Full Frontal with Samantha Bee
A late-night satire with a female perspective.
From February 2016 to June 2022, Samantha Bee hosted Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, a satirical late-night news program on TBS. A former Daily Show correspondent, Bee saw the show end in July 2022 after the Warner Bros. Discovery merger.
Quick Facts
- Genre
- News satire; Talk show
- Creator
- Samantha Bee
- Runtime
- 21 minutes
- Company
- Randy & Pam's Quality Entertainment
- Jax Media
- Studio T
- Location
- CBS Broadcast Center
- New York City, New York (2016–2020)
- Norwalk, Connecticut (2021–2022)
- Executive producers
- Samantha Bee
- Jason Jones
- Tony Hernandez
- Miles Kahn
- Alison Camillo
- Pat King
- Producer
- Kim Burdges
- Allana Harkin
- Chris Savage
- Melinda Taub
- Director
- Paul Pennolino; Andre Allen
Facts from the source article.
Production
Samantha Bee spent 12 years as a correspondent on The Daily Show, longer than anyone else in that role. When Jon Stewart announced his departure, Bee was not asked about taking over as host. Along with her husband, Jason Jones, Bee pitched TV concepts to networks, and their scripted series The Detour was greenlit by TBS in February 2015. TBS then chose to expand their partnership with Bee by creating a late-night talk show to air alongside Conan. For the new show, Bee brought on Jo Miller and Miles Kahn, both former Daily Show producers, as executive producers. The writing team was assembled through a blind hiring process that hid applicants’ gender and experience, leading to a staff that was roughly half women and 30% non-white. Winter Miller was also hired to create a mentorship program aimed at further diversifying the writing room. Before the show’s final format was set, Bee mentioned it would include news headline segments, field pieces, and “grab bag” items. She shot a piece on the Veterans Health Administration’s lack of preparedness for treating female soldiers, as well as a segment in Jordan. Showrunner Jo Miller stated the program would focus more on injustice than on hypocrisy. The series does not feature interview guests, but guest actors have appeared in sketches; for example, the May 9, 2016, episode included singer Michelle Branch and comedian Patton Oswalt. Full Frontal shared a studio space with Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. Bee’s offices had previously been used by Stephen Colbert and his team while the Ed Sullivan Theater underwent renovations for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. At the time of its debut, Full Frontal was the only late-night talk show on U.S. television hosted by a woman. On October 31, 2016, the program aired an interview Bee conducted with President Barack Obama. In January 2017, Bee announced the show would host a gala as an alternative to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Called “Not the White House Correspondents’ Dinner,” the event took place at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., on April 29, 2017, and aired that night at 10:00 p.m. EST on TBS, with an uncensored encore at 11:00 p.m. on Twitter. The gala raised $200,000 for the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Broadcast
Full Frontal with Samantha Bee premiered its first season in the United States on TBS, airing weekly on Monday nights at 10:30 p.m. ET. TBS announced a second season renewal on November 16, 2016, shifting the show to Wednesdays at 10:30 p.m. EST beginning January 11, 2017. Canadian viewers could catch it on The Comedy Network. In Australia, SBS Viceland carried the program, while New Zealand’s DUKE broadcast it. German audiences saw the show on TNT Comedy with German subtitles.
Reception
Full Frontal with Samantha Bee earned strong reviews from critics. Its first season scored a perfect 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes from 25 reviews, with an average rating of 8.5 out of 10. The site’s consensus noted that the show brought a female perspective to late-night television that was both fresh and funny enough to warrant more than a single weekly episode. On Metacritic, the season received a score of 84 out of 100 from 16 critics, a rating that qualifies as universal acclaim. Diane Gordon of TheWrap praised the series as a comedy likely to enter the cultural conversation and possibly fill the gap left by Jon Stewart’s exit, calling it packed with scathing, insightful, and intelligent humor. Vulture described the show as a formidable force in political satire that demands attention, and it ranked Bee’s segment on Trump conspiracy theories as the top clip on its list of the 10 most important late-night TV moments of 2016. In March 2017, Wired critic Virginia Heffernan labeled the program the most mercilessly feminist show ever in history. That same month, a segment filmed at the Conservative Political Action Conference featured correspondent Michael Rubens referring to OUTSET magazine writer Kyle Coddington as having Nazi hair. Coddington was undergoing chemotherapy for brain cancer at the time. The show apologized the following day, stating it had been unaware of his condition, and contributed to his medical expenses via GoFundMe. Coddington said he was not satisfied with the apology.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes of Full Frontal with Samantha Bee are there?
Full Frontal with Samantha Bee has 218 episodes across 7 seasons.
When did Full Frontal with Samantha Bee first air?
Full Frontal with Samantha Bee first aired on 8 February 2016.
When did Full Frontal with Samantha Bee end?
Full Frontal with Samantha Bee last aired on 23 June 2022.
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