*BET will return to late night this fall with “The Rundown With Robin Thede,” hosted by the former “Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore” head writer and contributor.
Thede will also executive produce alongside Chris Rock and Jax Media’s (“Full Frontal With Samantha Bee”) Tony Hernandez, Lilly Burns, John Skidmore and Genevieve Aniello, notes The Hollywood Reporter.
Each episode will see the comedian take on the week’s headlines in politics and pop culture with a fast-paced, no-holds-barred show that will feature social commentary, sketch comedy and pop culture parodies.
BET ordered 24 episodes of the show to launch this fall. It marks the cable network’s latest late-night entry following “The Mo’Nique Show,” which ran for two seasons in 2009 and 2010. For Rock, meanwhile, The Rundown becomes his third late-night series following FX’s “Totally Biased With W. Kamau Bell,” which ran for two seasons on FX and FXX in 2013, and his Emmy-winning “The Chris Rock Show,” which ran for five seasons on HBO.
The Rundown serves as a reunion for Rock and Thede, whose first writing assignment was on the 2014 BET Awards that Rock hosted. Thede says they have remained close and Rock has become a mentor to her. The show also serves as a reunion for Rock with Jax Media, who produced his feature “Top Five.”
More about Thede via The Hollywood Reporter:
Thede is the first and only African-American woman in history to serve as head writer on a late-night comedy show (for Comedy Central’s Nightly Show). In season two of the series, she transitioned to serve as both a writer and performer before being promoted to a series-regular castmember. Her bits included White House Creative Media Relations Branding Strategy Consultant Bluejasmine Steeplechase as well as Black Lady Sign Language and popular segment “Who Dis?!”
Thede also was head writer for Wilmore at last year’s White House Correspondents Association Dinner and served in the same role on the syndicated Queen Latifah Show. The Rundown expands her relationship with BET after she wrote on the first two seasons of The Real Husbands of Hollywood.
For BET, The Rundown arrives as the cable network was identified as one of six core Viacom brands that the media conglomerate is focusing on during its rejuvenation under CEO Bob Bakish. (The others include Paramount Network, MTV, Nickelodeon, Nick Jr. and Comedy Central.)
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