Samantha Bee served as a correspondent onThe Daily Show for 12 years, becoming its longest tenured correspondent.[4][5] She was not approached about succeedingJon Stewart as the show's host when Stewart announced he would leave the show.[5] Bee and her husband,Jason Jones, pitched television shows to networks, and their scripted series, calledThe Detour, was picked up byTBS in February 2015. TBS then decided to extend their relationship with Bee to develop alate-night talk show to pair withConan.[1][2][6][7][8]
Bee in 2011
Bee hiredJo Miller and Miles Kahn, formerly producers onThe Daily Show, asexecutive producers for her new show. They set up ablind process for hiring writers that hid the gender and experience level of the applicants, resulting in a writing staff that was approximately half female and 30%non-white.[6][9] The show hiredWinter Miller to help develop a mentorship program to help diversify the writing room.[9]
Before the show's format was finalized, Bee indicated that she would have segments that focus on news headlines, field pieces, and "grab bag" segments. She filmed a segment about how theVeterans Health Administration was not prepared to treat female soldiers,[6] and filmed a segment inJordan. Showrunner Jo Miller indicated that the show would be more interested in injustice than in hypocrisy.[5] There are no interview guests on the series,[4] but a number of guest actors have appeared in various segments. For example, the May 9, 2016, episode featured both the singerMichelle Branch and comedianPatton Oswalt.[10][11]
On March 11, 2020, Bee announced on that night's episode ofFull Frontal that future tapings would proceed without an in-studio audience due to the threat posed by theCOVID-19 pandemic.[31] The COVID-19 affected episodes were subtitledLittle Show in the Big Woods and were filmed in the woods, with Bee's husband Jason Jones acting as cameraman.[32][33] When the show returned to studio taping, it began to originate instead inNorwalk, Connecticut; the Connecticut office of Film, Television and Digital Media was credited at the end of each episode.
The show was written by Samantha Bee, Kristen Bartlett (episodes 82–present),[36] Pat Cassels, Sean Crespo (episodes 112-present),Mike Drucker (episodes 69–present), Mathan Erhardt, Joe Grossman, Miles Kahn (episodes 41–present), Sahar Rizvi (episodes 112-present), Nicole Silverberg (episodes 66–present),[37] and Melinda Taub.[38] In December 2017, Taub was promoted to head writer of the show (episode 67–present). Former writers include:Ashley Nicole Black (episodes 1–103),Eric Drysdale (episodes 12–41, 43–105),Travon Free (episodes 41–69), Jo Miller (episodes 1–55), andJason Reich (episodes 1–31).
Full Frontal stage set before a February 2017 taping.Bee interviewingMichael Bennet in 2020.
In the United States, the first season ofFull Frontal with Samantha Bee aired weekly on Mondays at 10:30 p.m. ET onTBS. On November 16, 2016, it was announced that TBS renewed the show for a second season,[39] as well as moving it to Wednesdays at 10:30 p.m. EST, starting January 11, 2017.[40]
In Canada, the show aired onThe Comedy Network. In Australia,Full Frontal was broadcast onSBS Viceland.[41] In New Zealand, the show was broadcast onDUKE.[42] In Germany, the show was broadcast onTNT Comedy with German subtitles.[43]
Full Frontal with Samantha Bee was met with critical acclaim. OnRotten Tomatoes, the first season has an approval rating of 100% based on 25 reviews, with an average rating of 8.5/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Full Frontal with Samantha Bee adds a female perspective to late-night TV – and one that's fresh and funny enough to deserve more than just one show a week."[44] OnMetacritic, the first season holds a score of 84 out of 100, based on 16 critics, which constitutes "universal acclaim".[45]
TheWrap's Diane Gordon praised the show, saying "WithFull Frontal, TBS truly has a comedy show that's sure to become part of the cultural conversation and possibly fill the void felt by Jon Stewart‘s departure. There's so much scathing, insightful, intelligent funny packed intoFull Frontal and Bee's ability to land a joke is beyond impressive."[46]Vulture calledFull Frontal "a formidable force of political satire. It demands your attention,"[47] and the blog named Bee's "Trump Conspiracy Theory" segment as its #1 clip on its list of "The 10 Most Important Late-Night TV Moments in 2016."[48] In March 2017,Wired's cultural criticVirginia Heffernan calledFull Frontal "the most mercilessly feminist show (ever) (in history)".[49]
Full Frontal aired a segment on March 8, 2017, filmed at theConservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), in which the narrator, correspondentMichael Rubens said Kyle Coddington, a writer forOUTSET magazine, had "Nazi hair". At the time, Coddington was undergoing chemotherapy for brain cancer. The show apologized the next day, saying they were unaware of his condition, and donated to his medical expenses onGoFundMe.[50] Coddington refuses to accept their apology.[51]
On May 30, 2018, Bee ran a segment about the Trump administration'spolicy of separating children from families of undocumented immigrants at the border. Bee then criticizedIvanka Trump for hypocrisy after Trump tweeted a photo of herself and her child, saying, "Let me just say, one mother to another, do something about your dad's immigration practices, you feckless cunt!" The segment generated controversy.[52][53][54] As a result, bothAutotrader.com andState Farm pulled their advertising from the show.[55]White House Press SecretarySarah Huckabee Sanders called on both Turner and TBS to take action.[52][54] Both Bee and TBS apologized.[56][57] Accepting aTelevision Academy Honors award later forFull Frontal’s#MeToo coverage, Bee said, "Every week I strive to show the world as I see it, unfiltered. Sometimes I should probably have a filter. I accept that. Stories about 1,500 missing unaccompanied migrant children flooded the news cycle over the weekend. So last night we aired a segment on the atrocious treatment of migrant children by this administration and past administrations. Our piece attracted controversy of the worst kind... We spent the day wrestling with the repercussions of one bad word when we all should have spent the day incensed that as a nation we are wrenching children from their parents and treating people legally seeking asylum as criminals. If we are O.K. with that, then really, who are we?"[58]