The entire daytime talk show climate seems to be in upheaval mode, as longtime staples including The Ellen Degeneres Show, The Wendy Williams Show and Maury are all coming to an end in 2022, as well as Nick Cannon, which was canceled after just one season. Now you can add one more name to that list, as The Real will also be ending its run after eight seasons.
Warner Bros. decided to end The Real — which featured a format similar to The View that targeted a younger audience — after Fox declined to pick up the show for a ninth season, Variety reported. It's stated that the decision to pull the plug was reportedly unrelated to the upcoming launch of The Jennifer Hudson Show. Co-host Loni Love posted about the cancellation on her Instagram page, ultimately blaming the pandemic for the show’s fate:
In the end The Real cast & crew did everything we could to scale the show down..We shot 7-8 shows in 3 days, no audience, made a conference room into a studio, but in my opinion Covid costs killed this show.. it’s been a great ride and thank you to the studio for allowing 8 seasons of show that was Emmy winning and historic. Most importantly thank you to the viewers for riding with us .. this is not goodbye but see you all soon!
It sounds like the co-hosts, who also included Adrienne Bailon, Jeannie Mai and Garcelle Beauvais, were aware of the financial strain being put on the show and really went to lengths to try to continue in the difficult circumstances. And by all means, they were certainly justified in their attempts. In its eight seasons, The Real won three Daytime Emmy Awards and two NAACP Image Awards.
Garcelle Beauvais also took to social media following the announcement, lauding the work of the cast and crew:
It as a fun ride!! Got to work with an group of amazing women and crew 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽 https://t.co/z2ds4c9JA4April 8, 2022
The Real’s cancellation comes amid a slew of other moves on the daytime talk show scene. The Jennifer Hudson Show is set to make its premiere this fall, which will replace The Ellen Degeneres Show as Warner Bros.’ flagship daytime talk show. Meanwhile, Hudson’s fellow American Idol alum Kelly Clarkson will take over Degeneres’ time slot when the Finding Dory star’s show comes to an end after 19 seasons.
Another veteran host, Maury Povich, will drop the mic on his 31-year talk show career later this year. New episodes of Maury will run through September before the 83-year-old host begins retirement.
Wendy Williams had her talk show canceled after 13 seasons amid ongoing questions regarding her health. A series of guest hosts filled in for Williams on the final season of The Wendy Williams Show, as the host battled COVID, Graves disease and other issues. Eventually the decision was made to permanently replace Williams with Sherri Shepherd, who is set to debut Sherri this fall.
Nick Cannon was also caught up in the daytime TV shakeup, with his self-titled talk show getting the ax after just one season. The show seemed to provide an emotional outlet for the actor, as he dealt with some pretty heavy life events in that single season. Most notably the host had raw and honest conversations about the death of his infant son Zen to brain cancer.
The chance of The Real's cancellation being reversed in the near future isn't entirely negligible, since stranger things have happened in the world of TV. But it's probably best not to get anyone's hopes up just yet.
With so much up in the air in the world of daytime TV, it’ll be interesting to see which personalities rule the lineup this fall. Stay up to date on what’s premiering and when by checking out our 2022 TV Schedule.
