Black Monday, Work in Progress Canceled at Showtime

Publish date: 2024-05-06

Both “Black Monday” and “Work in Progress” have been canceled at Showtime.

“Black Monday” aired its third season on Showtime from May to August 2021. The dark comedy series followed a group of Wall Street traders in the late 1980s into the early 1990s. It starred Don Cheadle, Andrew Rannells, Regina Hall, Paul Scheer, and Casey Wilson.

Scheer had revealed the news on the Twitch show “Thursdays with Rob & Paul,” saying “I guess we haven’t said it. Let’s say ‘Black Monday’ was not renewed.”

“Black Monday” was created by David Caspe and Jordan Caham, with both serving as showrunners and executive producers. Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg also executive produced along with Cheadle. Rannells and Hall produced. Showtime and Sony Pictures Television co-produced the series.

“We can confirm that ‘Black Monday’ will not be moving forward with a fourth season,” Showtime said in a statement. “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.”

Cheadle’s performance in particular as veteran trader Maurice Monroe was met with widespread praise, with Cheadle earning two Emmy nominations and a Golden Globe nomination for his work on the show.

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“Work in Progress” executive producer Lilly Wachowski made the announcement that show was canceled after two seasons on Twitter, saying she was informed the show would not be back “right before the Thanksgiving holiday.”

She posted a thread about the show that said in part, “This industry should be pushed to create more meaningful support systems for the art that they help create. Shows like Gentefied and Vida and South Side (why the hell hasn’t this show been picked up yet!? Its fantastic!) and Shrill and Work in Progress need more meaningful commitments than just an intersection between art and commerce or a deal with the devil.”

“Work in Progress” was created by Abby McEnany and Tim Mason, with McEnany starring. McEnany and Wachowski executive produced along with Lawrence Mattis and Josh Adler of Circle of Confusion, Tony Hernandez of JAX Media, and Julia Sweeney.

McEnany starred in the show as Abby, a self-identified “fat, queer, dyke” dealing with her mental health issues who enters into an unexpected relationship with a trans man. In Season 2, Abby deals with the breakup of her relationship and ultimately decides she’s too busy to kill herself. She starts to get some momentum going for herself before the pandemic forces her into unexpected places.

Along with McEnany, the show starred Celeste Pechous, Armand Fields, Karin Anglin, Bruce Jarchow, Theo Germaine, and Julia Sweeney. Sweeney appears as a fictionalized version of herself, trying to make amends to McEnany for the damage her famously androgynous “SNL” character Pat did to McEnany’s life.

“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,” Showtime said. “We look forward to having our subscribers continue to discover this special series on Showtime’s streaming platforms for years to come.”

While never a ratings breakout at Showtime, “Work in Progress” received strong critical acclaim upon its debut. Caroline Framke wrote in her review of the show for Variety that it was a “remarkably solid debut from a comedian who knows her own voice, knows it’s funny, and is nonetheless unafraid to admit when she doesn’t like it.”

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