HBO cancels A Black Lady Sketch Show
Robin Thede's hilarious sketch series won't be back for a fifth season at HBO
HBO won’t be moving forward with a fifth season of Robin Thede’s Emmy-winning comedy series A Black Lady Sketch Show, Variety reports. The show will instead conclude with its already-finished fourth season, which wrapped up back in May, ending a four-year run at the network.
Created by Thede, the series starred, at various points during its run, Ashley Nicole Black, Gabrielle Dennis, Quinta Brunson, and Skye Townsend, with featured roles by Laci Mosley, DaMya Gurley, Tamara Jade, and Angel Laketa Moore—plus Thede herself, who played a wide variety of weird, wonderful, and sometimes completely deranged characters across the series’ run.
As we remain endlessly fascinated by which TV shows get the “nice” version of cancellation when they’re shuffled off this mortal coil, we’ll note that HBO gave A Black Lady Sketch Show a courtesy farewell as it went, issuing a statement calling Thede a “visionary comedic talent” and stating that “For four exceptional seasons of A Black Lady Sketch Show we’ve been thrilled to partner with her on this groundbreaking, hilarious series.” Thede also issued a statement of her own, telling Variety,
Thank you to all the immensely talented cast members, guest stars, writers, directors, editors and crew members who have made A Black Lady Sketch Show an Emmy-winning success. I especially want to recognize the Black women and other women of color who excelled in every department at ABLSS. I am also eternally grateful for the support of Issa Rae and Jax Media, Amy Gravitt, Casey Bloys and the entire team at HBO, Max and Warner Bros. Discovery.
A Black Lady Sketch Show was nominated for 13 Emmys across its run, winning three for editing and directing. The series garnered serious praise (including from us) for its strides forward for representation—and, it hopefully goes without saying, for being relentlessly hilarious while doing so.