RuPaul’s eponymous daytime talk show is not moving forward after last summer’s three-week trial run, a source familiar with the matter tells Variety.
“RuPaul,” which mixed celebrity and newsmaker interviews and focused on empowering and aspirational messaging, was produced by World of Wonder and Telepictures, and distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution. “The Oprah Winfrey Show’s” Jill Van Lokeren and World of Wonder’s Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbato and Tom Campbell executive produced the show, which aired in select Fox markets starting on June 10 of last year.
Fox’s station group has in recent years used the summer broadcast period as a time to test various series concepts.
“Part of the appeal of doing limited series is the freedom it allows to try something really different. That’s this show,” Frank Cicha, executive vice president of programming for Fox Television Stations, told Variety last April.
RuPaul has been expanding his popular series, “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” internationally, with the BBC renewing the U.K. version of the show for a second season in November, while the first season was past the midway point of its inaugural season. The flagship series has been greenlit for Season 12 at VH1, which also renewed the “All Stars” edition of “Drag Race” for Season 5.