“Best Time Ever” is over at NBC, but Neil Patrick Harris may live to showcase again

Neil Patrick Harris brought the primetime variety show back to broadcast network TV.

But when NBC already had one successful live variety showcase in primetime (America’s Got Talent) and one very successful showman promising the best night ever every weeknight in late-night (The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon), how much could NPH deliver on the network’s promise of presenting the Best Time Ever this fall?

No matter how ebullient and determined NPH has proven hosting live awards shows, he couldn’t keep viewers interested enough in following the exploits of Best Time Ever‘s pranks and stunts, whether they aired at 10 p.m. or 8 p.m. Eastern once a week. No matter how successful the format has been in Britain, where NBC bought it to adapt to NPH. No matter what my sources told me earlier this fall about a second season being a done deal, and possibly moving from New York City’s Astoria studios out to Los Angeles for 2016.

Here was the promise of it all…

“We are extremely proud of the work Neil and the producers did on Best Time Ever, ” Paul Telegdy, NBC’s president of late-night and alternative programming, told Variety. “People rewarded us for taking the risk of trying something different. It was an incredibly complicated and sophisticated form of television to put on a live show on a weekly basis. We’re proud of Neil for giving it his all and we have steely resolve to work together on something new.”

Something new?

So @BestTimeEver happened. Super grueling yet exuberant fun. I'm proud of what we did – live! – and still believe in variety. Stay tuned.

— Neil Patrick Harris (@ActuallyNPH) December 16, 2015