Attempting to capitalize on the political momentum of his popular President Trump impression on "Saturday Night Live," Baldwin launched his talk show on October 14 to a dismal 2.1 million viewers. The subsequent three episodes found an increasingly small audience, and ABC announced the remaining new episodes would air on Saturday, with re-runs of "Shark Tank" replacing his show on Sunday nights.
Baldwin arrogantly thought his level of notoriety as an opposer of Trump coupled with high-powered celebrity guests would be enough to set him apart in a sea of leftist political talk shows. He was wrong.
In the premiere episodes, Baldwin showed himself to be a far more skilled actor than interviewer, barely allowing his guests to speak over his bevy of jokes and impersonations. A vanity project if ever there was one, Baldwin has seemingly been given a heavy dose of reality in the almost instant demise of his show.
"The Alec Baldwin Show" had plenty of ratings obstacles to overcome and needed to be a hit network show with broad appeal in order to survive. However, it unapologetically designed itself only for the leftist elite. Its original time slot on Sunday nights was opposite Sunday night football and premiered within weeks of two other comedy shows both hosted by progressive millennials, "Busy Tonight" on E! and "Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj" on Netflix.