It’s the dawn of a brand new year, but not everyone is getting off to a seamless start. In fact, news broke this week that The Ellen Show is suffering a delay in its return to the studio. The news comes after the daytime talk show series suffered another setback when its own lead Ellen DeGeneres tested positive for Covid-19 at the tail end of 2020.
The Ellen Show is hardly the only series seeing production delays. Other productions in California, including the likes of Grey’s Anatomy and This Is Us have pushed back their schedules to accommodate the growing issues with Covid-19 in the state. However, what’s different about The Ellen Show is that it has already been off the air since December 10. Now its return is being pushed back even longer.
The parent company for The Ellen Degeneres show, Telepictures, did release a statement explaining why the decision was made. The producer noted (via Deadline):
Due to the COVID-19 surge in Los Angeles County, and for the continued safety of our staff and crew, The Ellen DeGeneres Show will push production by a week.
The news also comes a short time after The Ellen Show shared a video from 2020 revealing all of the myriad ways Ellen DeGeneres has pivoted, changed her format, and kept the show going during the long year. For a while during stay-at-home orders, daytime and late night hosts like Ellen, Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert and more all opted to film at home, only returning to their respective studios for the fall TV season.
While Covid cases have continued a downward trend in some states, others are struggling. California right now is at the top of that list. On December 31, over 32K cases of Covid-19 were reported in the state. This comes after nearly 65,000 individuals were reported as being diagnosed with Covid-19 on December 26. It also comes days after reports broke that some Los Angeles region California hospitals were seeing patients in the gift shop as they ran out of space.
Meanwhile, The Ellen DeGeneres Show has faced its own tumult after allegations were made against some producers on the show, who were later fired for creating a toxic workplace. This led to backlash toward Ellen and her show in general, which she later apologized on air for. However, the ratings have suffered in the time since. Meanwhile, as her daytime competitor Kelly Clarkson is heading toward surpassing Ellen DeGeneres in the ratings, The Ellen Show could stand to be producing new episodes more than ever, though choices about keeping people at work or safely away from pandemic concerns are tough on a lot of industries these days.
Now that a lot of shows are shifting production dates, that may have an effect on winter TV premiere returns. For now, see what’s allegedly coming your way with our full 2021 schedule.
