The Rundown with Robin Thede

The Rundown with Robin Thede is an American late-night talk show and variety television program that aired on BET from October 12, 2017, to April 19, 2018. The show was hosted by comedian and writer Robin Thede, the former head writer and correspondent on The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore. On July 25, 2018, it was announced that BET had canceled the series.

The Rundown with Robin Thede
Genre	Talk show News satire
Created by	Robin Thede
Directed by	André Allen
Presented by	Robin Thede
Composers	The Roots Ray Angry
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	24
Production
Executive producers	Robin Thede Chris Rock Tony Hernandez Lilly Burns
Producers	John Skidmore Genevieve Aniello
Production locations	CBS Broadcast Center, New York City, New York
Running time	20 minutes
Production companies	For Better or Words Inc. CR Enterprises Inc. Jax Media
Original release
Network	BET
Release	October 12, 2017 (2017-10-12) – April 19, 2018 (2018-04-19)

Premise

The Rundown with Robin Thede sees comedian Robin Thede's "take on the week's headlines in politics and pop culture with a fast-paced, no-holds-barred show that [features] social commentary, sketch comedy and pop culture parodies."^[1]

Production

Background

Thede was a head writer and performer on The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore.^[2] From 2015–16, she was the head writer for the first season and a half of The Nightly Show, the first African-American woman to hold that position on any late-night talk show.^[3]

Development

Two weeks after The Nightly Show was canceled in August 2016, Thede partnered with production company Jax Media to produce an independently financed pilot for a weekly show that would integrate her comedic takes on headlines with sketches, musical performances, and documentary-style segments. Soon thereafter, Chris Rock became involved in the production, the pilot was produced, and it was quickly sold to BET.^[4]

On April 26, 2017, it was announced that BET had given the production a series order for a first season consisting of 24 episodes. Executive producers were reported to include Robin Thede, Chris Rock, and Tony Hernandez.^[1] On July 25, 2018, it was announced that BET had declined to renew the series for a second season, effectively canceling it.^[5]

Podcast

The show had a podcast aftershow, entitled The Ran-down, that was released every Thursday after an episode airs on television. Each episode of the podcast featured a surprise celebrity guest, something the television show didn't feature often due to time constraints.^[6]

Episodes

No.	Original release date	Guest(s)	Musical/entertainment guest(s)
1	October 12, 2017 (2017-10-12)	N/A	Duckwrth
In a cold open sketch, Robin attempts to pick-up a black Trump supporter. The night's rundown topics Eminem's freestyle rap The Storm, Chris Foerster's resignation from the Miami Dolphins following the release of a video of him snorting cocaine, the failed arrest of Yaroub Assad, the firing of a newly-hired firefighter after he brought a watermelon with him to his first day at work at a primarily black fire station, and Jemele Hill's suspension at ESPN. Robin also takes a look at CTE's effect on football players.
2	October 19, 2017 (2017-10-19)	N/A	Jhene Aiko
3	October 26, 2017 (2017-10-26)	N/A	N/A
4	November 2, 2017 (2017-11-02)	N/A	N/A
5	November 9, 2017 (2017-11-09)	N/A	N/A
6	November 16, 2017 (2017-11-16)	N/A	N/A
7	November 30, 2017 (2017-11-30)	N/A	Rapsody
8	December 7, 2017 (2017-12-07)	N/A	N/A
9	December 14, 2017 (2017-12-14)	N/A	N/A
10	December 21, 2017 (2017-12-21)	N/A	Lecrae
11	January 11, 2018 (2018-01-11)	N/A	N/A
12	January 18, 2018 (2018-01-18)	N/A	N/A
13	January 25, 2018 (2018-01-25)	N/A	N/A
14	February 1, 2018 (2018-02-01)	N/A	St. Beauty
15	February 8, 2018 (2018-02-08)	N/A	N/A
16	February 15, 2018 (2018-02-15)	N/A	N/A
17	March 1, 2018 (2018-03-01)	N/A	Ravyn Lenae
18	March 8, 2018 (2018-03-08)	N/A	N/A
19	March 15, 2018 (2018-03-15)	N/A	N/A
20	March 22, 2018 (2018-03-22)	N/A	Leikeli47
21	March 29, 2018 (2018-03-29)	Jussie Smollett	N/A
22	April 5, 2018 (2018-04-05)	N/A	Lion Babe
The night's rundown topics include Michael Rapaport's comments to Kenya Moore on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, protests by teachers in regards to education funding across the United States, Donald Trump's attack on Amazon in relation to the United States Postal Service, and an Arizona mother's tazing of her son when he refused to go to church. Robin also takes a look at Black home ownership and Trump's decision to place the National Guard on the US-Mexican border.
23	April 12, 2018 (2018-04-12)	Mablean Ephriam	N/A
The night's rundown topics include Mark Zuckerberg's testimony in front of Congress, Paul Ryan's announcement of his retirement, and Nicolle Rochelle's protest outside of Bill Cosby's trial. Robin also takes a look at the federal judge nominations Donald Trump has made and submits judge Mablean Ephriam to a mock confirmation hearing. She also takes an in-depth look at the undertreatment of pain for black patients by doctors.
24	April 19, 2018 (2018-04-19)	Erika Alexander	Lecrae, Rapsody, and Leikeli47
The night's rundown topics include the arrest of two black men at a Starbucks in Philadelphia and Kendrick Lamar's receipt of the Pulitzer Prize for Music. Robin also takes a look at the Black women running for elected office in the United States in 2018.

Reception

The Rundown with Robin Thede met with a positive response from critics. On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, its sole season holds a 100% approval rating with an average rating of 9 out of 10 based on 5 reviews.^[7] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the season a score of 78 out of 100 based on 4 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[8]