The Other Two Canceled Amid Complaints Behind The Scenes
The Other Two will end its run on Max with season 3, and alleged toxicity on the set from the show's creators may be to blame.
We found out earlier today that the comedy The Other Two would end with today’s Season 3 finale. In a joint statement, creators Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider claimed they always knew the characters’ story would end there. A report from Hollywood Reporter hints that there may be another reason, however — multiple complaints to human resources about the verbal abuse Chris Kelly dished out to crew members onset and in the writers’ room, with Sarah Schneider.
One unnamed The Other Two insider who spoke to Hollywood Reporter stated that Chris and Sarah’s behavior issues likely stemmed from jealousy about the fame the series’ actors garnered — ironically, the very same behavior that the show itself lampooned.
The pair were used to being on-camera as improvisational comedians, the insider claimed. The behavior of the two was apparently an open secret among Hollywood colleagues.
While the report claims that the sudden ending of the cult comedy had “no causal connection” to the litany of complaints, their allegations against Kelly were apparently enough to convince the production to temporarily bar both Kelly and Schneider from the set while they investigated the reported behavior.
However, the pair were formally cleared of wrongdoing after the investigation, and allowed to return to the set of The Other Two. Both Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider are alumni of the long-running sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, with both beginning their tenure on the show in 2011.
The future co-creators of The Other Two were chosen as the co-hear writers for Saturday Night Live‘s 42nd season — an era that brought in high ratings thanks to its constant lampooning of Donald Trump during the presidential elections and after his election to the position. However, the pair left the series just as soon as they were promoted to the top position, leaving at the end of Season 42.
At the time, the reason for the pair’s departure from Saturday Night Live was believed to involve the fact that Comedy Central commissioned the pair to create a pilot episode for new a comedy series.
That pilot would eventually become The Other Two, which first aired in 2019. The network picked up the series for season one, after which it was transferred to HBO Max (which was later renamed Max) for its remaining two seasons.
The Other Two was a critical darling, with seasons 1, 2, and 3 gaining 95, 96, and 100 percent Tomatometer scores, respectively. However, the show’s viewership never matched its review scores — on Comedy Central it averaged just over 230,000 viewers per episode.
Regardless of whether The Other Two’s behind-the-scenes drama led to its cancellation, the report will likely do no favors for Kelly and Schneider’s future careers. There’s a chance that producers won’t want to work with allegedly-abusive writers on future projects — especially when their past projects failed to bring in enough viewers to justify ignoring their past behavior.
Neither Kelly nor Schneider has any future projects listed on IMDB, and it’s possible that things will remain that way for the foreseeable future.
