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'Nightly Show' done: Where does Comedy Central stand post-Stewart?

Larry Wilmore's Comedy Central program has been canceled and will air its last episode Aug. 18. 'Our show going off the air has to only mean one thing: Racism is solved,' Wilmore joked. 'We did it.'

Comedy Central has canceled its late-night news program 鈥淭he Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore.鈥澛�

Mr. Wilmore had been a correspondent on Comedy Central鈥檚 鈥淭he Daily Show with Jon Stewart,鈥� and Wilmore鈥檚 new program debuted in January 2015, about seven months before Mr. Stewart signed off.

Comedy Central reportedly says it鈥檚 canceling the show because of trouble with ratings.

鈥淣ightly鈥� 鈥渉asn鈥檛 resonated,鈥� Comedy Central president Kent Alterman . 鈥淓ven though we鈥檝e given it a year and a half, we鈥檝e been hoping against hope that it would start to click with our audience, but it hasn鈥檛 happened, and we haven鈥檛 seen evidence of it happening.鈥澛�

during an episode of 鈥淣ightly,鈥� 鈥淲hen we started the show, we wanted to have a conversation on some very tough subjects, and we鈥檝e had a lot of fun doing just that ... I must say, our show going off the air has to only mean one thing: Racism is solved. We did it,鈥� he joked, cueing a picture of two men聽鈥� one black, one white聽鈥� atop a unicorn.听

鈥淚鈥檓 also saddened and surprised we won鈥檛 be covering this crazy election or 鈥楾he Unblackening,鈥� as we鈥檝e coined it,鈥澛燱ilmore said in聽. 鈥淎nd keeping it 100, I guess I hadn鈥檛 counted on 鈥楾he Unblackening鈥� happening to my time slot as well.鈥澛�

The late-night lineup across networks is famously white, with Trevor Noah of "The Daily Show" currently the only other person of color heading up a late-night show. When "The Nightly Show" debuted, it appeared on 鈥渁 landscape seemingly in desperate need of a diverse voice just as the Black Lives Matter movement was taking shape,鈥� notes聽.听

As for Wilmore鈥檚 network, Comedy Central, where does it stand now?聽

Many industry observers are saying the network鈥檚 in a troubled spot. Stewart and Stephen Colbert, the former host of Comedy Central鈥檚 鈥淭he Colbert Report,鈥� were two of its biggest stars. (Mr. Colbert left Comedy Central in 2014 and is now on CBS鈥檚 鈥淭he Late Show.鈥�)

Losing the pair "," writes The New York Times' John Koblin, calling the decision to cancel "The Nightly Show" the "first concession that the transition from Mr. Stewart and Mr. Colbert ... to Mr. Noah and Mr. Wilmore has not gone as smoothly as the network had hoped," for critical praise or viewer ratings. 聽

Fellow "Daily Show" graduates John Oliver and Samantha Bee have proven particularly popular on rival networks, with Mr. Oliver's HBO show "Last Week Tonight With John Oliver" and Ms. Bee鈥檚 TBS program "Full Frontal With Samantha Bee" doing well in the ratings. Meanwhile, perhaps since its competitors could "capitalize on airing weekly and with the looser restrictions of cable," as Daniel Fienberg noted in The Hollywood Reporter.听

However, Mr. Fienberg says that breaking up what is currently the most diverse late-night lineup doesn't look good. "Optics are important in television, and replacing 'The Nightly Show' with [Chris Hardwick's show] '@Midnight,' even temporarily, is dreadful optics," he writes.