Mainstay TV Show Guts Staff After 31 Seasons

One long-running TV show is making a major staff downgrade ahead of Season 32.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Extra has laid off “a number of staffers.”

The layoffs are reportedly part of an annual assessment of staff structure and production processes that happens before every season. They were also not performance-based, and those impacted “are said to be valued team members who have dedicated their time and energy to making the show a success.” The decisions were apparently hard to make, and although an exact number of layoffs is unknown, a source tells the outlet it’s in the double-digits.

This is just one of the few changes that the Emmy-winning newsmagazine series has seen recently. News of the layoffs comes days after it was reported that executive producer Theresa Coffino will be exiting the series after 26 years, with Jeremy Spiegel taking over as executive producer and showrunner. Billy Bush revealed in May on his Hot Mics podcast that he’d be leaving his hosting gig after five seasons.

“After an amazing five years hosting Extra, I’m moving on to continue building out my Hot Mics digital platform,” he said. “We have experienced unprecedented growth in a short period of time here on this show, and I find myself hungrier and more stimulated than at any point in my professional career. Extra is culturally iconic. If I had a dollar for every time someone hollered ‘Extra Extra’ to me in the airport or something, I’d buy Warner Bros.”

Extra debuted in September 1994, reporting on news headlines and entertainment industry gossip. It’s the second-longest-running newsmagazine in syndication and is produced by Warner Bros. Unscripted Television in association with Telepictures Productions. The series was renewed for Season 32 in March and will continue to undergo some changes, including a new look and other new viewer experiences in addition to a new host and showrunner.

It seems like Extra will be a bit different when the series premieres its new season, and between the layoffs, exits, and even format changes, there’s no telling what the show will look like come Season 32. Of course, Extra is far from the only show going through changes, with a lot of others dealing with budget issues or restructuring. What this means for future seasons of Extra is unknown in terms of staffing.