VH1 cancels “Best Week Ever,” lays off a good chunk of its New York team
April 23, 2014 Phil Rothermich Television
VH1 has officially laid off more than 10 staffers on it’s development team in New York. It wasn’t just bottom level employee’s either, the company said goodbye to Brad Abramson and Kari McFarland, both VPs of East Coast Production. In other words, they just said goodbye to a majority of their New York team.
A VH1 spokesperson discussed the layoffs in a statement, “With ratings on an upswing and the pace of development increasing cross platform, we felt it was the right time to examine our overall production and development structure in New York.” The statement continued, “It’s imperative we accurately structure our teams to deliver the content that our growing number of viewers want from VH1 today.”
On the heels of this news the network also announced the cancellation of the long-running clip show series Best Week Ever for the second time. The show originally ran from 2004 to 2009 and was then rebooted in January 2013 with a completely new cast of comedians including Nick Turner, Pete Lee, Dan St. Germain, Sherrod Small, and Jared Logan.
“Best Week Ever was a pioneer in pop culture commentary on television when it launched in 2004, delivering its signature blend of comedy and tongue-in-cheek opinions on the most entertaining news and pop culture stories of the previous seven days,” the network stated. “The series also served as a national launching pad for many talented creatives and comedians. We thank them, and the viewers who tuned in each week.”
