It’s the end of an era. NBCUniversal has announced it is winding down its first-run syndication operation entirely — a sweeping decision that spells the end for ‘Access Hollywood’, ‘Karamo’ and ‘The Steve Wilkos Show’.
The network cited shifting marketplace conditions, with the traditional syndication model increasingly difficult to sustain in the age of streaming and audience fragmentation. ‘Access Hollywood’ — which launched in 1996 and is currently in its 30th year — will continue producing original episodes through September, hosted by Mario Lopez, Kit Hoover, Scott Evans and Zuri Hall. Both ‘Karamo,’ hosted by Karamo Brown, and ‘The Steve Wilkos Show’ have already wrapped production, though original episodes will air through the summer.
The cancellations compound an already turbulent year for daytime TV. NBCUniversal had previously confirmed that ‘The Kelly Clarkson Show’ would wrap after seven seasons, while Debmar-Mercury’s ‘Sherri’ is also set to close out its run by year’s end. On the brighter side, CBS Media Ventures’ ‘The Drew Barrymore Show’ and Warner Bros./Telepictures’ ‘Jennifer Hudson’ have both recently secured renewals, with ‘Live With Kelly and Mark’ remaining the top-rated daytime entertainment talker.
In a statement, Frances Berwick, chairman of Bravo and head of Peacock unscripted, said the company would “remain active in the distribution of our existing program library” while stepping back from first-run production — adding that the teams behind the outgoing shows had delivered “great talk and entertainment content for many years.”
The writing, it seems, had been on the wall for some time. As one Fox TV Stations programming chief put it recently, audience levels “just couldn’t justify the cost” — a sentiment that appears to have finally caught up with one of television’s longest-running formats.