Media

HBO cancels Bill Simmons’s ‘Any Given Wednesday’ program

HBO has canceled Bill Simmons's talk show after just four months.

November 4, 2016

1 minute to read

HBO has pulled the plug on Bill Simmons’s talk show “Any Given Wednesday” after four months, the network announced Friday. The final show will air Nov. 9.

“One of the many reasons I joined HBO was to see if we could create a show built around smart conversations for sports fans and pop culture junkies,” said Simmons in a press release. “We loved making that show, but unfortunately it never resonated with audiences like we hoped. And that’s on me.”

Simmons, a prolific and popular writer and podcaster who built his name as The Boston Sports Guy in the late ‘90s before emerging as one of ESPN’s highest-profile personalities, struggled to convert his readers and listeners to viewers of his fledgling show. Simmons joined HBO on a multimillion-dollar deal in July 2015 after a contentious departure from ESPN, where he’d spent 14 years.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the viewership for “Any Given Wednesday,’’ peaked with a high of just 362,000 viewers for its June 29 episode, the second of its run. HBO has said that “Any Given Wednesday” typically pulled in more than 2 million viewers when data from its HBO Go and HBO Now platforms were considered.

Its ratings have waned, hitting bottom with just 82,000 viewers for its Oct. 26 episode. It also struggled to keep a significant portion of its lead-in audience from the various movies that aired before its Wednesday time slot.

Simmons runs his own media group and is the founder of the website The Ringer as well as the host of a popular podcast. Simmons, a co-founder of ESPN’s well-regarded “30 for 30” documentary series, will remain in a production role with HBO, including significant involvement in an upcoming series of sports-centric documentaries.

“I love being a part of HBO’s family and look forward to innovating with them on other ambitious programming ideas over these next several years — both for the network and for digital,” Simmons said.