The Other Two: Max's Hollywood Satire Ends Amidst Claims Of 'Toxic' BTS Behavior
The Dubek family's industry takeover is officially dead; "The Other Two" has officially been canceled at HBO Max. The June 29 episode, which fans originally thought was the Season 3 finale, will now serve as the series finale.
News broke on June 28 via The Hollywood Reporter, the day before the series finale aired, that "The Other Two" was coming to a sudden and unexpected end with its third season. Showrunners Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider said in a statement, ""It is bittersweet to say goodbye to the Dubek family after three seasons, but we always knew, both creatively and personally, that this was where we wanted to end their stories. And because we are quite literally out of ways to humiliate Drew Tarver, so what's the point?"
That's not all there is to say about Kelly and Schneider, though, as news of "The Other Two" ending much sooner than fans could have expected also revealed that there were on-set problems requiring intervention from human resources, which came out in the same THR report. Though the report does say that insiders said the cancellation and HR problems were unrelated, the allegations about Kelly and Schneider's behavior is... definitely troubling.
Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider were accused of creating a toxic work environment
The information in the report from THR is, well, not great. Sources told the outlet that Kelly and Schneider created a "toxic" work environment, verbally abused their staff, and overworked their writers to an upsetting point... until HR actually barred them from being on set while an investigation was conducted. The two were cleared of wrongdoing in an official capacity, but insiders still told THR that the on-set experience was really rough.
"Other writers tell stories about 'The Other Two' writers' rooms like other people tell ghost stories," one source told THR, while Tina Fey joked about Kelly and Schneider's personalities during a public speech PEN America Literary Awards. "Nobody indulges writers like Lorne Michaels," Fey said in March. "Lorne, you have unleashed an army of monsters into the world. You know it, I know it, and the crew of 'The Other Two' knows it — oh I was supposed to change that. I was supposed to change that. That's inappropriate. Oh well, it's not livestreaming." (Fey, incidentally, was making "jokes" about Bill Cosby on "30 Rock" years before allegations truly broke, so perhaps we should start taking her jabs way more seriously.)
That said, sources also told THR that it seems to be Kelly who's the source of the problem, and that his behavior towards Schneider was atrocious — but that she enabled his bad behavior every time. One source said, ""As a team, they've been very destructive, but Chris is also mean to Sarah," while another confirmed, "Sarah is in a toxic professional relationship with him."
What is The Other Two about?
What if a Justin Bieber-type child star had two older siblings, and they both kind of sucked? That's basically the central premise of "The Other Two." Helene Yorke and Drew Tarver play Brooke and Cary Dubek, respectively, who watch as their younger brother Chase (Case Walker) — styled as "Chase Dreams" — becomes a massively famous pop star thanks to his hit song "Marry U at Recess." Brooke isn't quite sure what she wants to do and ends up joining the industry as Chase's manager, growing more power-hungry by the day; meanwhile, Cary is an aspiring actor who ends up booking jobs like "a shirtless bartender on 'Watch What Happens Live'" or "a straight guy who smells a fart at a party."
Flanked by their mother Pat (Molly Shannon), who becomes a talk show mega-star, hapless manager Streeter (Ken Marino), and shrewd record label executive Shuli (Wanda Sykes), Cary and Brooke end up involved in all sorts of pathetic misadventures as they try and fail to ascend to the top of the film and television industry — and frankly, every single misadventure is hilarious. Few shows have skewered Hollywood quite as insightfully as "The Other Two," and in many ways, it feels like a spiritual successor to "30 Rock." Hell, it even kind of predicted the live-action "Bambi" movie.
News about bad BTS behavior on The Other Two is particularly disappointing
Whenever the public finds out that one of their favorite shows was made in an enviroment that actively encouraged and trafficked in abuse and unkindness, it's incredibly disappointing — the excerpt that broke from Mo Ryan's searing new book "Burn it Down" about the workplace issues at "Lost" were definitely rough, to say the least. To hear it about "The Other Two," though, is incredibly frustrating for one big reason: the entire focus of the show was about how fame can corrupt and transform people in a bad way, and it's awful to realize the people behind the show couldn't see their own behavior for what it was.
As another source told THR, "There's a lot of Chris and Sarah in the show ... I think a lot of their frustration comes from not being on-camera. These are two people who started off as improvisers. This is a show about people who are hungering for fame. Their friends and colleagues became well-known. ... It's a lot like the show." Knowing that Kelly and Schneider, who have created two hilariously odious characters in Brooke and Cary, weren't self-aware enough to understand that they were as bad as the villains they created, is disappointing on every possible level — and though they were cleared of wrongdoing officially, this information still feels crushing for fans of "The Other Two."
For fans who still want to relive the highs and lows of Brooke and Cary's quest for fame and acclaim, all of "The Other Two is available to stream on Max.