Meta is shutting down its Facebook Watch original programming, a company spokesperson confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter, leaving the future of shows like Red Table Talk in limbo as production company Westbrook Studios shops around the talk show for a new home.
The shuttering of the Facebook Watch originals division, first reported by Deadline, comes as Meta implements wide-ranging cost cuts across the company, with the most recent including a round of layoffs that is expected to impact 10,000 employees. Included in the cuts is Mina Lefevre, the former MTV executive who led development and original programming for Facebook Watch.
One of Facebook Watch’s most well-known shows was Red Table Talk, the talk show co-hosted by Jada Pinkett Smith, Willow Smith and Adrienne Banfield-Norris. The series had five seasons on Facebook Watch and led to a spinoff series, Red Table Talk: The Estefans, with Gloria Estefan, Emily Estefan and Lili Estefan. The original series debuted in 2018 and featured conversations that sparked widespread conversation online, including episodes that dived into the tumultuous moments of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith’s marriage. Guests from the last season, which concluded in December, included iCarly star Jennette McCurdy, Shark Tank mogul Barbara Corcoran, Crazy Rich Asians star Constance Wu and Glass Onion star Janelle Monáe, among others.
In a message shared to her Instagram on Thursday, Pinkett Smith said she was “sorry to see the whole [Facebook Watch] team disband.” “We at Red Table are in talks of finding a new home and we’ll see you soon,” she said.
Other programming on the Meta-run platform has included the drama series Sorry for Your Loss, which starred Elizabeth Olsen as a widow grieving her husband and was canceled after two seasons; the unscripted series Simone vs. Herself with Olympian Simone Biles; the interview show Steve with Steve Harvey; and the reality series JoJo Goes with JoJo Siwa.
In shutting down original programming, Meta is following other tech giants like YouTube and Snap, which have both significantly scaled back or moved away entirely from original content.
April 28, 2:35 p.m. Updated with a statement from Jada Pinkett Smith.
