HBO has discarded plans for an animated political comedy series from former Daily Show host Jon Stewart.
In a statement Wednesday, the premium cable network said that technical difficulties had derailed the untitled project, which Stewart had been working on since at least the summer of 2016.
“HBO and Jon Stewart have decided not to proceed with a short-form digital animated project,” the network said in a statement. “We all thought the project had great potential but there were technical issues in terms of production and distribution that proved too difficult given the quick turnaround and topical nature of the material.”
Stewart signed an exclusive four-year production deal with HBO in November 2015, shortly after retiring from his 16-year stint as host of Comedy Central’s Daily Show. The network said Wednesday that it is currently developing other projects with Stewart.
The scrapped project was described as an animated parody of a cable news network, which would have been delivered over the Internet and would have allowed Stewart to comment on day-to-day political news in real time.
At the Television Critics Press Association summer tour last year, HBO programming president Casey Bloys described the project as being an “Onion-like portal.” The network had initially hoped to have the new project in production during the 2016 presidential race.
The news of the cancellation comes as Stewart’s former late-night colleagues Stephen Colbert and Samantha Bee have seen interest in their programs spike under President Donald Trump’s administration. Colbert’s Late Show on CBS earned its first total viewer victory over NBC and Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show this season for the first time since 1995.
Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum
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