19-Year TV Show Canceled After More Than 2,000 Episodes

The Steve Wilkos Show will come to an end after nearly two decades and more than 2,000 episodes, after NBCUniversal announced its decision to no longer produce first-run syndicated TV programming.

The long-running talk show, hosted since 2007 by former Jerry Springer Show security guard Steve Wilkos, has already concluded production, but will air original episodes through the summer, as per Variety.

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Following the news that broke on Friday, Wilkos took to Instagram to celebrate the end of the second-longest-running daytime talk show in current production. “Last time standing on my stage,” he wrote. “Fitting that it is with my friend Mike. 32 years working together!”

Other casualties of NBCUniversal’s syndication decision are Access Hollywood and Access Hollywood Live, as well as Karamo Brown’s Karamo.

Access Hollywood, which was launched by NBC in 1996, is currently in the middle of its 30th year on air and is hosted by Mario Lopez, Kit Hoover, Scott Evans and Zuri Hall. The series will continue to produce new episodes through September.

Karamo, which is on its fourth season, has already wrapped production, with new episodes airing through the summer.

“NBCUniversal is making changes to our first-run syndication division to better align with the programming preferences of local stations,” Frances Berwick, chairman of Bravo and head of Peacock unscripted, said in a statement. “The company will remain active in the distribution of our existing program library and other off-network titles, while winding down production of our first-run shows. These shows have provided audiences with great talk and entertainment content for many years and we’re very proud of the teams behind them.”

Last month, NBCUniversal’s premiere daytime talk show, The Kelly Clarkson Show, was revealed to be coming to an end after seven seasons, with host Kelly Clarkson indicating that she wanted to spend more time with her children following the death of their father, Brandon Blackstock.