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After Joan Rivers passed last fall, E! really scrambled to get Fashion Police back together in time for awards season. They hired Kathy Griffin in Joan’s place, but it’s clear that Kathy wasn’t comfortable with the show’s format or content. Since quitting Fashion Police late last week, Kathy has said, in so many different ways, that the show hasn’t changed with the times and that the jokes are rude without being topical or funny. Of course Kelly Osbourne quit before Kathy did, citing the joke that Giuliana Rancic made (and for which she apologized) about Zendaya’s dreadlocks. Kathy has said that she didn’t know ahead of time that Kelly was leaving, and that Giuliana was just reciting a line that was written for her.

There are only two panelists left on the show, Giuliana Rancic and Brad Goreski. Fashion Police was scheduled to return at the end of this month, but it’s been shelved until September. The President of NBCUniversal Lifestyle Networks Group, Frances Berwick, told The Hollywood Reporter that while they weren’t surprised by Kathy Griffin’s exit, they were not prepared for her criticism. They’re taking it seriously though, to the point where Fashion Police will be taken off the air until they have time to regroup. Here’s more, from The Hollywood Reporter.

The Hollywood Reporter can reveal that E! will put Fashion Police on an extended hiatus. The three remaining episodes scheduled to shoot this spring will be scrapped, giving the team time to recast and reboot. The new plan is to return in the fall with six or seven episodes tied to major events, including the Emmys.

“With the benefit of hindsight, we definitely brought it back too soon,” says Berwick, who added E! to her portfolio mere weeks after Rivers’ September death. In the months since, she has had to deal with a barrage of controversies, including backlash to the network’s “mani cam” feature on red carpets (Julianne Moore called it “humiliating” and other stars refused to participate) and an #AskHerMore Twitter campaign against fashion-focused interviews. In addition, there’s the will-they-or-won’t-they Bruce Jenner transgender docuseries (insiders say they will) and the Fashion Police fallout that began when Rancic suggested singer Zendaya’s dreadlocks “smelled like patchouli oil … or weed” on the show’s post-Oscars telecast. The controversies come as NBCUniversal cable chief Bonnie Hammer has said she wants E! to take a more “aspirational” tone, and they highlight a subtle shift in celebrity culture and E!’s role in what The New York Times called on March 15 its “untenable setup that one day reveres celebrities on the red carpet and the next day marches them onto a gangplank and pushes them into the water.”

Berwick says she and her team, along with Fashion Police executive producer Melissa Rivers, considered canceling the show in the wake of the departures. But ultimately they concluded they weren’t willing to give up on the 5-year-old franchise, and its nearly 1?million loyal viewers (though the show has shed viewers without Joan Rivers). “There was a lot of noise and drama that are really not helpful or additive to the creative process, but there’s a real love for this show,” explains Berwick, who adds with a laugh, “Given the focus on this, the ratings should really be the size of The Walking Dead…”

Still, the E! executives acknowledge that they have heard the criticism and are assessing the tone of the network’s red-carpet coverage. “You want to be evolving with the times, and we are really taking the mani-cam question very seriously,” says Berwick, who notes that the latter started as a “cute” thing. “If people don’t want to do it, they shouldn’t be forced to do it.” (The network did not incorporate the manicure camera into its Oscars preshow telecast.)

At the same time, she also suggests that E! has become a target for the entire awards-season charade, which seems to get bigger each year. “There’s a lot that’s frivolous about the whole Oscar, Emmy, Golden Globe parade, and then at the heart of it, there’s some great, creative work,” Berwick continues. “E! is not a network that takes itself seriously.” She cites The Soup host Joel McHale and his weekly lampooning of TV stars, including E!’s own Kardashian family.

“To the extent that this has all gotten very intense and serious — it’s meant to be fun,” she says. “When it stops being fun or if we think that we’re offending or crossing a line, absolutely, that’s the time to re-evaluate and that’s what we’re doing, frankly, with things like the mani cam.”

[From The Hollywood Reporter]

I agree that E! is an easy target and that it’s not always fair. They got rid of the mani cam when actresses objected, and they’re trying to change. They’re also the one of the few networks to really dare to call out the ridiculousness of the entertainment industry. I hope they don’t touch The Soup at all.

Fashion Police is fun, but maybe it’s time to change the format. It’s not the same without Joan, and I respect that they didn’t just throw a Kardashian or two on there and carry on. There is definitely a call for fashion assessment and commentary. The #AskHerMore campaign seems to ignore the fact that the red carpet is all about fashion and jewelry. The actresses do so many interviews prior to an event, they have plenty of time to discuss their projects and just a few opportunities to talk fashion. It’s not about diminishing the women, it’s about acknowledging the work that went into their looks. Sometimes all that work adds up to a hill of beans, and someone’s got to say it.

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