Hipsters, start your mourning. The Emmy Award winning TV adaptation of hit radio show “This American Life” is officially over. The announcement came at a “This American Life” gathering at the 92nd Street Y this Wednesday evening. The panel discussion, featuring TAL host Ira Glass and his crew, was a behind-the-scenes peek at how the show was put together. Moderator Budd Mishkin asked the table how they decided which stories worked for TV and which worked best for radio.
This prompted an awkward silence.
Glass broke the ice, admitting that the TV adaptation was definitely done, and that it was their decision to take it off the air. “We were going to keep quiet before the Emmies,” said Glass, “but they were last week, so…”
In the two seasons that “This American Life” ran on Showtime, it won two Primetime Emmies and was nominated for eight. Debuting in 2007, the series’ final episode aired on June 8, 2008.
The enormous expenses involved in creating a TV series — as opposed to a radio show — was one of many reasons sited.
Guess groupies are gonna hafta content themselves with Glass’ inimicable intonation, and leave the rest to the imagination.
Farewell:
Dipayan Gupta
Born in New Delhi and raised pretty much all over, Dipayan has a BA in Political Science from Amherst College, and an MA in Journalism from New York University. He’s worked at the BBC, CNN, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, Salon.com, and The Huffington Post. ...
Read more about Dipayan Gupta ->
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Lars says:
You mean "cited."
Ben says:
This is really sad. I just discovered This American Life on TV after listening on the radio for quite a while. It was a really well produced show with really interesting content. It will be missed.