A woke television show that featured a portrayal of former First Lady Michelle Obama has fizzled out after just one season.
According to Deadline, Showtime announced it will not renew its series “The First Lady,” a drama that centered around three former first ladies: Eleanor Roosevelt, Betty Ford and Michelle Obama.
The network did everything it could to try and ensure the show would be a success.
It lined up a star-studded cast that included Viola Davis portraying Michelle, Michelle Pfeiffer as Ford and Gillian Anderson as Roosevelt. In the end, it wasn’t successful enough to justify a second season.
“Showtime can confirm that the anthology series ‘The First Lady’ will not be moving forward with another season,” a Showtime representative told Deadline.
“We would like to applaud the artistry and commitment of our showrunner Cathy Schulman, director Susanne Bier, their fellow executive producers, our amazing cast — led by executive producer Viola Davis, Michelle Pfeiffer and Gillian Anderson — and our studio partner Lionsgate for their dedicated work in telling the unique stories of three remarkable leaders.”
As of Wednesday, the show had just a 58 percent rating from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics liked the show even less and gave it a rating of just 41 percent.
The critic ratings are surprising given the woke nature of “The First Lady,” which leftist elites usually love.
In the very first episode of the series, Michelle’s character tells Obama she is not excited about his campaign for presidency because he is black.
“John Edwards have secret service?” Michelle asked. “What about John McCain? Mitt Romney?”
Obama said these men probably did not have secret service, Michelle launched into her racist diatribe.
“Yeah, you know why?” Michelle asked. “You’re a c**n. You’re a n**** running for president of the United States. So yeah, there’s a little difference between you and those other candidates, Barack.”
WARNING: The following video contains language some viewers may find disturbing.
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Obama asked Michelle to be excited for his opportunity to become president, but she refused.
“Excuse me if I can’t share in the excitement of my husband potentially being shot.”
The implication that Obama was more likely to be shot on the campaign trail because of his race is ridiculous. It plays into the assumption that Americans are inherently racist, which is a narrative leftists promote with no concrete evidence.
In addition to the concerns about the script, many people criticized Davis for her portrayal of Michelle. In particular, some took issue with the exaggerated pursing of her lips.
“Dear Viola Davis, I won’t be watching #TheFirstLady, out of great respect to you, Michelle Obama, and #HTGAWM,” one user wrote on Twitter in April. “Your exaggerated lip pursing may parodize the show. I strongly recommend subsequent episodes are urgently revised & you rely on your natural intuitive tendencies.”
WARNING: The following media contains language some viewers may find disturbing.
Dear Viola Davis, I won’t be watching #TheFirstLady, out of great respect to you, Michelle Obama, and #HTGAWM.
Your exaggerated lip pursing may parodize the show.
I strongly recommend subsequent episodes are urgently revised & you rely on your natural intuitive tendencies. pic.twitter.com/0G3MkwaRVG
— Dr Joke Anderson (@DrJokeAnderson) April 17, 2022
Another user joked that Michelle would fight Davis over the portrayal the next time they saw each other.
When Michelle Obama catches up with Viola Davis #TheFirstLady pic.twitter.com/s5zVkH02G3
— Freida Slaves (@cxrodge) April 17, 2022
By nearly every available metric, the show failed to connect with a majority of Americans. If the few clips included in this article are any indication, America will not be missing out on anything of substance due to the show’s cancellation.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.