British Import ‘Taskmaster’ Leaves CW to Stream on CW Seed After Just 1 Episode Airs on TV
The CW moved its British game show acquisition “Taskmaster” to its free streaming app CW Seed Tuesday after pulling the show from its broadcast Sunday slot last week.
The show, which is hosted by comedian Greg Davies and creator Alex Hornem, premiered to low ratings on Aug. 2, after which point the network promptly dropped it from the schedule. Now, all 10 episodes — part of series 8 in the U.K. — are now viewable for free on the CW Seed app.
Reruns of Season 15 of “Supernatural” have taken its place in the Sundays 9/8c slot leading up to the series finale this fall.
The premise of the competition show follows five comedians in a house in West London where they are given tasks to complete in wax-sealed slips of paper. Their performance is judged Davies, with show creator Alex Horne playing Davies’ put-upon assistant who administers all the tasks. The comedians play each week for bizarre, often worthless prizes they bring themselves (e.g.: a reindeer skull), and the one with the most points at the end of the season wins a trophy resembling Davies’ head.
In the UK, “Taskmaster” has spent the past five years becoming one of the nation’s most popular panel shows. In the U.S., the pandemic has helped it grow in ways that its creators never expected or even planned. Back in November, the show’s YouTube channel started posting weekly reruns of the entire series for free. Four months later, with the world stuck at home, “Taskmaster” began to gain an online, international cult following through those reruns, particularly in the States.
However, it seems the show’s enthusiasm on YouTube did not translate viewers to good old fashioned broadcast TV.
Read original story British Import ‘Taskmaster’ Leaves CW to Stream on CW Seed After Just 1 Episode Airs on TV At TheWrap
