Inside Busy Philipps’ Return to Late-Night TV
The name of Busy Philipps’ new late-night show, “Busy This Week,” couldn’t be more apt. After all, aside from launching the QVC+ series, the effervescent actress is also starring on Netflix’s “Girls5eva,” hosting her podcast “Busy Philipps Is Doing Her Best” and, following her own recent diagnosis, advocating for ADHD awareness.
With QVC+, Philipps and her co-host and producing partner, Caissie St. Onge, have found an unlikely yet somehow perfect platform for their bubbly banter. The series, which debuts on May 8, sees the best friends conducting celebrity-guest interviews, sharing personal stories and giving viewers a dose of retail therapy via Philipps’ curated shopping picks.
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“Busy This Week” isn’t Philipps’ first foray into the talk-show space. In 2018, she hosted E!’s “Busy Tonight,” which was canceled after six months due to lower ratings than the cable network expected.
Despite “Busy Tonight”’s unceremonious end, Philipps says the “spark of the idea” of doing late night never left her. There was a “generous offer” from one streamer, but she and St. Onge worried about the level of control they’d have over the show. So they held out for a better fit, specifically one where they could work more directly with brands. Enter QVC, with an invite to host the QVC+ shopping special “Busy for the Holidays” in 2022.
Doing the holiday special was the spark Philipps needed. “I called Caissie and said, I feel like we can do our talk show at QVC,” she remembers. Their pitch to Michael Gleason, the network’s director of content innovation and development, came at just the right time. “It’s unlike anything they have done, but they are obviously starting to think about what other kinds of content and programming they could do,” Philipps says.
While mega-media companies duke it out with big-budget series and recycled IP in the protracted streaming wars, sister home-shopping networks QVC and HSN are approaching the game differently with their platforms QVC+ and HSN+. These free streamers are building out their programming beyond content centered on selling you stuff. Make no mistake: That’s the endgame in the networks’ business model, but the strategy for getting there is to make the experience organic.
“In streaming, we really have the permission for broader storytelling, and we could reimagine what that looks like,” QVC’s interim GM of streaming Stacie Tedesco says. “Our fans feel really curated story-driven shoppable entertainment not only inspires them to purchase but is an opportunity to earn their time.”
That pivot has led to scripted holiday movies, Curtis Stone-hosted cooking shows and now, QVC’s first stab at late-night TV.
“Busy is one of those people that connects with people, and then speaks for herself but then also speaks for our audience,” Gleason says. “The key to all that we’ve ever done that’s been successful here is authenticity, and being very real and very forthcoming about everything that we’re talking about. And Busy embodies that.”
For her debut episode, Philipps made “a very easy call”: She invited her “Girls5eva” co-stars Paula Pell, Renée Elise Goldsberry and Sara Bareilles to be her guests.
“I didn’t even get the question out of my mouth before they were on set and ready to go,” Philipps says with a laugh. “We have some incredible guests that have booked,” she adds without divulging names.
As for the actual shopping aspect of “Busy This Week,” Philipps says it won’t be about holding up a product for viewers to buy.
“What is so great about this is that while there is no active selling of items, the set is shoppable,” she says. “Most everything that I’m wearing is available on QVC, which wasn’t even an obligation but something that I thought was cool and wanted to be able to do.”
Philipps has even recruited “Girls5eva” wardrobe designer Matthew Hemesath. He’s pulling clothes from QVC and “putting together super cute outfits” that are “totally” her own look.
Now she just has to break it to her guests that the show isn’t simply a chance to push a product: “It is hilarious because there are so many people that are like, ‘But what if I want to sell something?’ Well, here’s the deal — we can figure it out.”
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