‘The Meredith Vieira Show’ To End After Two Seasons
The current second season of NBCUniversal Domestic Television Distribution’s The Meredith Vieira Show will be its last. After wrapping production on the daytime talk show, Vieira will segue to work on NBC’s coverage of the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. “I am so sorry to see our show come to an end after this season, but I am also incredibly proud of the work our staff has done and forever grateful to our supportive viewers,” Vieira said in a statement to Deadline. “We promise to spend our final weeks producing the best broadcast we know how. And have a blast doing so!”
The Meredith Vieira Show, hosted and executive produced by Vieira, launched in September 2014 and received a quick Season 2 renewal by its launch group, the NBC Owned Television Stations. After a solid ratings premiere, The Meredith Vieira Show lost steam as its freshman season progressed. It tried to shake things up in Season 2 with a new live format and the addition of panelists. After a shaky return — the Season 2 opener drew a 0.8 household rating and a 0.3 in women 25-54, down 50% and 40%, respectively, from the series debut, compounded by a number of time slot/station downgrades — The Meredith Vieira Show‘s ratings have ticked up and have been stable, averaging a 0.9 household rating and a 0.5 season to date. That is still bellow the established syndicated talkers, and with the challenging economics in daytime, it has proven difficult for recent high-profile new vehicles, like Katie, The Queen Latifah Show, and now The Meredith Vieira Show, to continue beyond their initial two-year carriage deals.
Vieira remains one of the most accomplished morning/daytime hosts with successful stints at The View, Today and the syndicated Who Wants To Be A Millionaire before headlining her own talk show. UPDATE: To fill the void left by the departure of The Meredith Vieira Show, the NBC stations in four top markets, including New York and Los Angeles, are launching a 4 PM newscast, with the 3 PM-5 PM block of Steve Harvey and Ellen sliding to 2 PM-4 PM. (many other NBC stations already have a 4 PM local newscast.) NBCU Domestic TV Distribution has Harry launching in fall 2016, but the syndicated daytime variety show hosted by Harry Connick Jr. was sold to the Fox stations last fall.
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