Studio 60 star D. L. Hughley has said that the show failed because it took itself too seriously.

"I think that like most things that are highly touted - the number-one draft pick - we crumpled under the weight of expectations," he told The Onion's A.V. Club.

"I think we could have not taken ourselves so seriously. We pulled back the curtain too much. It's like when you go to a restaurant: It can be the best restaurant in the world, but I just want to eat the meal. I don't want to know how they make the steak. I think we spent so much time explaining and making what we did "important." We weren't inclusive enough. We had conversations with ourselves to hear ourselves."

He added that despite a strong pilot, which he said "was some of the most well-written television I'd ever seen," the show's ensemble "became too aware of ourselves."