Daytime Talk Show Canceled After 8 Seasons

After weeks of rumors floating that the Fox daytime talk show The Real would be canceled at the close of its eighth season, the network has confirmed that the series will end. The show originally premiered during a 2013 summer trial session before being picked up for a full season. There have been a series of host changes. When it first premiered, Loni Love, Adrienne Bailon, Tamar Braxton, Jeannie Mai and Tamera Mowry were the round table hosts. Braxton was fired in 2016, and the show struggled to find its footing, with many fans and insiders complaining of Braxton’s acrimonious exit. Braxton accused Love of conspiring to have her fired. She was eventually replaced by Amanda Seales, who quit the show after just six months, citing censorship regulations by producers. Housley exited after seven years, and was replaced by The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star, Garcelle Beauvais. Now, the show has come to an end.

A decline in ratings is said to be the cause of the show’s cancellation. According to Deadline, the decision to cancel the show is unrelated to the network greenlighting several new talk shows. The Jennifer Hudson Show is expected to begin airing this Fall. Sherri with Sherri Shepherd will also premiere this fall as the official replacement for Wendy Williams. 

Ahead of the news, Bailon revealed in a podcast appearance alongside Amanda Seales on Small Doses that if the show ever ended, she’d relocate full time from LA to her hometown in New York to start a family. She said that she preferred her children to be grounded in a major city. Mowry relocated to Napa full time to run her family’s wine business and has since started her own YouTube channel and has projects with Hallmark Channel. Braxton continued on reality series such as Braxton Family Values, Tamar & Vince, Get Your Life and Celebrity Big Brother.

Despite the cancellation and behind-the-scenes drama that has unfolded in recent years, The Real has had much success. It’s Warners/Telepictures’ third longest-running daytime syndicated panel talk show ever, coming behind Ellen and The Jenny Jones Show. It’s also the most unconventional, marking the first daytime syndicated panel talk show whose stars were all women of color with a millennial audience. The Real has received three Daytime Emmys and two NAACP Image Awards.

Love took to Instagram to respond to the cancellation. According to her, the pandemic is to blame for the show’s ending. “We shot 7-8 shows in three days, no audience, made a conference room into a studio, but in my opinion, COVID costs killed this show,” she wrote. It’s been a great ride, and thank you to the studio for allowing eight seasons of show that was Emmy winning and historic. More importantly, thank you to the viewers for riding with us,” she added.

In an interview with Shadow and Act, Beauvais spoke about the show’s staying power, saying the growing audience is credited for its success. “The show has been on since 2013. So say the audience members were 25 when the show started, now, they’re much older,” she told the outlet. “There’s different things we’re talking about. Now the audience who started with us wants to know how to manage your money, how to manage expectations. And there are some things that are sometimes heavy, but sometimes we also make them light. But people are really talking about this in the real world, so we should be too as well.”