John Krasinski defends decision to sell Some Good News show to CBS in interview with Rainn Wilson

He was slammed on social media for selling his YouTube show Some Good News to CBS in a lucrative deal.

And on Tuesday, John Krasinski defended his decision that had led to some branding him a ‘sell out’ during an appearance on his The Office co-star Rainn Wilson’s Instagram Live series.

Krasinski, 40, told his fellow actor on the Soul Pancake series Hey There, Human that he’d always known he wouldn’t be able to continue Some Good News himself once the coronavirus lockdown comes to an end.

‘It was one of those things where I was only planning on doing eight of them during quarantine, because I have these other things that I’m going to be having to do very soon like Jack Ryan and all this other stuff,’ Krasinski said. ‘I knew it wouldn’t be sustainable with my prior commitments.’

He went on: ‘In the first episode I said: ‘Why isn’t there a news show dedicated entirely to good news?’ And now we have one of the biggest news programs in America, CBS News, saying that they want to make it part of their permanent news cycle, which is insane.’

The Hollywood Reporter said on May 21 that CBS had won a ‘massive bidding war’ for Krasinski’s Some Good News.

Going forward, the series will be produced in-house via Comedy Central Productions with Krasinski remaining as an executive producer. 

In addition to shooting a third season of Amazon Original Series Jack Ryan, Krasinski, who is married to actress Emily Blunt, will be promoting his horror sequel A Quiet Place Part II set for release in September as well as developing a third film in the franchise. 

Krasinski debuted his YouTube show at the start of the pandemic lockdown and wrapped it up after 14 episodes on May 17.

It had proved hugely popular with some episodes garnering 17 million views. 

However, reaction to his CBS deal has been mostly negative online with angry fans accusing the star of turning the uplifting show into a cash grab.

‘This makes me feel like you’re a sellout,’ one fan wrote on Twitter. ‘Was this a money move? i really don’t understand. your show could have just inspired them to share good news, not take what you started.’   

Another tweeted: ‘The fact that it was small and thrown together was the appeal. Absolutely lost a viewer, and my opinion of you has fallen a bit.’ 

Entertainment writer Lindsey Weber also waded into the debate, rhetorically asking her followers if they ‘remember when he created this free feel good YouTube show to “make people feel good” and now he is…………….selling it for $$? really cool, 100% honorable.’

Florida-based film professor, Nathan Hartman, wrote: ‘You got to love when what seemed like an act of goodwill during a pandemic can be auctioned off to the highest bidder. Mmmmm taste that sweet sweet capitalism.’