I'm not in the habit of mourning the loss of a series that lasted only 20 months and averaged about a half million viewers. Truth be told, I came pretty close to not giving two hoots about Comedy Central's decision to make this the final week for "The Nightly Show With Larry Wilmore."

For most of its run, I only tuned in for the first four minutes of the low-budget talker before switching over to "Jimmy Kimmel Live," "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert" and, on days when I needed an unhealthy burst of optimism, "The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon."

Then came the political conventions. For two weeks, Wilmore challenged both parties (well, mostly the Republicans) with scathing commentary, unhinged field reports and panel discussions more penetrating than the overly rehearsed remarks spewing out of talking heads on cable news.

As I wrote then, the man who helped launch "The Bernie Mac Show" and "Black-ish" wasn't treating the job like a make-or-break situation, coming across less interested than his younger, hungrier competitors in how the public would react.

That approach probably cost him. While "The Daily Show With Trevor Noah" has taken some critical hits -- many of them unjust -- it has seen an uptick in the ratings. Not so with "Nightly." It never gained traction since taking over the 10:35 p.m. time slot from Stephen Colbert, who averaged 1.12 million viewers during his nine-year run. Wilmore drew between 400,000-550,000.

In his announcement Monday morning, Comedy Central president Kent Alterman said the show "never resonated." He was particularly disheartened by how the show had failed to capture the imagination of young males, the most sought after target in TV's never-ending game of Pokemon Go.

Still, it's hard to justify holding a public execution in the middle of a target-rich presidential campaign. " It will be replaced, at least temporarily, by Chris Hardwick's "@Midnight," the loose hybrid of game show and panel discussion that's about as politically oriented as "Barney & Friends."

Wilmore was cordial during Monday's program, thanking the show's fans and joking that the decision must mean that racism has been solved, a nod to his unrelenting focus on racial issues. It's a strategy that probably also doomed FX's "Totally Biased With W. Kamau Bell," an equally ambitious series that had an even shorter run than "Nightly."

"Really, our show was at its best when the news was at its worst," said Wilmore, who will now have more time to focus on shaping a vehicle for comedian Issa Rae on HBO.

See more of his thoughts from Monday below -- and check out his final shows; he's live until Thursday.