with the flow, or like someone making up improvised sign-language on the spot. Drives me crazy
This must be one of those things you learn in broadcasting school. I noticed it as well and thought “well this is why this guy has this job, his gesticulation game is off the chart!”
He realizes this and definitely joked about it so much.
Here’s hoping he lands somewhere else soon. Great, smart show and I learned a lot more about desi culture than I ever had elsewhere.
Fans of this show who haven’t seen his special, Homecoming King, should do so ASAP.
I’ve kinda lost interest in all the political satire shows A. because this administration is walking satire and it’s gotten really old laughing at it, and B. there’s just too many; every TDS correspondent gets their own show and it’s overwhelming.
It gets to the point where the issues of the day include secret police rounding up citizens in Portland, the Postal Service being destroyed in order to stop the democratic process, and the ongoing caging of small children, and you just say to yourself, “I don’t feel like laughing anymore.”
Six Seasons and a Movie!** You got a Community notification for this?
“Minhaj’s Patriot Act was easily the most success weekly talk show on the platform.”
Terrible writing aside, I can think of an obvious reason to argue otherwise.
the show was great as a deep dive into interesting topics and i find hasan very charming and likeable…but man the jokes fucking sucked. he’d point something out, make a strained analogy, and then just repeat the same thing again as if it was a punchline.
How does Hasan get cancelled, yet Sam Bee gets to keep churning out her garbage?
Shit, are they kidding me? Patriot Act was extraordinary. Shame on you, Netflix.
So much outrage at the cancellation of not-a-great-show that was extended past its original run. JFC it’s never gonna end, is it?
I disagree. Netflix is taylor made for a talk show format so long as one keeps up with a weekly epsiode and the topics remain timely. Michelle Wolf’s “The Break” was great too and they didn’t give her any kind of chance.
Damn, this was one of the few weekly shows I really looked forward to every time it rolled around.I even found it incredibly rewatchable as even when it was covering areas/issues I was already informed about it usually found a new angle or new information for me to digest a second (or third) time around.
I watch every one of these type of shows and this was my favorite. He’d go in depth like Oliver, but actually be funny most of the time.
Hasan is great and I’m sure he won’t have trouble with whatever comes next, but it’s a damn shame. Especially after one of the best segments of the show came this year.
My college-age kids and I really enjoyed the show and would even binge-rewatch old episodes from time to time. I liked how it provided insight into a range of topics that weren’t always closely related to Trump (such as Amazon, the video game industry, the cruise ship industry, fast fashion, etc), which I think set it apart from similar shows. I’d love to think that the show can find a new home on another network.
It was well-produced and informative. I hear he also does comedy on the side.
Saudi Arabia, eh. Now I wonder why they did that.
This was the only show that got my 15-year-old daughter interested in current events. Whenever I had it on, she would stop what she was doing and watch with me, so I’m sad to see it go.His comedy special/one-man show Homecoming King was great.
. (Only 39 episodes remain on the platform, as one was pulled by Netflix for its criticism of Saudi Arabia.)Oh, oh, but Tik Tok you guys! That eeeevil China censoring and monitoring ITS OWN CITIZENS!
We cud nevah!
Fuck that and fuck this too. If their country is shady and evil, I got news for ya: ours is just as fuckin’ bad. We got camps rounding people up too (and those people are dying as well!). We got censorship too. Our government has its nose in our data too.
Ooo, ooo, Netflix and chill you guys! I’m chilled all right.
(Lol, a little Dennis Miller there bay-bee, before he went cray-zee.)
Damn it.
While I enjoyed the show it always struck me as Last week Tonight, but pandering to young people.Maybe that is to harsh. But i bet alot of money that the words “hip” “edgy” and “millenials” was used in that pitch meeting at some point. Probably by someone who is none of those 3 things.
I thought this was cancelled a while ago and Netflix did very little to dispel me of this notion.
It would’ve been nice if avclub posted hasan’s episodes in addition to john oliver’s…
Well that’s just plain dumb.
This was not the Patriot Act repeal I was looking for.