April 9 (2017-04-09) – September 3, 2017 (2017-09-03)
Talking with Chris Hardwick is a weekly talk show that features host Chris Hardwick interviewing a celebrity guest from the world of pop culture that premiered on April 9, 2017 on AMC.
Format
The series follows in the vein of Talking Dead, Talking Bad, Talking Saul and Talking Preacher. But unlike those shows, each one-hour episode is pre-recorded. Segments featured on the show include social media presidency, live audience interactivity, Hardwick's discussion about pop culture and trivia on the guest featured in each episode. An uncensored version of all the episodes were released as audio formats on Hardwick's own The Nerdist Podcast following its broadcast airing.[1]
Production
The series premiered on AMC on April 9, 2017, filling a hiatus for Talking Dead between the season finale of The Walking Dead and the third-season premiere of Fear the Walking Dead. Hardwick described the show as a means to branch the format into wider pop culture, stating that it had "the skin of Talking Dead, the soul of the Nerdist podcast and the guts of a Comic-Con panel."[2][3]
The eight-episode second season was set to premiere on June 17, 2018. The initial lineup of guests set to appear were Chris Pratt, Bill Hader, Karen Gillan, Donald Glover, Ethan Hawke, Amy Adams, and Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg with Glover appearing in the season premiere.[4] However, AMC pulled the show a day prior to the airing in light of allegations made against Hardwick by his ex-girlfriend Chloe Dykstra.[5] On July 25, after an investigation by AMC and with the assistance of a law firm, the company decided to reinstate Hardwick as the show’s host.[6][7]
