Showtime quietly shelves Louis C.K. and Ron DeSantis content

A #MeToo documentary centered on Louis C.K. and a Vice episode focused on Ron DeSantis have both been quietly shelved by Showtime, according to new reports. No reason was given by the networks for the schedule changes. While the timeline for taking this content off the schedule may be similar, the contexts under which these two things have been shelved are very different.

The Louis C.K. doc, directed by Caroline Suh, was not told from his perspective but used the comedian as a focal point to discuss the #MeToo movement and where it has gone in recent years, according to a Variety report when the film was announced. It was ordered by Paramount+’s chief content officer David Nevins, who has since left the company. (“Louis CK is a slightly different situation [to Harvey Weinstein] and a great, great comedian who has come back in his own way,” Nevins said last year when discussing the documentary.) The doc is no longer moving forward at the network, per Variety, and it is unclear if the project will be picked up elsewhere.

The Vice episode on Ron DeSantis, “The Gitmo Candidate & Chipping Away,” had been scheduled to air May 28 as the fourth episode of the current season. It was pulled from the schedule and all information on the episode has been scrubbed from Showtime’s website and press portal, per The Hollywood Reporter. The show was supposed to delve into the presidential candidate’s time as a U.S. Navy lawyer serving at Guantanamo Bay. A rerun was aired in its place and the June 4 episode is now listed as “episode four” in the show’s description.

A spokesperson told THR the network doesn’t “comment on scheduling decisions,” while Vice released a statement saying, “As with all current affairs programming there can be scheduling changes, and we are very much still in discussion about the scheduling of this episode. We are proud of our reporting and of our continuing partnership with Showtime.”

As indicated by the statement, scheduling changes are par for the course in television, and can occur for any number of reasons. There’s no apparent connection between the two, except that these are notable and controversial cultural figures, with both nonfiction projects delving deeper into the controversy surrounding each figure. Whether these projects ever end up seeing the light of day is anyone’s guess.