TBS has closed up shop with Rat in the Kitchen. On Monday, it was announced that the reality competition series has been cancelled after only one season. The show premiered in March of 2022, and was hosted by comedian Natasha Leggero and celebrity chef Ludo Lefebvre. It followed a group of cooks competing to win a cash prize across a series of challenges. However, all the while, one of them is trying to sabotage their efforts – the rat in the kitchen. The news of this cancellation was broken by Kathleen Finch, Chairman and Chief Content Officer of Warner Bros. Discovery‘s U.S. Networks Group, during a keynote at Reelscreen in Austin, Texas.
“We decided not to do more Rat in the Kitchen,” Finch explained. “It is a great show, but we now have Food Network and Cooking Channel in the family, so it doesn’t really make sense to spread the peanut butter so thin from a content perspective.”
“We do a lot of competition shows on Food Network for a much better price point and we make them in a way that that enables them to repeat,” Finch continued. “It’s kind of a nuanced difference.”
Why is Warner Bros. Discovery cancelling so many movies and shows?
In recent months, TBS‘ parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, has cancelled a number of projects, beginning with the cancellation of Batgirl and Scoob!: Holiday Haunt back in August. Both films, which were already completed and were set to debut on HBO Max, were later reported to be canned for the sake of tax write-downs, which will seemingly be recorded in Q3 of 2022. In the days since, Warner Bros. Discovery removed six HBO Max-exclusive movies from their streaming platform, as well as a number of fan-favorite animated series.
“Looking at the wide breadth of all the shows that were taken off of the service, it’s hard to even see a throughline between them,” OK K.O.: Let’s Be Heroes! creator Ian Jones-Quartey said in an interview last month. “We’re still just not sure why some things were taken off and other things weren’t. The whole thing is just very confusing, and there hasn’t been much outreach to anybody.”
What do you think of TBS cancelling Rat in the Kitchen after one season? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!
h/t: Deadline