ABC announced in May 2018 that after seven seasons, the talk show ‘The Chew’ would not return for an eighth. The show first aired in 2011 and was hosted by chefs Michael Symon, Carla Hall, Clinton Kelly, and, until recently, Mario Batali. Batali was dropped from ‘The Chew’ at the end of 2017, when multiple allegations of sexual misconduct, taking place over 20 years, came to light.
Even though Batali was let go, the controversy had an adverse impact on ratings, with female viewing numbers dropping by 17 percent.
Kevin Spacey, House of Cards
Kevin Spacey was among a growing number of actors who were accused of sexual assault in 2017. After the allegations came to light, Netflix decided to fire Spacey from their successful series 'House of Cards'. The streaming giant later announced that they would be cutting all ties with the actor on any projects.
At the time, production was already taking place for the sixth season of the show, but by the time the season aired, Spacey’s character Frank Underwood had been killed off. Spacey responded to the claims with an unconvincing apology and opted to come out as gay on Twitter to try and shift the story’s focus.
Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent
Amazon Studios fired Jeffrey Tambor from their critically acclaimed show, 'Transparent', in February 2018, after investigating claims of sexual harassment by the actor. Tambor allegedly propositioned and groped his assistant, a transgendered woman named Van Barnes.
He denied the accusation vehemently, but another transgender woman spoke out with similar complaints. Although Tambor plays the lead role of Maura in the series, the next season will continue without him.
Roseanne, Roseanne
In the era of reboots, Roseanne returned to ABC in 2018 to revive the sitcom bearing her name. The network was nervous about working with her again because recently, she has been more famous for her provocative opinions than her comedy skills. The premiere was a hit, with 22 million viewers, and the network crossed its fingers that nothing would hurt their success. Unfortunately, Roseanne couldn’t help herself from going on a late-night Twitter tirade, which she later blamed on Ambien.
The actress tweeted that Valerie Jarrett was the child of the “Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes”. The show was canceled the very next day, and ABC is trying to bring it back in a different format without Roseanne. Hopefully, the cast and crew get another chance to make it work.
Jeremy Piven, Wisdom of the Crowd
Jeremy Piven also faced accusations of sexual misconduct in 2017. Three women came forward with allegations about the actor. At the time, Piven was playing lead character Jeffrey Tanner on 'Wisdom of the Crowd'. He starred in only 13 episodes before the network not only got rid of Piven, but canceled the show entirely.
He has spoken out regarding the claims saying, “I unequivocally deny the appalling allegations being peddled about me. It did not happen.” Nevertheless, CBS decided to pass on a second season of the show due to the accusations and poor ratings.