After 30 years, a beloved daytime TV show is saying its final goodbye.
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NBCUniversal has announced it will no longer produce original content for first-run syndication. This means the end of a TV institution with Access Hollywood and its sister show Access Hollywood Live coming to an end, according to Variety.
Fan-favorite talk shows Karamo and The Steve Wilkos Show will also be canceled as a result of the move. NBCUniversal previously announced that its flagship talk show, The Kelly Clarkson Show, would also end this year after seven seasons.
According to Variety, this move highlights the difficulty of attracting a daytime TV audience in an age of YouTube and fragmented viewership. NBCUniversal confirmed that current market conditions no longer support the traditional syndication model.
In first-run syndication, producers sell shows directly to local stations rather than to a single network. While this model was once highly profitable for stars like Oprah Winfrey and Ellen DeGeneres, the rise of streaming has made it less financially viable for major producers.
‘Access Hollywood’ is Currently in its 30th Year
Access Hollywood, the entertainment newsmagazine launched by NBC in 1996 to compete with CBS’s Entertainment Tonight, will continue to produce original episodes until September. Currently in its 30th year, Access Hollywood is hosted by Mario Lopez, Kit Hoover, Scott Evans, and Zuri Hall.
Hosted by Karamo Brown, Karamo is in its fourth season. The Steve Wilkos Show, currently in its 19th season, is the second-longest-running daytime talk show in production. While production has already wrapped for Karamo and The Steve Wilkos Show, new episodes will continue to air through the summer.
This year, besides Clarkson’s show, Sherri Shepherd’s first-run syndicated show (from Debmar-Mercury) also announced it would end. With both Clarkson and Shepherd exiting, no new daytime talk shows are currently slated to replace them. However, pop singer Pink is rumored to be in the running as a potential replacement for Clarkson.
The popular talk show Live With Kelly and Mark will continue its run as the No. 1 daytime entertainment talk show. So far, CBS Media Ventures’ Drew Barrymore and Warner Bros./Telepictures’ Jennifer Hudson have also been renewed.