The trailer for Meghan Markle’s Netflix lifestyle show, “With, Meghan,” racked up more than 1.7 million views on YouTube after it debuted on Jan. 2. But the show, once so hotly anticipated, received barely any mention when the world’s dominant streaming service held its star-studded 2025 programming review Wednesday at the Egyptian Theatre.

Indeed, comedian John Mulaney got in a dig at Meghan and Prince Harry’s content creator aspirations, when he joined Ben Affleck, Tina Fey and other stars at the event to promote their new movies or streaming series, according to The Hollywood Reporter. 

Mulaney confirmed that his new live talk show, “Everybody’s Live with John Mulaney,” will launch March 12. That’s a week ahead of when Meghan’s “With Love, Meghan” is scheduled to begin streaming — after her show’s originally scheduled Jan. 15 debut was delayed due to the outbreak of the devastating Los Angeles wildfires.

NEW YORK, NY – NOVEMBER 10: John Mulaney performs on stage at A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to Cure Parkinson’s, benefitting the Michael J. Fox Foundation, at the Hilton New York on November 10, 2018. (Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images) (Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images Archives)

In describing the off-beat, unpredictable nature of his show, the “Saturday Night Live” star said it would regularly feature a panel of eclectic guests, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

“This will be the one place where you could see Arnold Schwarzenegger sitting next to Nikki Glaser sitting next to a family therapist with music by Mannequin Pussy,” Mulaney said, referring to the former action movie star and ex-California governor, sitting down for some free-wheeling conversation with Glaser and accompanied by music by American punk and indie rock band from Philadelphia. “That’s just a brief sampling of guests.”

With his characteristic affability barely concealing cutting commentary,  Mulaney then praised Netflix for believing in his show. “This is a really fun experiment,” he added. “Not since Harry and Meghan has Netflix given more money to someone without a specific plan.”

Mulaney, of course, is referring to Netflix famously signing a splashy, five-year deal with Meghan and Harry in 2020, reportedly paying them $100 million to make documentaries, docu-series, feature films, scripted shows and children’s programming.

Netflix made the deal with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex after they famously stepped away from British royal life, despite the fact that they had zero experience in developing or producing movies or TV shows. Netflix seemed to hope that their global fame as self-exiled royals would translate into the talent or professional drive to produce engaging, entertaining and even award-winning content.

Industry experts, such as Matthew Belloni and Lesley Goldberg at Puck, have since labeled Netflix’s deal with Harry and Meghan as one of the “worst” of Hollywood’s Peak TV era — describing it as a glaring example of excess and hubris on everybody’s part. Belloni and Goldberg predicted that Netflix would be done with the couple after 2025.

Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex member of the British royal family with mayor of Pasadena Victor Gordo at a home at 2858 Highview Ave. and Altadena Dr. that was destroyed during the Eaton Fire in Altadena on Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Orange County Register/ SCNG) 

In August, Belloni and Goldberg noted that the couple’s 2022 docu-series, “Harry and Meghan,” about their departure from their unhappy royal lives, was a blockbuster hit. Critics say that’s due to the fact that the Sussexes dished dirt about the British monarchy and about Harry’s relatives.

Belloni and Goldberg said that none of the couple’s other projects has “connected,” including Meghan’s “passion project,” an animated children’s series called “Pearl,” which was canceled before it even got started. Together, Meghan and Harry also executive produced “Polo,” a reality TV series about Harry’s elite polo playing friends. But “Polo” was eviscerated by critics.

Then came the trailer for “With Love, Meghan,” and even critics of the couple briefly wondered if the former “Suits” actor might finally find success by offering up a new version of The Tig, the popular lifestyle blog she shuttered after she became engaged to Harry in 2018.

In the trailer, the Montecito-based Meghan could be seen celebrating the glories of her high-end Southern California lifestyle, with critics thinking that viewers would enjoy its aspirational appeal. Scenes showed Meghan floating through a kitchen and garden — though reportedly not her own — visiting a beehive, arranging flowers and hobnobbing with celebrity guests, including Mindy Kaling, chef Roy Choi and Bay Area notables Alice Waters and Tatcha founder Vicky Tsai. The trailer was preceded by Meghan’s much-ballyhooed return to Instagram on Jan. 1, with both media events showing Meghan’s desire for what one industry expert called a “metaphorical clean slate” in 2025 — following a challenging few years for her public image.

Alas, timing has not been on Meghan’s side since the trailer’s premiere. Less than a week later, the devastating Palisades and Eaton wildfires broke out in and around Los Angeles, killing a combined 27 people and destroying more than 18,000 homes, buildings and other structures.

Several days later, Meghan and Netflix announced they were postponing the show’s release until March 4, as Meghan vowed to focus “on the needs of those impacted by the wildfires in my home state of California.” Critics said Meghan and Netflix had no choice but to delay release of a show about the duchess enjoying the pleasures of a well-appointed kitchen and other household amenities, when thousands of Angelenos had lost their homes.

The premiere of “With Love, Meghan” is still on Netflix’s calendar for March 4, Deadline reported. But the lack of fanfare at Wednesday’s Netflix event Wednesday may not bode well for the show’s prospects, the Daily Mail reported. Someone who attended the event thought it was “shocking” that Netflix would allow one of its stars to ridicule Meghan and Harry when all “the head honchos” were there.

“And how strange that a show by the couple who signed a multi-million dollar deal with Netflix barely featured — apart from one brief clip in a montage,” the person also told the Daily Mail. “Even film-maker Tyler Perry, the guy who loaned his LA house to the Sussexes after (they left the U.K.) got a mention. It really felt like Netflix doesn’t give a damn.”

It also remains to be seen whether Netflix has become concerned about other controversies that have beset Meghan and Harry in recent weeks.

The aspiring global do-gooders were publicly called  “disaster tourists” by actor Justine Bateman for their response to the Eaton fire. They were recorded on Jan. 10, getting a personal tour of burned-out neighborhoods in Altadena by city officials, as first responders were still fighting a fire that was only about 3% contained and Pasadena and Los Angeles County were dealing with a crush of people evacuated from their homes.

The following weekend, the couple faced another P.R. crisis after they were the subject of a lengthy cover story in Vanity Fair, which offered a new round of allegations about Meghan being a bullying, difficult boss — allegations that first emerged during her time as a working royal and have followed her to California. The story in Vanity Fair, usually a pro-Sussex publication, also depicted Harry as being charming but rather dim, both when it comes to his wife’s alleged behavior and when it comes to earning a living outside of being a prince.