The FX network has renewed both of its new late night comedy talk shows, Brand X with Russell Brand and Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell, for a 13-episode second season each, according to The NY Times' Dave Itzkoff. Brand X will be expanding from 30 minutes to one hour for the new season, but will noted quiet guy Russell Brand be able to muster up enough conversation to fill an hour every week? Time will tell.
I imagine the marketing meeting for W. Kamau Bell's new FX series, Totally Biased, went exactly like this:
Marketing Executive 1: "We need to create an ad campaign for W. Kamau Bell's new show."
Marketing Executive 2: "Who is W. Kamau Bell?"
Marketing Executive 1: "Perfect. Call Chris rock."
Hopefully, this isn't a first season of The Killing, "Who killed Rosie Larsen," thing, where we never actually learn who W. Kamau Bell really is. I guess, we'll see on August 9th.
FX has extended the order for Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell another seven episodes. This announcement comes a couple days before the final episode of the first order will air. TBWWKB will return on October 11 with the rest of FX's fall Thursday programming. It will move from its current 11 PM spot to 11:30 PM, following the renovated BrandX with Russell Brand. It's perfect timing for Bell to talk about the election then talk about the results of the election then talk about the apocalypse that comes as a result of the results of the election.
In the span of a few years, FX has done a lot for TV comedy. Four years ago, the network’s only sitcom was the cult hit It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia; these days, it boasts the racy, animated Archer, the improvised sports show The League, and of course, the be all and end all of TV comedy in Louie.
Now the network is venturing into the notoriously difficult world of late night with the Chris Rock-produced Totally Biased. The show’s host, self-described “unfamous” comedian W. Kamau Bell, established himself touring his one-man show The W. Kamau Bell Curve: Ending Racism in About an Hour.
I caught up with Kamau [...]
