HBO Max has canceled FBoy Island — the reality dating series ran for two seasons.
Hosted by Nikki Glaser, the series followed three women as they chose a potential boyfriend from a pool of 24 men by trying to identify which contestants were “f-boys,” who were there only to have a good time, and which were “nice guys” genuinely searching for love.
The cancellation doesn’t come as a shock. The status of much of HBO Max’s programming has appeared to be up in the air since the closing of the Warner Bros. Discovery merger in April. This has been especially true of unscripted content, since the Discovery side of the business has come with its own prolific slate of unscripted shows. Those series in production on the Warner Bros. side seem to have created redundancies incompatible with CEO David Zaslav’s intense cost-cutting strategy. Zaslav has repeatedly emphasized a goal to find $3 billion in synergy savings over the the next three years, the casualties of which have already included the nearly completed “Batgirl” film and solid chunks of HBO Max’s back catalog that were quietly removed over the summer.
In July, a WBD insider on the Discovery side told Variety about upheaval impacting the unscripted division: “There have been layoffs and it’s less people doing more work. But I know that more of the shake-up has been on the Warner side.” In August, after 70 layoffs across HBO and HBO Max were confirmed, chief content officer Casey Bloys sent a memo laying out how scripted programming would become the brand’s main focus, which “involves an honest assessment of what we need moving forward.”
Along with FBoy Island, HBO Max’s unscripted slate includes shows such as “Selena + Chef,” “Legendary,” “The Big Brunch,” “Sweet Life: Los Angeles” and “Kraftopia.” No unscripted series at HBO Max have been renewed since the merger.
FBoy Island was produced by STXalternative and created by Elan Gale. Gale executive produced for TheYearOfElan Productions alongside Jason Goldberg for STXalternative, Ben Bitonti, Glaser and Sam Dean, who also served as showrunner.
