<\/p>\n
\n\tNBCUniversal<\/a> is pulling the plug on original production for first-run syndication, a decision that brings the curtain down on \u201cAccess Hollywood<\/a>\u201d and \u201cAccess Hollywood Live\u201d as well as talk shows \u201cKaramo\u201d and \u201cThe Steve Wilkos Show.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe significant step is a sign of how hard it has become to draw an daytime TV audience in the era of YouTube and massive audience fragmentation. NBCUniversal said flatly that marketplace conditions no longer support the traditional model of syndication. \u201cAccess Hollywood,\u201d the entertainment newsmagazine launched by NBC in 1996 to compete with CBS\u2019 \u201cEntertainment Tonight,\u201d will produce original episodes through September.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cKaramo\u201d and \u201cSteve Wilkos\u201d have already closed up production although original episodes will air through the summer. NBCUniversal had previously announced<\/a> that its flagship daytime talker \u201cThe Kelly Clarkson Show\u201d would also wrap up after seven seasons this year.<\/p>\n \n\tIn first-run syndication, producers such as NBCUniversal sell TV shows to stations on a market-by-market basis rather than distributing them across a single network platform. The format was once a huge moneymaker for stars such as Oprah Winfrey, Dr. Phil McGraw, Rosie O\u2019Donnell, Ellen DeGeneres and most recently Kelly Clarkson. But the tumult wrought by streaming and other changes have made it hard for big players to justify the investment amid diminishing returns. <\/p>\n \n\t\u201cNBCUniversal is making changes to our first-run syndication division to better align with the programming preferences of local stations,\u201d said Frances Berwick, chairman of Bravo and head of Peacock unscripted, who has oversight of the first-run syndication unit. \u201cThe 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\u2019re very proud of the teams behind them.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThis year, besides Clarkson, the first-run syndicated show\u00a0Sherri Shepherd<\/a>\u00a0(from Debmar-Merucry) also announced that it would wrap by the end of the year. As Variety<\/em> recently noted, with Clarkson\u2019s and Shepherd\u2019s exits, no new daytime talkers were yet in the wings to replace them. Longtime mainstay \u201cLive With Kelly and Mark\u201d remains the No. 1 daytime entertainment talk show and is expected to continue; among the industry\u2019s remaining daytime talk strips CBS Media Ventures\u2019 \u201cDrew Barrymore\u201d and Warner Bros.\/Telepictures\u2019 \u201cJennifer Hudson\u201d have been renewed so far.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI think it\u2019s symptomatic that the economics have changed,\u201d\u00a0Frank Cicha<\/a>, the head of programming for Fox TV Stations, told Variety<\/em> last month<\/a> about the challenging world of daytime talk and syndication. \u201cThe levels of audiences that these shows were garnering just couldn\u2019t justify the cost.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cAccess Hollywood\u201d is in the midst of its 30th year and is hosted by Mario Lopez, Kit Hoover, Scott Evans and Zuri Hall. Executive producers are Mike Marson and Julie Cooper. Hosted by Karamo Brown, \u201cKaramo\u201d is in its fourth season and is executive produced by Kerry Shannon and Gloria Harrison-Hall.\u00a0n its 19th season in national syndication, \u201cThe Steve Wilkos Show\u201d is currently the second-longest running daytime talk show in current production. Executive producer is Rachelle Wilkos.<\/p>\n \n\tNBCU\u2019s syndication unit \u2014 most recently dubbed NBCUniversal Syndication Studios, is the outgrowth of the 2004 merger between NBC and Universal, which combined NBC Enterprises and Universal Domestic TV Distribution into one entity. <\/p>\n \n\t\u201cAccess Hollywood\u201d has a bit of a storied history when it comes to syndicated distributors. Although produced by NBC Studios and airing mostly on NBC stations since its launch in 1996, the show was initially distributed by New World\/Genesis Distribution, then 20th Television, and then Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution. When NBC launched its own syndicated division, NBC Enterprises took on distribution.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source variety.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" NBCUniversal is pulling the plug on original production for first-run syndication, a decision that brings the curtain down on \u201cAccess Hollywood\u201d and \u201cAccess Hollywood Live\u201d as well as talk shows \u201cKaramo\u201d and \u201cThe Steve Wilkos Show.\u201d The significant step is a sign of how hard it has become to draw an daytime TV audience in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2327243,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[319364,348955],"class_list":["post-2327242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-access-hollywood","tag-nbcuniversal"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Access-Hollywood-Steve-Wilkos-to-End-as-NBCU-Cuts-Syndication.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2327242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2327242"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2327242\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2327244,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2327242\/revisions\/2327244"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2327243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2327242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2327242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2327242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}