The Jennifer Hudson Show returns for its third season on Monday, September 16 with a renewed focus on joy, positivity and inspiration, the show said Tuesday. 

Premiere week guests include Angela Bassett, Sofía Vergara, Dave Bautista and Marlon Waywans. Already booked to appear are such celebrities as Andrea Bocelli, Saweetie, Kristen Bell, Ariana DeBose, Rob Lowe, Jimmy Kimmel, Terence Howard, Sterling K. Brown and more. The show, with a theme this season of “choose joy,” also will continue to feature “uplifting content that resonates deeply with viewers” with a focus on “community heroes.”

The show is premiering one week after CBS’ Drew Barrymore, which returned for Season 5 on Monday, September 9 and two weeks after Disney’s Live with Kelly and Mark and Tamron Hall. NBCUniversal’s The Kelly Clarkson Show returns a week later on Monday, September 23, as does Debmar Mercury’s Sherri, starring Sherri Shepherd.

The Jennifer Hudson Show airs for one hour each weekday on such station groups as Fox Television Stations, Hearst Television, Sinclair, Tegna, Nexstar Media Group, the E.W. Scripps Co. and Gray Media Group, among others. 

The Jennifer Hudson Show is produced by JHUD Productions and Warner Bros. Unscripted Television in association with Telepictures. It’s distributed in national syndication by Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution. Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony (EGOT) winner Jennifer Hudson executive produces along with Andy Lassner, Corey Palent, Graehme Morphy and Walter Williams III. 

The Drew Barrymore Show premieres its fifth season on Monday, September 9, along with other syndicated talk shows, including NBCUniversal’s Kelly Clarkson. Drew Barrymore’s opening-day guests include the hosts of CBS Mornings: Gayle King, Nate Burleson, Vlad Duthiers and Tony Dokoupil as well as Dax Shephard, host of the Armchair Expert podcast.

This year’s starts of syndie talk shows are staggered: Disney’s Live with Kelly and Mark and Disney’s Tamron Hall debuted their new seasons on Tuesday, September 3. Warner Bros.’ The Jennifer Hudson Show returns on Monday, September 16 and Debmar-Mercury’s Sherri Shepherd comes back Monday, September 23.

Valerie Bertinelli joins Drew Barrymore this season as a member of the “Drew Crew.” Bertinelli will serve as one of the show’s lifestyle experts, joining Drew’s News co-anchor Ross Mathews, hairstylist Chris Appleton, interior designer Mikel Welch, chef Pilar Valdes, fashion and beauty expert Zanna Roberts Rassi and sustainable living guru Danny Seo.

Guests scheduled to appear early in season five include such celebrities and influencers as Demi Moore, Chris Hemsworth, Zoë Kravitz, Eva Mendes, David Beckham, Stephen Colbert, Justin Theroux, Demi Lovato, Lucien Laviscount, Matty Matheson, Hilary Swank, Ms. Rachel, Tony Danza, Jeff Bridges, 50 Cent, Aubrey Plaza, James McAvoy, Shailene Woodley, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Kate McKinnon, Brooke Shields, Riley Keough, Kathy Bates and more.  

Drew Barrymore, which has scored an early renewal for season six and scored upgrades this season, will introduce a new segment this season, “Wellsdays,” which will air every Wednesday and tackle health and wellness issues that affect everyone. The will continue to feature other segments, including charitable segment “Drew-Gooders,” interior design segment “Design by Drew,” and “The Weekender.”

Drew Barrymore is produced and distributed by CBS Media Ventures and filmed before a live audience in New York City. It’s produced as two half-hours and airs across stations either as a half-hour, one hour or two separate half-hour segments in different time periods. Barrymore and Jason Kurtz executive produce. 

Mounting shows in first-run syndication has become financially daunting as production costs have risen and ratings have plummeted. As a result, TV stations and producers are finding innovative ways to get offerings on the air — acquiring shows off streaming services, allowing them to air concurrently on other platforms, expanding existing programs and creating local offerings that can also run regionally. While local linear television is an increasingly challenged business, broadcasters are devising interesting new solutions to solve their programming problems. 

“It’s really hard to pay for things these days,” Fox Television Stations executive VP Frank Cicha said. “People are figuring out how to do some interesting stuff to pay for new programming. That’s the upside and the optimism of it all.” 

Dual- (or more) stream financing is “necessary now,” Stacy Rader, senior VP, first-run development and brand extensions at CBS Media Ventures (CMV), said. “Single-source financing is hard to pull off these days, particularly for new product.”

Fox this fall will launch six programs: Good Morning Football: Overtime from NFL Network and Sony Pictures Television; Flip Side from CBS Media Ventures and Game Show Network; and two new true-crime shows: Warner Bros.’ True Crime News and Trifecta’s Crime Expose With Nancy O’Dell. Fox has its own limited-edition news program, Battleground, which is airing across its own group and on a few other stations. And Fox picked up an off-network run of Suits from NBCUniversal that will air weekly in primetime on its MyNet stations. Separately, Warner Bros. is debuting Chuck Lorre’s off-CBS Bob Hearts Abishola on stations across the country.

Fox has a big advantage over other station groups in clearing shows, with duopolies in the top three markets of New York, Los Angeles and Chicago and plenty of periods to fill. As a result, all roads lead through Fox. 

Fox Likes Live and Local

Fox has some specific priorities for its syndicated programs: ideally they are day-and-date — a mandate filled by shows like GMFB: Overtime and True Crime News — and it’s even better if they offer a live component. Fox also seeks shows that allow close integration with its owned TV stations. True Crime News plans to work with its local affiliates to showcase crime stories from their markets, for example. Fox already has sent its Good Day LA team from KTTV Los Angeles to Inglewood to shoot on the SoFi Stadium-based set of GMFB: Overtime. 

Fox also is producing more shows that work regionally. For example, The Jason Show comes from Fox’s KMSP Minneapolis-St. Paul but airs regionally in 11 markets. 

Lifestyle talk show Portia airs on Fox-owned stations in Atlanta, Orlando and San Francisco, as well as on Fox-owned streamer Fox Soul, which is programmed to connect with Black audiences, and on faith-based streamer Impact Network.  

Fox this fall also is doing something completely different with Battleground, a news-oriented program that will cover politics in the country’s swing states. In its final 60 days or so, the presidential election continues to be hard-fought, dramatic and too close to call. Fox aims to help viewers keep track of it all via Battleground, which is hosted by S.E. Cupp and features reporting from across Fox’s station groups and from reporters from Gannett, McClatchy and the Las Vegas Review-Journal. 

“It’s really hyperlocal and it’s all about the swing states,” Stephen Brown, executive VP, programming and development, Fox First Run and Fox Television Stations, said. “We’re in every single market in Michigan and Wisconsin. We’re leaning into what we see on the ground and how that’s affecting the race.” 

This fall’s biggest swing, GMFB: Overtime, is a two-hour expansion of Good Morning Football, a two-hour sports talk panel that has aired on NFL Network since 2016 and has relocated to Los Angeles from New York. The expansion series will run on streaming service Roku and on TV stations, with Fox Television Stations serving as the show’s broadcast launch group and the show cleared in 92% of the country. Half of the stations who are airing the show will be taking it live, Flory Bramnick, executive VP, distribution, Sony Pictures Television, said. 

Stations also can air the show in two-hour blocks or split it into two separate hours to run at different times of day. GMFB: Overtime is a prime example of a show that’s being produced under a more flexible economic model.

Even back when executive producer Michael Davies was pitching the show to the NFL, he knew that “the show needed to be more famous” than just one daily run on the NFL Network could make it. 

“In an era of declining linear cable, we needed to be more distribution forward.” Davies said. “I really believed we could make this show work and not just as an NFL show or a sports-talk show. This goes beyond sports.” 

Davies brought with him a lot of experience in syndication, having developed and produced Who Wants To Be a Millionaire for ABC in primetime and then in syndication from 2002-2019, and having executive produced Jeopardy! since 2021. 

Sony and the NFL also had preexisting relationships with Roku, so it made sense to bring the streaming service in as well. 

“Overall, as a business, we are always looking for ways to expand the reach of our content, whether that content is live games or studio content and shows,” NFL Media VP, original content and entertainment Angela Ellis said. “This came up as an opportunity to get the GMFB brand out there in a way that gives it a lot more exposure.” 

And TV stations are more than happy to share: “Roku Channel is chipping in in a big way for GMFB: Overtime,” Cicha said. “To me, that needed to start happening about five years ago.”

True Crime Fits the Bill

Switching gears, True Crime News, hosted by Ana Garcia and produced by Warner Bros./Telepictures, will cover the day’s top crime stories. It’s been staffed up with assignment editors and producers who formerly worked for such news organizations as ABC, CBS, CNN, Vice and more. 

“We are the only program that will be covering true-crime news as it happens,” Albert Lewitinn, executive producer of True Crime News, said. The show is also executive-produced by Extra’s Jeremy Spiegel and Theresa Coffino. “We also have the ability to leverage all of the affiliates that are taking part in this. Fox, Scripps, Tegna, Hearst — they are all on board and it’s great to see them being partners with us in this. It’s a lot of back and forth between us and our affiliates — they’re the eyes and ears.”

That kind of collaboration appeals to stations looking to grab broader reach for their local news brands.

True Crime News is cleared in 98% of the country and in 204 markets. It already has a website, a YouTube channel and a video and audio podcast, hosted by Garcia, that have been up and running for years. The website gets an average of 2.5 million viewers per month, while the YouTube channel has 5.45 million subscribers. 

Also coming online this fall is Crime Exposé With Nancy O’Dell from Trifecta, Michael Eisner’s Tornante and Scott Sternberg Productions, with Sternberg as executive producer. Sternberg, who also has a strong reputation for producing game shows, has been in the true-crime business for years. ID’s On the Case with Paula Zahn, which Sternberg’s company executive produces and also streams on Max, just got renewed for a 15th season.

While True Crime News will cover the true-crime news of the day, Crime Exposé will focus on one murder in each half-hour episode. All cases that make it to air will already be through the trial and conviction phase, so every story has a beginning, middle and end — a format that true-crime addicts can’t seem to get enough of. 

“No one has done a true-crime murder story every day in first run,” Sternberg said. “But this makes sense because this audience just wants to consume as much of it as they can.”

It’s a bit of a homecoming for O’Dell, who is best known for her stints hosting Access Hollywood and Entertainment Tonight, but who worked as an on-air crime reporter in Charleston, South Carolina, earlier in her broadcast career.

Crime Exposé With Nancy O’Dell is cleared in just under 98% of the U.S. with 24 weeks of original programming. 

Trifecta also has renewed iCrime With Elizabeth Vargas for a third season, and the two shows are expected to be paired in many markets. iCrime relies on clips submitted by users, and in season three, plans to use even more clips at a faster pace. Both Crime Exposé and iCrime are sold on an all-barter basis. 

‘Flip Side’ Looks To Connect

Finally, CBS Media Ventures has partnered with Game Show Network to produce Flip Side, a half-hour game show starring Jaleel White, who audiences know as Steve Urkel from ‘90s sitcom Family Matters. 

White came to producers’ attention after making several appearances on current syndicated game shows Pictionary and 25 Words or Less.

“I feel like my place in the business is connecting with people,” White
said. “The celebrity thing is about how you make the viewer feel about themselves.”

White also is charged with ensuring the show stays on track while also keeping it fun and fast-paced. He’s been part of the show’s development since it began in 2020, joining CBS’s John Budkins, production company Keller/Noll and executive producer Ken Ross on Zoom calls once things really started picking up in the winter and spring of 2023.

“We liked Jaleel and wanted to find a vehicle for him,” Budkins, senior VP, programming and scheduling, CBS TV Stations, said. “We built the show around him and his talent for working wth people.”

Flip Side premieres September 9 on CBS-owned stations — mostly duopoly stations in top markets — and September 16 on GSN. CBS stations get the first run with GSN getting a second run shortly thereafter. 

“All of the platforms are completely different and social followers now are much savvier,” Rader said. “I look at the social piece as a way to get people engaged in playing the game so they want to see more of it on the linear side.” 

With more series coming to syndication from other platforms, the line between first-run and off-network is getting increasingly blurred. One interesting entry this fall is Suits, a one-hour drama from Universal that originally aired on USA Network from  2011 to 2019, and starred Patrick J. Adams, Gabriel Macht and Meghan Markle, who went on to marry Prince Harry and become globally famous. 

The show started running on Netflix in 2023 and shot to the top of the streaming charts. NBCUniversal Syndication Studios executive VP of syndication sales Sean O’Boyle saw the opportunity and took the show out to stations to run on an all-barter basis. MyNetworkTV, which airs one-hour off-net dramas in primetime, took NBCU up on its offer and will air Suits in a two-hour stack on Tuesday nights. It’s also been sold to stations covering more than 93% of the country (not including MyNet) on a “flexible scheduling” basis, meaning that stations can schedule the show however they want, whether that’s as a strip or once a week. 

Another off-network show coming to syndication this fall is Judy Justice, which stars Judge Judy Sheindlin and originally aired on Amazon Freevee. Judy Justice is the only new court show coming to syndication this fall after several years where multiple court shows were offered. 

Looking ahead, executives agree that first-run syndication will likely be financed by this type of creative dealmaking.

“Streaming and linear are complementary audiences and we are going where the viewers are,” Bramnick said. “Having multiple platforms and players involved means that the economics of the shows hold up.”

Drew Barrymore has been renewed through next season, the eponymous syndicated talker’s sixth, and it's been upgraded on CBS-owned stations ahead of this season, Wendy McMahon, president and CEO of CBS News and Stations and CBS Media Ventures, said Thursday. The Drew Barrymore Show premieres Season 5 with all-new episodes on Monday, September 9.

“Drew is a one-of-a-kind talent who is an integral part of the CBS and Paramount family,” McMahon said in a statement. “This early renewal and upgrades are a testament to our commitment to The Drew Barrymore Show and its loyal audience, who tune in every day to see Drew’s warmth, inquisitiveness and spontaneity.”

Indeed, besides hosting her daily talk show, Barrymore often appears across Paramount’s platforms, including as the star of a campaign for Pluto TV and in the company’s light-hearted and celebrity-packed Paramount Mountain spots. The Drew Barrymore Show is shot in front of a live studio audience in New York as two half-hours and runs either as a half, a whole or as split double run on TV stations across the country. 

This fall, Drew Barrymore has been upgraded on CBS-owned stations in six markets, including five of the top 10. It has also moved to NBC affiliate KPRC in Houston, where it will air in a one-hour block at 10 a.m.

“Over the last few seasons, stations have realized that The Drew Barrymore Show is like no other series in daytime, bringing Drew’s brand of positivity and ad-friendly content to viewers on a consistent basis,” McMahon added. “Many of these upgrades now pair Drew with a CBS Mornings lead-in, which has proven to be a powerful combination. This season, in markets where Drew airs at 9 a.m., its ratings are 21% higher among total viewers when CBS Mornings is the lead-in.”

Accordingly, Drew will air in an hour-long block at 9 a.m., leading out of CBS Mornings, in No. 1 market New York on WCBS, in number-five market Dallas on KTVT, and in No. 8 market Boston on WBZ. 

On CBS-owned stations KYW Philadelphia, KPIX San Francisco and WFOR Miami, the show will air in one-hour blocks at 3 p.m. 

In the week ended July 14, The Drew Barrymore Show averaged a 0.7 live-plus-same day rating among households and a 0.2 among women 25-54, according to Nielsen Media Research. 

Drew Barrymore is produced and distributed by CBS Media Ventures. Jason Kurtz and Barrymore are executive producers. 

Family Guy is joining Comedy Central in an increasingly rare off-broadcast sale to a cable network. The off-Fox animated sitcom will launch on the network in an all-day marathon on Monday, September 2, which is Labor Day, and then join Comedy Central’s primetime lineup on Tuesday, September 3.

"We are excited to welcome Family Guy to Comedy Central joining the best in adult animation alongside South Park, Futurama, and Beavis and Butt-Head, among others," Laurel Weir, executive VP and head of programming, Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios and Paramount Media Networks, said in a statement. “Delivering bold, irreverent and culturally impactful content to our fans is our top priority, which makes Family Guy the perfect complement to our robust adult animation slate.”

The licensing agreement with Disney Entertainment was negotiated by chief programming acquisitions officer Barbara Zaneri on behalf of Paramount.

Family Guy has a long and storied history on broadcast and cable television. The animated show, created and executive produced by Seth MacFarlane, first premiered on Fox in 1999 but did not achieve immediate success. The show was canceled not once, but twice, before making its way to Cartoon Network where it aired in the network’s late-night Adult Swim block. There, it found a cult following that grew big enough, through both on-air viewings and DVD sales, that Fox ordered new episodes and redebuted the show in 2005. It remained part of Fox’s Animation Domination Sunday-night block — along with The Simpsons, Bob’s Burgers and other animated series — until last March, when it was moved to Wednesday nights.  

The Emmy-winning Family Guy is produced by 20th Television Animation and distributed by Disney Entertainment. Besides having created and executive producing the show,  MacFarlane also voices several characters, including Peter, Stewie and Brian. Rich Appel and Alec Sulkin serve as executive producers and showrunners, while Steve Callaghan, Tom Devanney, Danny Smith, Kara Vallow, Mark Hentemann, Patrick Meighan and Alex Carter are executive producers.

Streaming platform Roku has picked up streaming rights to Sony Pictures Television’s comedy The Goldbergs, to be made available to viewers for free on The Roku Channel. Starting August 1, all 10 seasons of The Goldbergs also will be featured on a FAST channel exclusively dedicated to the show. 

The Goldbergs is Sony’s latest deal with free streamer Roku. Earlier this month, Sony and the NFL announced that Roku would be airing NFL Network’s two-hour extension of popular weekday panel talker, Good Morning Football, titled GMFB: Overtime. TV stations also have picked up GMFB: Overtime  in syndication, with the Fox Television Stations serving as the launch group in major markets, including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. 

The Goldbergs entered broadcast syndication in 2017. The show is currently sold to television stations owned by Nexstar Media Group, Sinclair, Hearst Television, Tegna, Sunbeam Television, Gray Television, Cox Media Group and other station groups. The Goldbergs also is available to stream on Hulu. 

The Goldbergs, which is set in the Reagan-era ‘80s, tells the story of 11-year-old Adam, a would-be filmmaker whose subject matter focuses mostly on his overprotective mother, quick-tempered father, rebellious sister, high-strung brother and suave grandfather.

The Goldbergs aired on ABC from 2013 to 2023 and starred Wendi McLendon-Covey, Jeff Garlin, Hayley Orrantia, Sean Giambrone, Troy Gentile, George Segal, Patton Oswalt and Sam Lerner. The show is executive produced by Adam F. Goldberg, who also created it, along with Seth Gordon and Doug Robinson. Sony Pictures Television and Happy Madison Productions produced.

Access Hollywood and Access Daily with Mario & Kit will start previewing the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics starting Monday, July 22 with a week of special programming from Paris. The coverage will feature athletes from Team USA, celebrities who are on the scene in the City of Light, all of the fashion, festivities and more. 

Access Hollywood and Access Daily are both part of the NBCUniversal family, and NBCUniversal is firing up all of its platforms ahead of two weeks of Olympics competition starting July 26. 

Mario Lopez will anchor the show from Hollywood while Kit Hoover, Scott Evans and Zuri Hall will be on the ground in Paris. During the week, the three will tour iconic Paris locations including Versailles, the Eiffel Tower, Grand Palais, Arc de Triomphe and Place de la Concorde, showcasing the sites before and after their Olympic transformations. The correspondents also will head to the Champagne region to visit and tour the town of Épernay. Prior to the games, they’ll attend an exclusive Olympics arrival party, welcoming some of entertainment’s stars to the French capital ahead of the games. 

Evans will get up close and personal with Team USA, training with the women’s water polo team and fencing with two-time Olympian Miles Chamley-Watson. Hall will take a trip back in time to explore Parisian fashion icon Coco Chanel, touring her Paris apartment and heading to the Chanel perfumery lab to see how Chanel No. 5 is concocted. 

Team Access will cover all of the action at accesshollywood.com and on the show’s social channels, including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, X and TikTok. In Paris, they’ll produce such social-first original series as “Access Olympians,” “Medal This,” “Paris Playback” and “Behind the Easel.” Access Hollywood also has an Olympics-themed TikTok campaign so creators to share their own Paris experiences with an Access-branded filter that allows them to identify themselves as #AccessCouchCorrespondents. 

Good Morning Football, the NFL’s football-focused panel talk show, is further expanding with a new two-hour edition titled GMFB: Overtime that will stream on The Roku Channel starting Monday, July 29. 

That version of Good Morning Football will also air in broadcast syndication, with Fox Television Stations serving as the launch group. For the past seven years, Good Morning Football has aired each morning on NFL Network from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. ET. GMFB will launch a new season on the same day that Overtime premieres. 

“It is an honor to be the launch partner for GMFB: Overtime, the perfect addition to our Roku Sports offering,” Roku Media head of sports Joe Franzetta said in a statement. “This is an exciting milestone in our evolving partnership with the NFL, on the heels of the launch of our NFL Zone this past season and the second iteration of our Roku Original documentary series NFL Draft: The Pick Is In. We look forward to working with both Sony Pictures Television and the NFL to bring millions of fans free access to the latest in the NFL five days a week.”

Joining GMFB this season are former NFL defensive end Akbar Gbajabiamila, who has been with CBS' The Talk since September 2021 and also hosts NBC's American Ninja Warrior, and news reporter Sherree Burruss. GMFB also is hosted by Jamie Erdahl, Peter Schrager and Kyle Brandt, all of whom are moving to Los Angeles from New York. Both versions of the show will be produced from NFL Media’s studios in Los Angeles. 

“With GMFB: Overtime, we have an incredible opportunity to introduce this unique and beloved brand to an entirely new audience in all 30 NFL markets and beyond,” David Jurenka, senior vice president and general manager of NFL Media in Los Angeles, said. 

The expansion series is distributed in the U.S. by Sony Pictures Television while CBS Media Ventures is handling ad sales. 

“Partnering with the NFL is a dream come true. Opportunities like GMFB: Overtime are special and rare, and I’m grateful to the NFL for entrusting us with this jewel," Flory Bramnick, Sony Pictures Television, executive VP, distribution, said. “Roku is the ideal distribution partner for this show because they understand the NFL’s power to drive viewership and to create authentic fan engagement.”

Good Morning Football and GMFB: Overtime is produced by NFL Network, with Bill Hentschel and Becky Orenstein as showrunners and NFL Media VP of original content and entertainment Angela Ellis serving as executive in charge. Michael Davies of SPT-backed Embassy Row serves as executive producer for both series. Davies also executive produces Jeopardy! in broadcast syndication with special tournament and celebrity editions produced for ABC.

True Crime News, Warner Bros.’s new daily syndicated crime show, has been cleared in 98% of the country ahead of its September 9 debut, Warner Bros. Unscripted Television in association with Telepictures said Wednesday. 

True Crime News will launch on the Fox-owned stations in top markets New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and elsewhere. It also will air on stations owned by Nexstar Media Group, Sinclair, Hearst TV, CBS Stations, Scripps, Tegna, Sunbeam Television, Sinclair, Graham Media Group, Bahakel Communications, Mission Broadcasting, Lockwood Broadcast Group, Block Communications, Allen Media Group, Standard Media Group and Winston Broacasting Network. 

Journalist Albert Lewitinn has been named True Crime News showrunner and executive producer, joining executive producers Jeremy Spiegel and Theresa Coffino, who also oversee Warner Bros.’ entertainment news program Extra. Lewitinn has overseen news networks and newsrooms, working for such organizations as CBS News 24/7, ABC, CNN and CNBC. 

“I am eager to lead this exceptional team in crafting a groundbreaking program that will redefine true-crime journalism with real-time news reporting. As a daily show, we will bridge the gap between local-crime coverage and crimes of national interest, not only spotlighting true crimes in today’s headlines, but also delving into murder, mysteries, scams, frauds, and con artists,” Lewitinn said in a statement. “We will shed a light on each case in a compelling way that sparks conversation and allows viewers to feel invested in real mysteries unfolding before them each day.”

Ana Garcia, who also hosts True Crime News: The Podcast, is the show’s host. She is joined by senior staff and investigative journalists who previously worked for ABC News, CBS News, CNN and Vice.

True Crime News will produce 52 weeks of original programming — in some cases in partnership with its affiliates’ newsrooms — including breaking crime news, developing stories, murder mysteries, cold cases, missing persons, fugitives and scams. The show will also take advantage of its established digital presence, which has racked up more than 3 billion views, and of its podcast, which has been downloaded more than 30 million times annually. 

Judy Justice, Amazon Freevee’s streaming court show starring Judge Judy Sheindlin, is cleared in all 211 U.S. TV markets, said Scott Koondel, CEO, Sox Entertainment on Thursday. The show is set to premiere on such TV station groups as Nexstar Media Group, Gray Television, Sinclair, Tegna, Hearst Television, Sunbeam Television, Cox Media Group, E.W. Scripps, Weigel Broadcasting, Morgan Murphy Media, Mission Broadcasting, Coastal, News Press and Marquee on September 9.

"The broadcast marketplace has fully embraced the innovation of the streaming-to-broadcast syndication model by clearing Judy Justice in the most competitive marketplace,” said Scott Koondel, CEO of Sox Entertainment and executive producer of Judy Justice, in a statement. 

In January, Koondel said the show had been sold to stations from such broadcast groups as Nexstar, Sunbeam, Cox Media, Weigel and Mission Broadcasting, covering the country’s top 100 markets. 

Sox also has sold the show to Canada’s Citytv, a subsidiary of Rogers Sports & Media. 

Trifecta Entertainment & Media, which on Thursday also announced new syndicated true-crime series Crime Exposé with Nancy O’Dell, is set to sell the show’s national barter advertising, Koondel said. Judy Justice has been sold to stations on an all-barter basis, with stations keeping the revenue from local advertising time. 

Judy Justice premiered on Amazon Freevee in November 2021. Judge Sheindlin is joined in the courtroom by her granddaughter and newly minted lawyer Sarah Rose, who serves as the law clerk; court stenographer Whitney Kumar, a board-certified court reporter in the state of California; and bailiff Kevin Rasco, a retired Los Angeles probation officer. The program recently released its third season on Freevee and Prime Video with additional new episodes coming this fall.

Sheindlin also brought panel court show Tribunal Justice to Amazon Freevee. That show, which stars Judges Patricia DiMango, Tanya Ackner and Sheindlin’s son, Adam Levy, is expected to make its way to broadcast syndication in fall 2026. 

This fall, Sheindlin will be the creative force behind four syndicated court shows. Earlier this year, CBS Media Ventures renewed top-rated court show, Judge Judy, starring Sheindlin, and Judge Judy spin-off, Hot Bench, for two more years. Judge Judy went out of original production in 2021 and now airs on TV stations in repeats. 

Judy Justice is executive produced and directed by Randy Douthit and co-executive produced by Amy Freisleben. Koondel is also an executive producer. 

Crime Exposé with Nancy O'Dell, a new syndicated show, is set to premiere September 23 on Fox-owned stations in 11 major markets.

Trifecta Entertainment & Media, Tornante Television and Scott Sternberg Productions are producing the half-hour true crime series.

In addition to the Fox stations in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco, Seattle, Phoenix, Washington, D.C., Orlando, Minneapolis and Houston, Crime Exposé will air on Sinclair Broadcast Group stations in 52 markets. 

Stations owned by CBS Stations, Gray Television, Tegna, Scripps, Mission Broadcasting, Imagicomm and Cox Media Group have also picked up the show, giving its clearance in 95% of the U.S.

 Also Read: Stations Snap Up True Crime, Game Shows for Fall Season 

"Finally bringing daily original true crime to first-run syndication always made sense knowing the audience was there,” said Scott Sternberg, one of the show’s executive producers. “And to have our host, Nancy O’Dell, beloved in syndication, and who started as an investigative reporter, completed the puzzle.”

“When it comes to clearing shows in broadcast syndication, not all shows are created equal,” Kim Sterton, Trifecta’s national sales manager, added. “From the outset, the enthusiasm for our true crime format and iconic host, Nancy O’Dell, immediately elevated Crime Exposé With Nancy O'Dell to a different tier.”

Crime Exposé will cover one murder per episode, taking viewers through the investigation of the crime and how it was solved using interviews of the victim’s family, witnesses, actual court records and the law enforcement officials.

Each episode will end with the Safety Spotlight, a safety tip delivered by the series’ law enforcement safety contributor. 

“What an honor it is to be returning to daily television, especially with this amazing team of true professionals and experts in the crime space,” O’Dell said. “I started my TV career as a crime reporter and investigative journalist, so it is a full circle moment for me to return to my roots with this compelling show.”

Hank Cohen, CEO of Trifecta Entertainment, and O’Dell will executive-produce the series along with Sternberg. 

Pat Sajak closed out his final day on Wheel of Fortune with 11.03 million viewers, the largest audience to have tuned into the access game show in more than four years. 

Sajak’s last episode, which aired on Friday, June 7, was the most-watched telecast in all of television, excluding sports, among households with a 6.2 rating in the week ended Sunday, June 9, according to Nielsen. All five of that week’s episodes landed in TV’s top 15 telecasts among homes and total viewers, according to the show’s distributor, CBS Media Ventures. Across the total week, the Sony Pictures Television-produced show averaged a 5.0 rating in households, up 16% compared to the same week last year, and 8.5 million viewers. 

Sajak, 77, has hosted Wheel of Fortune for all of the 8,000 episodes and 41 seasons it has aired in syndication, making him the longest-running game-show host in television history. He surpassed The Price is Right’s late Bob Barker to take that title in 2018. Along the way, Sajak has won three Emmys for outstanding game-show host, as well as received the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences’ 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award. He is expected to remain with the show for three more years as a consultant.

Sajak’s co-host, Vanna White, 67, joined the show in 1982. Sajak will be replaced by Ryan Seacrest in September while White has signed to remain with Wheel of Fortune through the 2025-26 season. Bellamie Blackstone is the executive producer, having joined Wheel of Fortune in March 2022. 

Access Hollywood and spinoff Access Daily with Mario & Kit have been renewed through 2026 in national syndication, said Tracie Wilson, executive vice president, NBCUniversal Syndication Studios & E! News on Monday. The two shows will continue to air on the NBC Owned Television Stations as well as on stations from other broadcast groups. 

Hosted by Mario Lopez, Kit Hoover, Scott Evans and correspondent Zuri Hall, the renewal will bring Access Hollywood through its 30th season. Access Hollywood covers entertainment news as well as true crime, local heroes and viral moments. Access Daily — featuring Lopez, Hoover and Evans — is a one-hour syndicated entertainment news and lifestyle talk show that highlights the latest trends in fashion, food, beauty, human interest, viral sensations and more. Access Daily has been on the air for 14 seasons.

“We’re thrilled to continue our successful partnership with the NBC-owned stations, bringing the Access brand to local stations for additional seasons,” Wilson said in a statement. “Our talented hosts have incredible chemistry and our seasoned production team work tirelessly to bring viewers quality content each day on Access Hollywood and Access Daily.”

“Access Hollywood and Access Daily deliver engaging and entertaining content to our audiences, which has made them an indelible part of our NBC stations’ lineups,” said Therese Gamba, chief marketing officer and executive vice president of acquired programming, NBCUniversal Local. “We’re excited to continue to serve as the home of Access Hollywood and Access Daily in leading markets across the nation.”

This season, which is Access Hollywood’s 28th, the show is averaging more than 1.1 million viewers each day, according to NBCUniversal Syndication Studios. The shows’ digital platform, Access Digital, reaches more than 6.6 million followers and racked up more than 1 billion views in 2023, NBCU said.  

Tegna said it was ending production of Daily Blast Live, which has aired on Tegna stations since it was launched in 2017. 

“Daily Blast Live will be sunset after this season’s final show on Friday, September 6,” Tegna said in a statement.

We wish to thank our incredibly talented on-air talent and production team for bringing daytime viewers seven seasons of energetic, humorous and thoughtful debate. We look forward to celebrating DBL’s best moments in the coming months ahead of the show’s conclusion,” Tegna said.

Daily Blast Live, originally called BOLD (Broadcast Online Live Daily) replaced Tegna’s talk show T.D. Jakes. 

Tegna and partner Sony Pictures Television shopped the show to other station groups, but couldn’t get those broadcasters to pay a licence fee.  It launched on 36 Tegna stations covering 25% of the country and  later appeared in about 50 markets.

Daily Blast Live was designed to be produced fresh for each time zone, covering the stories people were talking about.

Portia, a half-hour lifestyle program, has been picked up for a third season by streaming network Fox Soul, where it airs back-to-back weekdays at 7 p.m. ET. The show, which is hosted by Portia Bruner, also airs on select Fox-owned television stations in Atlanta, San Francisco and Orlando, Florida, as well as on the Impact Network, a faith-based network that serves urban audiences. 

“Portia has developed a strong base of viewers across the country and we love having her as a part of the daily lineup,” said Stephen Brown, executive VP of programming and development for Fox Television Stations and Fox First Run, in a statement.  

Five days a week, Portia covers such topics as faith, family issues, health, fitness and social issues that impact communities nationwide. Each episode focuses on a single subject with expertise supplied by key guests. Kathy Sapp, who previously oversaw Judge Alex and Judge Faith, executive produces while Fox First Run distributes. Portia is available to other stations across the country. 

“What a blessing this is — for all of us! The renewal is a huge win for the Black women, men and children whose stories inspire viewers from all walks of life,” said Bruner, also in a statement. “Candid and thoughtful conversations about our faith, our mental health, our achievements and even how we triumph over tragedy provide the daily dose of positivity our viewers expect from this show. I'm grateful for the opportunity to keep sharing stories that inform, empower and entertain the community in such a meaningful way.”

In its second season, Portia became the second most-popular series on Fox Soul, with more than 600,000 unique viewers each month, up 68% compared to the same time period last year, according to Fox. Portia also has more than 500,000 streams on its YouTube channel.

Bruner joined Fox-owned WAGA Atlanta in 2003 and began hosting Portia on Fox Soul in 2002. Prior to hosting Portia, she anchored WAGA’s Fox 5 News at Noon and reported for the station’s nightly newscasts. Before coming to WAGA, Bruner was the consumer reporter at WTKR Norfolk, Virginia, and an anchor and reporter at WAPT Jackson, Mississippi. Bruner began her career in broadcasting as a researcher and producer in the consumer news unit at NBC’s WRC Washington, D.C. She is a graduate of Howard University. 

Fox First Run is launching Battleground, which begins Tuesday with a weekly email newsletter, then a weekly 30-minute TV show on June 10, and finally a strip on August 12. Battleground will air on all of Fox’s owned-and-operated stations as well as on Bahakel Communications-owned The CW affiliate WCCB Charlotte, North Carolina.

Battleground will focus specifically on the seven swing states — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — that collectively have 93 electoral votes. 

“In what is shaping up to be a record political advertising year in local media, this initiative positions us to reap the benefits of exuberant spending on all sides,” Stephen Brown, executive VP of programming and development for Fox Television Stations and Fox First Run, said in a statement. “Our offering is unique in that local media — the newspapers, television, and radio stations — are ingrained in these communities and thus can provide a deeper, more nuanced understanding of how voters will decide this election in each of those states.”

The move reveals how flexible and responsive TV stations can be when they aren’t as locked into network and syndication schedules as they once were. 

Battleground will be executive produced by Neal Kendall (Piedmont Studios, Love and Respect With Killer Mike, The Arsenio Hall Show and Tavis Smiley) in partnership with Fox-owned stations in those seven swing states and WCCB.

“By harnessing the power of the dedicated and talented local journalists in each of these critical swing states, Battleground will allow us the distinct opportunity to shine a light on the particular people, places, and issues that will ultimately decide the 2024 election,” Kendall said, also in a statement. “Our viewers and the campaigns that are spending political money will both be paying attention.”

Along with anchor S.E. Cupp, political correspondents from Fox’s stations in those markets will contribute reporting to the show, including Jeff Cole and Shiba Russell from WTXF Philadelphia; Russ Spencer from WAGA Atlanta; John Hook, Ellen McNamara and Steve Nielsen from KSAZ Phoenix and Jason Calvi from WITI Milwaukee. 

Cupp, who considers herself a “practical conservative,” currently works as a political commentator for CNN as well as a nationally syndicated columnist. She graduated from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and serves as an advisory member for the school’s Institute of Politics and Global Affairs. Cupp earned a master's degree from New York University.

“All politics is local,” Cupp said. “These seven swing states have crucial stories to tell, and our fantastic team of reporters and producers will bring these local conversations to a national audience in a unique and rigorous manner, from right where it's happening — on the ground.”

Political advertising is expected to hit a record high this year — surpassing $12 billion, according to eMarketer — and TV stations in top markets in swing states are positioned to benefit the most from that spending. President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, and former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, are scheduled to debate June 27 on CNN and September 10 on ABC. There are close Senate races taking place in most swing states, including Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin as well as Florida, Maryland, Montana, Ohio and Texas. 

In a major move for the pay-per-view business, industry PPV event aggregator In Demand will close its doors at the end of 2025.

In Demand CEO Dale Hopkins in a Friday memo to staffers said the company, owned by Comcast, Charter Communications and Cox Communications, will close at the end of 2025 and transition services to its owner companies over the next 18 months.

“We will do everything in our power to minimize any disruptions to our partners, owners, affiliates, and most importantly, the customers who have always been our North Star," Hopkins said in the memo. "It's never easy to make the decision to close a company, but with the rapidly evolving media landscape, the board determined this was the most sustainable outcome.” 

Formerly known as Viewer’s Choice before being branded In Demand in 2000, the company has served as the distribution liaison between event promoters and MVPD’s for hundreds of major pay-per-view boxing, wrestling and concerts, including the 2015 Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao fight, which drew a record 4.6 million PPV buys.

In 2022 the company launched the PPV.com app, allowing viewers to order and watch PPV events digitally. The app will continue to operate beyond the In Demand shutdown, said the company.   

“Over the last four decades, the innovative, talented, and dedicated employees of In Demand took a groundbreaking concept and built a solutions-driven company that is the gold standard of our industry today,” she said.” I am proud of our continued achievements and service over the years.”

In Demand’s decision follows Showtime’s 2024 departure from the PPV boxing business.   

Hopkins told Multichannel News that despite the decision to close In Demand in 2025, the PPV transactional business on both the linear and digital platforms is still strong. Indeed, the PPV event category is coming off a strong 2023, which delivered its first 1 million buy boxing event in more than two years with Showtime’s Ryan Garcia-Gervonta Davis event. 

“Keeping boxing and other [PPV events] on linear cable and also on the PPV.com direct-to-consumer app continues to be a very important goal for the industry,” she said. 

As for In Demand’s legacy, Hopkins said the company helped revolutionize the industry’s transactional business. “We were able to develop a turnkey, soup-to-nuts solution of VOD and PPV delivery for the entire cable industry from the early days of video delivery to now,” she said. “Our partners will continue to deliver these products to consumers and support the companies that supply the content.”

Good Morning Football, an NFL-focused panel talk show that has aired on NFL Network since 2016, is coming to broadcast syndication with the Fox Television Stations serving as the show’s launch partner in the nation’s largest markets. Good Morning Football — also referred to as GMFB — is slated to debut in broadcast syndication on Monday, September 2 to kick off the season. 

“Adding additional NFL-based content to our lineups, this time on a Monday-Friday basis, makes too much sense for us not to do,” Frank Cicha, executive VP, programming, Fox Television Stations, said in a statement. “The fact that GMFB is already a successful franchise enhances it even more.”

Fox owns stations in the country's largest markets — including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago — and many of its owned markets have NFL franchises. In 2021, Fox reupped its rights for its package of mainly Sunday-afternoon NFC games, which the network has through 2033. 

The show’s production is relocating to Los Angeles and adding an extra two hours of news, interviews and lively discussions. Those extra two hours are being licensed to TV stations to air as a Monday-through-Friday strip in whatever time periods they see fit. The original two hours will continue to run on NFL Network with new episodes returning to the channel this summer. 

Also Read: Syndication's Old Rules No Longer Apply

“Football is a subject that fans around the country want to engage around – anytime, anywhere. And, in a competitive media landscape, it is a jewel that continues to attract a live audience, drawing record appointment viewing,” Flory Bramnick, executive VP, distribution, Sony Pictures Television, said also in a statement. “We’re excited to bring Good Morning Football to the syndication marketplace because it offers our buyers many benefits, from connecting their audience to the NFL and the No. 1 sport in the nation, to driving extraordinary advertiser appeal.”

Good Morning Football is produced by NFL Network. Michael Davies of SPT-backed Embassy Row serves as executive producer, along with executive producing SPT’s Jeopardy! SPT handles U.S. distribution for the syndicated extension series while CBS Media Ventures is selling the ad inventory. 

MeTV Toons, the latest digital broadcast network from Weigel Broadcasting, will debut June 25, Weigel vice chairman Neal Sabin said at a virtual press conference on Wednesday. The new network is a collaboration between Warner Bros. Discovery and Weigel that will deliver classic animation to viewers across free over-the-air broadcast channels and on traditional and virtual MVPD platforms as a free advertising-supported streaming television (FAST) channel.

“We are honored to work with the amazing team at Warner Bros. Discovery and others on this network to bring together a truly incredible collection of the world’s best-known and most-loved classic cartoons, creating a new destination for everyone to discover or rediscover the sheer joy of watching cartoons on TV,” Sabin said in a statement. 

“Neal and the team at Weigel have been long-standing and innovative licensing partners of Warner Bros. content for decades,” David Decker, president of content sales for Warner Bros. Discovery, said also in a statement. “Having some of the Studio’s most iconic animated characters all available in one place is not only great for fans of classic animation, but also just super fun!”

Also Read: Nexstar Will Move The CW Affiliation to WGN Chicago

Besides Warner Bros. Discovery, Weigel also is aggregating classic animation content from such producers as MGM, Paramount Pictures, Fleischer Studios, Walter Lantz Productions, Terrytoons, Jay Ward Productions, Hanna-Barbera Studios, Universal Studios, Columbia Pictures and others. MeTV Toons will feature classic cartoons like Looney Tunes, Scooby-Doo, Tom & Jerry, The Jetsons and many more. 

“There is going to be a tremendous amount of variety on this network and it will all be focused on original versions of classic cartoons,” Sabin said.

MeTV Toons will air in all markets where Weigel owns stations — including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Houston and St. Louis — covering 40% of the country. It also will air on non-Weigel station lineups in other markets, Sabin said.

Animation author, history and executive Jerry Beck and voice actor Bob Bergen are joining the new network at launch. Beck will help produce original content intended to expand and enhance the viewing experience. Bergen — who has voiced such classic animated characters as Porky Pig, Tweety Bird and Marvin the Martian – will serve as the network’s signature voice. 

After the launch on June 25, Weigel will do another promotional push for the new network on Bugs Bunny’s July 27 birthday, Weigel Network Marketing senior VP Will Givens said. Weigel and its partners also plan to present a panel at San Diego Comic-Con later this summer.

MeTV Toons network joins Weigel’s other digital broadcast networks MeTV, Heroes & Icons, Start TV, Catchy Comedy, Movies!, Story Television, Dabl and MeTV Plus. 

Judge Judy and Hot Bench, CBS Media Ventures’ genre-leading court shows, have been renewed through the 2025-26 TV season in more than 95% of the country, Greg Guenther, senior VP of domestic sales for CBS Media Ventures, said in a statement on Friday. 

Judge Judy, starring Judge Judy Sheindlin, had previously been renewed by the CBS- and Fox-owned television stations. Joining CBS and Fox are the Sinclair, Nexstar Media Group, E.W. Scripps, Tegna, Gray Television, Hearst Television and Weigel Broadcasting groups. Judge Judy ended original production in May 2021 and has been airing on TV stations in repeats ever since.

“In the third year of its library run, Judge Judy is the most powerful court show on the air, averaging 6.1 million viewers and ranking fourth out of all shows in national syndication. No other show can claim a proven track record like Judge Judy,” said Guenther in a statement.

Also Read: Syndication Seeks a Court Comeback

Hot Bench, a panel talk show created by Sheindlin that was launched in 2014, was reupped for two more years by CBS Stations in major markets, as well as stations owned by Sinclair, Nexstar, Tegna, Scripps, Fox, Gray and Weigel.

“Hot Bench is the only court show to grow year over year this season, increasing 14% in total viewers and 13% among the key women 25-54 demographic,” Guenther said, citing Nielsen.

Sheindlin is poised to be the creative force behind four syndicated court shows. Besides starring in Judge Judy, she also created and executive produced Hot Bench for CBS. After Judge Judy concluded in 2021, Sheindlin moved her operation over to Amazon where she stars in and executive produces Judy Justice for Amazon Freevee. She also created panel talk show Tribunal Justice, which stars Sheindlin’s son, Adam Levy, as well as two of Hot Bench’s original stars, Judges Patricia DiMango and Tanya Ackner. Judy Justice premieres in national syndication this fall, with Tribunal Justice expected to join in fall 2026. 

Robert Rose and his AIM Tell-A-Vision Group, producer, host and distributor of socially conscious travel series including Raw Travel, has announced the first of a four-part docuseries My Summer In Ukraine, which launches into national broadcast syndication this weekend (April 27-28).

Rose expects that by the time the four-part series concludes its run May 18-19, national clearance will reach 97% of U.S. TV homes. He also told us he expects My Summer in Ukraine to reach a cumulative audience of 3.5 - 4.5 million viewers.

Also Read: Five Spot: Robert Rose, Producer/Creator/Host, ‘Raw Travel’

“It’s an honor to be part of Ukraine's fight for freedom and survival,“ Rose said. “However, it’s an honor I would gladly forego if it meant Ukrainians didn't have to suffer through this horrific, illegal and unjust attack on their sovereignty and very existence. It feels like my life purposely led me here, so I’m committed to Ukraine until victory and beyond.”

Rose, who has previously traveled and produced Raw Travel in Ukraine, as well as other politically charged locations including Haiti, Cuba, China and Vietnam, spent a month back in Ukraine last summer, highlighting seemingly unlikely moments of joy amidst the devastation.

The trip took Rose to Kyiv, Bucha, Hostomel, Irpin, Odesa, Kharkiv and various villages in order to profile humanitarians, filmmakers, soldiers and others on the front lines of a global struggle against tyranny.

Trailers for the series can be found on the show’s website, while viewers tuning in locally can find information on Raw Travel's regional channel guide.

After Thursday night’s sneak peek, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences on Friday announced the rest of this year’s Daytime Emmy nominees. 

NBCUniversal’s The Kelly Clarkson, last year’s winning talk show, again was nominated as outstanding daytime talker. Kelly Clarkson, the host of which also is nominated for best daytime talk-show host, is joined in that category by Warner Bros.’ The Jennifer Hudson Show, Disney’s Tamron Hall and The View and Disney Plus’ Turning the Tables with Robin Roberts. 

Neither Hudson nor Roberts is nominated for best talk host, while Hall and the hosts of The View join Clarkson, Live’s Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos, and the hosts of The Talk. Disney’s talk leader, Live with Kelly and Mark, was not nominated in the talk-show category.

The full list of nominations followed Thursday night’s release of a few key categories across entertainment news programs Access Hollywood, E! News, Entertainment Tonight and Extra. The three syndicated entertainment news magazines all were nominated for best entertainment news magazine on Friday.

Nominated for outstanding legal or courtroom program were CBS’ Hot Bench, Amazon Freevee’s Judy Justice, Warner Bros.’ canceled The People’s Court and Allen Media Group’s Justice for the People with Judge Milian (hosted by The People’s Court’s Marilyn Milian) and We the People with Judge Lauren Lake. 

Besides daytime talk-show host (and culinary show host), the rest of the hosting categories were split into two this year: Daytime Personality – Daily and Daytime Personality – Non-Daily. Nominated in the first category are Caught in Providence’s 87-year-old judge, Frank Caprio, who announced in December that he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Joining Caprio are the co-hosts and correspondents of Entertainment Tonight, led by Kevin Frazier and Nischelle Turner; the host and correspondents of CBS’ Inside Edition, led by anchor Deborah Norville; Divorce Court’s Star Jones and Robert Hernandez; and Judge Judy Sheindin, her granddaughter Sarah Rose, Whitney Kumar and Kevin Rasco of Judy Justice. 

Two stars more widely known for their non-soap opera work snagged nominations in the guest-actor category, with Guy Pearce grabbing a nod for Australia’s long-running Neighbors, which airs on Amazon Freevee, and 98-year-old Dick Van Dyke earning a nomination for his guest turn on Peacock’s Days of Our Lives. 

All of the nominations for the 51st annual Daytime Emmys can be found here.

The 51st Annual Daytime Emmy Awards will air live Friday, June 7 from 8 - 10 p.m. ET (delayed in PT) on CBS and will stream on Paramount Plus. The Creative Arts and Lifestyle Emmy Awards will be presented on Saturday, June 8, with that ceremony streamed on the Emmys app and at watch.TheEmmys.tv. Both ceremonies are being held at the Westin Bonaventure in downtown Los Angeles.

That will mark the 18th time the Daytime Emmys will have streamed on CBS, the most of any network. CBS also airs two of the three remaining soap operas that run on broadcast television — The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful. ABC still airs General Hospital, while NBC’s Days of Our Lives moved to NBCUniversal’s streaming service, Peacock, in 2022. After bouncing around from network to network for a few years, the Daytime Emmys in 2020 moved back to CBS, where they have remained. 

Subscribers to Paramount Plus Premium also will be able to stream the live feed of their local CBS affiliate or watch the show on-demand. Essential-tier subscribers will be able to watch on-demand on the following day.

Daytime fans got a sneak peek at nominations for the 51st annual Daytime Emmys, with the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) announcing the nods for outstanding daytime drama, lead actor and lead actress as well as outstanding daytime talk-show host(s) across three syndicated magazines — Entertainment Tonight, Access Hollywood and Extra. E! News was slated to announce the nominations for outstanding talk show on Thursday night at 8:30 p.m. PT. The rest of the nominations will be released Friday at noon ET. 

Extra started with the nominations for outstanding lead performance by an actor in a daytime drama series with nods going to Eric Braeden of CBS’s The Young and the Restless, and to Scott Clifton, Thorsten Kaye and John McCook of CBS’s The Bold and the Beautiful. Eric Martsolf of Peacock’s Days of Our Lives also scored a nomination. 

Entertainment Tonight announced the nominations for outstanding lead performance by an actress in a daytime drama series and for daytime talk show host. Nominated actresses are Days of Our Lives’ Tamara Brawn, General Hospital’s Finola Hughes and Cynthia Watros, The Bold and the Beautiful’s Katherine Kelly Lang and Annika Noelle and The Young and the Restless’ Michelle Stafford. 

Mentioned for outstanding daytime talk-show host were last year’s winner, Kelly Clarkson, along with Live’s husband-and-wife team of Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos, Tamron Hall and the panels of ABC’s The View and CBS’ The Talk, which will end its 15-season run at the end of the year. 

Access Hollywood reported the nominations for outstanding daytime drama series, with all four of the remaining network soaps — The Young and the Restless, The Bold and the Beautiful, Days of Our Lives and General Hospital — garnering mentions. Joining them were two shows off of streamers: Amazon Freevee’s Neighbours, the Australian soap opera that launched the careers of such Aussie actors as Margot Robbie, Russell Crowe, Chris Hemsworth, Guy Pearce and more; and PopstarTV’s The Bay, which has won the Daytime Emmy 23 times including five for outstanding digital drama series. General Hospital won this award last year. The Daytime Emmys will have a new daytime drama to consider come 2025 with CBS planning to debut new soap opera The Gates next January.

The 51st Annual Daytime Emmy Awards will air live Friday, June 7 on CBS and will stream on Paramount Plus. Ceremonies will take place at the Westin Bonaventure in downtown Los Angeles.

That will mark the 18th time the Daytime Emmys will have streamed on CBS, the most of any network. CBS also airs two of the three remaining soap operas that run on broadcast television — The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful. ABC still airs General Hospital, while NBC’s Days of Our Lives moved to NBCUniversal’s streaming service, Peacock, in 2022. After bouncing around from network to network for a few years, the Daytime Emmys moved back to CBS in 2020 and have remained there ever since.

Subscribers to Paramount Plus Premium also will be able to stream the live feed of their local CBS affiliate or watch the show on-demand. Essential-tier subscribers will be able to watch on-demand on the following day.

Live With Kelly and Mark remains TV’s top entertainment talk show as Kelly Ripa and her co-host and husband Mark Consuelo celebrate their one-year anniversary of doing the show together, Disney Entertainment said Wednesday.

According to Disney, Live has increased its viewership by 3% this year compared to last, with 2.288 million people on average tuning in compared to 2.229 million last year. Live also leads among daytime’s key demographics of women 25-54 and 18-49 with a 0.3 and 0.5 live-plus-same-day ratings among those demos, according to Nielsen. In the week ended April 7, Live averaged a 1.6 live-plus-same-day rating among households to lead all of daytime talk and come in well ahead of the second highest-rated talker, NBCUniversal’s Kelly Clarkson, which averaged a 1.0 in households in the same week. 

Live with Kelly and Mark, known as Live with Kelly and Ryan when hosted by Ripa and Ryan Seacrest, has led all daytime talk shows, both network and syndicated, for the past four seasons, according to Disney. Live got its start in national syndication in September 1988 as Live With Regis and Kathie Lee. It has gone through many iterations over the years, with Ripa joining in February 2001 after Kathie Lee Gifford exited. Philbin left in November 2011 and was replaced with Michael Strahan, a former New York Giants player and longtime Fox NFL Sunday panelist, in September 2012. Strahan stayed for four years and then decamped for a full-time role on ABC’s Good Morning America, where he remains today. He was replaced by Ryan Seacrest, who remained for seven years. Consuelo, who had joined his wife as a frequent guest co-host over the years, officially joined in April 2023.

Disney Entertainment distributes Live with Kelly and Mark in national syndication. The show is produced by WABC New York and executive produced by Michael Gelman and Ripa.

Bob Hearts Abishola will premiere in broadcast syndication this fall on such station groups as Nexstar Media Group, Sinclair, Hearst Television, Tegna, E.W. Scripps, Weigel Broadcasting, Sunbeam Television, Gray Television, Mission Broadcasting, Lockwood Broadcast Group and Bahakel Broadcasting, Warner Bros. Discovery Content Sales confirmed Wednesday. 

The Warner Bros. Television sitcom, which is concluding its five-season run on CBS, is joining its Chuck Lorre-produced siblings — The Big Bang Theory, Young Sheldon and Two and a Half Men — in syndication. Bob Hearts Abishola also has been sold to stations in a three-year deal, starting this fall and running through 2026-27 — which is also when Two and a Half Men’s fourth cycle expires. The Big Bang Theory and Young Sheldon, which premiered in syndication in fall 2021, are renewed through the 2025-26 syndicated TV season. Young Sheldon’s first five seasons debuted on Netflix in November with season six coming to the streaming service in February.

“Nexstar couldn’t be more thrilled to welcome Bob Hearts Abishola to our stations, standing proudly among the other outstanding Chuck Lorre comedies that we currently have on our slate,” Nexstar president, networks Sean Compton said. “It’s an exciting addition that promises to deliver a lot of laughter and heartfelt moments to our viewers.”

Bob Hearts Abishola stars Billy Gardell as Bob, a middle-aged compression sock businessman in Detroit who falls for his cardiac nurse, Abishola (Folake Olowofoyeku), a Nigerian immigrant, while recovering from a heart attack. Undaunted by Abishola’s initial lack of interest or vast differences in their backgrounds, Bob is determined to win her heart, and eventually marries her in this comedic examination of immigrant life in America.

“Working on Bob Hearts Abishola has been a joy,” creator and executive producer Chuck Lorre said in a statement. “From the authentic perspective our cast brings to their roles to the rich cultural experience our writers and crew bring to life each week, Bob Hearts Abishola has truly shown that immigrants make America great, and that love comes in many forms.  I’m happy that audiences will be able to continue to enjoy these beautiful stories in syndication for years to come.”

Lorre, Gina Yashere and Matt Ross are executive producers. The show is produced by Chuck Lorre Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television. 

Frndly TV, the low-priced, family-friendly streaming service, said it launched a channel store where users can sign up for subscription streaming services.

Lifetime Movie Club, History Vault, A&E Crime Central, from A+E Networks, and Great American Pure Flix will be added to the channel store. 

Frndly already had a deal offering subscriptions to Hallmark Movies Now as an add-on.

“By making these SVOD services available to our subscribers in one central location, we are further serving our customers with more options for their enjoyment — and providing these services with a national distribution outlet that makes their programming available to millions of potential viewers,” Frndly TV co-founder and chief programming officer Michael McKenna said. “While there is fragmentation and unbundling throughout the pay TV industry, we are very pleased to add these great offerings to Frndly TV and bring them together under one roof with the easiest user experience possible, and the convenience of a single billing account.”

Frndly has somewhere between 750,000 and 1 million subscribers and said it is growing its revenues and turning a profit.

Frndly was among the first virtual multichannel video programming distributors (vMVPD) to carry broadcast multicast channels and is now planning to carry broadcast stations in some markets.

The new subscription services would come on top of Frndly’s base price of $6.99 a month.

Lifetime Movie Club is an ad-free subscription video service that offers new and classic Lifetime Movies of all genres. New movies and themed playlists are added each week. Lifetime Movie Club will be available to all Frndly TV subscribers for $4.99 per month or $49.99 per year.

History Vault is a commercial-free subscription video service that offers thousands of History Channel’s best documentaries and series. History Vault will be available to all Frndly TV subscribers for $4.99 per month or $49.99 per year.

A&E Crime Central is a commercial-free subscription video service offering more than 2,000 episodes of chilling true crime series and documentaries like I Survived, The First 48 and Cold Case Files. A&E Crime Central will be available to all Frndly TV subscribers for $4.99 per month or $49.99 per year.

Frndly TV will offer each servuce with a seven-day free trial. And for those Frndly TV customers who wish to add all three services, a $9.99-per-month bundle will be offered.

Great American Pure Flix is a subscription video service that offers quality movies and programs celebrating faith, family, country and hometown values. Frndly TV will offer Great American Pure Flix for $8.99 per month or $79.99 per year. Viewers can sample Great American Pure Flix with a seven-day free trial.

“Today’s TV consumer wants choice in price and programming — choice that is easy to find and access in one place and the convenience of one billing account. As a leading vMVPD, it’s our job to give people the options they want and make both discovering and using those options easier than ever,” McKenna said. “With the launch of the Frndly TV Channel store, we are fast becoming the central hub for the independently owned streamers.”

CBS has picked up new daytime soap opera The Gates to series, with a premiere date of next January, the network confirmed Monday. CBS isn’t yet announcing a specific date or time slot for the new show, which will be the first new daytime drama in 25 years. 

The pickup comes on the heels of the end of CBS’s daytime panel talker The Talk, which will wrap up in December after a shortened 15th season. The timing of the two announcements seems to indicate that The Gates will take over The Talk’s time slot, especially considering there are no other slots opening up in the network's daytime lineup. That said, the network could decide to move things around prior to The Gates’ premiere. 

The Gates will follow the lives of a wealthy Black family living in a gated community. The show will be written and executive-produced by Michele Val Jean. Val Jean previously has written and produced such shows as CBS’ The Bold & The Beautiful, ABC’s General Hospital and NBC’s Generations, which aired for a short run in 1989 and was the last time a network tried to launch a soap opera featuring a predominantly Black cast. Val Jean also will serve as showrunner, with Sheila Ducksworth, Leon Russell, Derrick Johnson and Kimberly Doebereiner executive producing.

Soap operas have generally fallen out of favor in recent years, with only three remaining on broadcast TV: CBS’ The Young & The Restless and The Bold & The Beautiful and General Hospital. NBC’s Days of Our Lives continues but streams exclusively on NBCUniversal’s streaming service, Peacock. The last time a broadcast network tried to launch any new soap opera was NBC's Passions in 1999.

The Gates was developed as part of a joint venture between CBS Studios and the NAACP, which was established to elevate diverse voices and increase the visibility of Black artists. The show will be produced by that joint venture in partnership with P&G Studios, a division of Procter & Gamble. 

Suits will make its broadcast television debut this fall on Fox-owned MyNetwork TV, Frank Cicha, executive vice president of programming for the Fox Television Stations, said on Monday. 

“It has become increasingly difficult, if not impossible, to launch obscure product on broadcast TV. Suits is arguably the most buzzworthy scripted series of the last half decade, and MyNet looks forward to amplifying its success by introducing it to the broadcast television audience.  And we’re discussing some fun ways to do just that,” Cicha said in a statement.

Also: Syndication's Old Rules No Longer Apply

Suits – which stars Meghan Markle in her pre-royal days, Patrick J. Adams and Gabriel Macht – aired on NBCUniversal’s USA Network from 2011-19. Last year, it experienced a huge resurgence when Netflix picked it up for a streaming run. Earlier this year, NBCUniversal casually took the show to syndication clients to see if there was any interest in it.

“With its witty dialogue, engaging plots and enjoyable characters, Suits has proven its popularity in the streaming space, and is the right show at the right time to engage linear TV audiences across the country,” Sean O’Boyle, executive VP and national syndication sales manager, NBCUniversal Syndication Studios, said. “We are thrilled to continue our successful partnership with MyNet in bringing Suits to broadcast television.”

MyNetwork TV slates an entire schedule of off-NBC shows in primetime, including Law & Order: SVU, Chicago PD, Chicago Fire and Dateline. The Fox-owned mini–network acquires the shows on an all-barter basis, which will also be the case with Suits. Over the show’s eight seasons, 134 episodes were produced.

NBC has just started production on a Suits spinoff, Suits: LA, starring Stephen Amell and Josh McDermitt.

Besides Markle, Adams and Macht, Suits also stars Gina Torres (Westworld), Sarah Rafferty (Brothers & Sisters), Rick Hoffman (Billions), and Katherine Heigl (Grey’s Anatomy).

Suits is produced by UCP, a division of Universal Studio Group. The series is created and executive produced by Aaron Korsh. Doug Liman, David Bartis and Gene Klein of Hypnotic also serve as executive producers.

Tamron Hall, ABC’s syndicated daytime talker, is returning for season six, ABC News said Monday. The eponymous talk show is renewed on the ABC Owned Television Stations – including WABC New York, KABC Los Angeles, WLS Chicago, WPVI Philadelphia, KGO San Francisco, KTRK Houston, WTVD Raleigh-Durham and KFSN Fresno – as well as on stations in the Hearst, E.W. Scripps, Nexstar, Tegna, Gray and Allen Media broadcast groups. 

“Tamron and team are a singular force in daytime because the show gets to the core of humanity through meaningful connection and thoughtful conversations whether covering the most talked about issues of the day or interviewing the newsmakers shaping our world,” ABC News President Kim Godwin said in a statement. “We and the Tam Fam can rejoice because Tamron Hall is back for another must-watch season of fun and fearlessness.”

“Whether Tamron is authentically connecting with her guests, digging more deeply into meaningful topics, or simply having a fabulous time, viewers are responding to her distinctive style, warmth and personal approach,” Debra OConnell, president, news group and networks, Disney Entertainment, said, also in a statement. “We could not be more thrilled by how much the Tam Fam has grown this year and are looking forward to what next season holds for this standout show.”

The daily strip, hosted and executive produced by Hall, averaged a 0.6 live plus same day household rating in the week ending March 31, according to Nielsen Media Research, and  a 0.2 among women 25-54. 

“From the start, I saw the show as a chance to build a community. Now, here we are, preparing for season number six. Wow!” Hall said. “Thank you to my team and my beloved Tam Fam for nurturing my dream and growing this community. We are a daily destination to talk, laugh, learn and be inspired together. From the biggest celebrities in the world to the most incredible people in their own neighborhood, they all come here to talk, and I am grateful.”

“We are at season six because there is no other show like Tamron Hall in daytime,” Quiana Burns, Tamron Hall executive producer, said. “From exclusive road trips with Miranda Lambert, Usher and former first lady Michelle Obama to exclusive sit-downs with Erykah Badu, Mary J. Blige, Jennifer Grey, Lynda Carter and Angela White, our Tam Fam has come to expect impactful interviews, as well as in-depth conversations on important issues like only Tamron can do. We are excited about next season, which includes a few surprises, Tam Fam!”

Other guests appearing during the current season include Angela Bassett, Jeffrey Wright, Kenan Thompson, Elizabeth Hurley, Teyana Taylor, Ronda Rousey,  Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Luenell, Amber Rose and DC Young Fly. The U.S. Surgeon General also joined the program to discuss the country’s epidemic of loneliness. 

Tamron Hall is distributed in national syndication by Disney Entertainment. Broadcast from New York City, the show is executive produced by Hall and Burns.

CBS’s daytime panel talk show The Talk will end its run with a shortened 15th season, concluding the show in December, CBS confirmed Friday.  

“The Talk broke new ground when it launched 14 years ago by returning daytime talk to CBS with a refreshing and award-winning format. Throughout the years, it has been a key program on CBS’ top-rated daytime line-up as it brought timely, important and entertaining topics and discussions into living rooms around the globe,” Amy Reisenbach, president, CBS Entertainment, and David Stapf, president, CBS Studios, said in a joint statement.

“It goes without saying that hosting and producing a year-round talk show is no easy task, and we express our sincere gratitude to our amazing hosts Akbar Gbajabiamila, Amanda Kloots, Natalie Morales, Jerry O’Connell and Sheryl Underwood, our Executive Producer/Showrunner Rob Crabbe and the hardworking producing team and crew,“ the statement continued. “We also want to acknowledge our former show hosts and colleagues who contributed throughout the seasons. We truly appreciate the skill, creativity, and dedication everyone involved brought to the show every day.  And of course, we thank the numerous guests who appeared and the millions of viewers who tuned in daily. For the final season, we plan to celebrate the show and give it the proper sendoff it deserves when it concludes in December 2024.”  

CBS has not said what will fill The Talk’s time slot come January, although it has soap opera The Gates, which will follow a wealthy Black family living in a gated community, in development. CBS also just handed multiseason pickups to both of its soap operas, The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful. 

The Talk, developed and produced by actress Sara Gilbert, premiered in 2010. Its original panel featured Gilbert, Julie Chen Moonves, Sharon Osbourne, Leah Remini and Holly Robinson Peete. Over the years, the panel has changed with Marissa Jaret Winokur, Aisha Tyler, Eve, Carrie Ann Inaba and Marie Osmond all taking turns. The show made big changes in 2021, shaking up the panel by adding men for the first time in Gbajabiamila and O’Connell. 

In an environment where content is available everywhere and all the time, station groups are picking up shows from places and platforms that were previously considered off-limits. Rules such as number of episodes, national clearance and exclusivity are no longer in play. Instead, groups are looking at factors such as economics and versatility, as well as what they can produce themselves when it comes to programming. 

Producers have been placing first-run shows on streaming channels for several years to create secondary revenue streams. But it’s been only recently that TV stations have begun to acquire shows off of streamers. That’s largely because streaming channels had not aired the types of day-and-date programs that stations need, but with the arrival of FAST (free ad-supported television) channels, that is changing. The proliferation of platforms has also rendered exclusivity almost moot. 

“There’s very little duplication of audiences between streaming and broadcast,” Stephen Brown, executive VP, programming and development, Fox Television Stations and Fox First Run, said. “It’s OK when you are trying to aggregate an audience to have it on multiple platforms. That’s the reality of our business and I think that broadcasters are beginning to understand that.” 

For example, Judge Judy ended original production in 2021, but daytime viewers scarcely know that. CBS Media Ventures (CMV) sold the show’s library episodes — also known as repeats — to stations for much-lower license fees. 

Judge Judy continues to average around a 4.0 household rating, according to Nielsen, ranking it fourth in overall syndication, behind only the top-rated game shows. In February, the CBS- and Fox-owned station groups both renewed Judge Judy for three more years, and Gray Television and Hearst Television also picked up the veteran court show in multiyear deals.

In the meantime, Judge Judy Sheindlin herself moved on to Amazon Studios, where she stars in Judy Justice and produces panel court series Tribunal Justice for free streamer Freevee. In the first example of a show coming to syndication from a streamer, Scott Koondel and his Sox Productions have cleared Judy Justice in all-barter multiyear deals in 99% of the country on such groups as Nexstar Media Group, Sunbeam Television, Cox Media Group, Weigel Broadcasting and Mission Broadcasting, Koondel said. Two seasons of Judy Justice have aired on Freevee and a third is in the works. 

Koondel has agreements in place for stations to take Tribunal Justice starting with the 2026-27 season, giving those stations Judy-centric court blocks. He is also offering stations that did not renew Judge Judy in this cycle two more episodes of Judy Justice each day. 

Station executives argue that the deal is not so groundbreaking, since Judy Justice is essentially a new version of Judge Judy. But the key difference is that Amazon already paid for the show to be produced, so stations can now acquire it without cash changing hands. 

‘Football’ All Year Round

Another example of a show that’s tweaking the typical business model is Sony Pictures Television’s Good Morning Football. The football-focused talk show has aired on NFL Network since 2016. Now, NFL Network is moving the show from New York to Los Angeles’s SoFi Stadium and expanding it by two hours. Those two new hours are being packaged and sold to TV stations, and possibly other platforms, to run five days a week in any time period a station prefers. The expansion hours will be produced 42 to 48 weeks a year, giving stations year-round programming. 

Good Morning Football is poised to break the mold in a few ways — one of which is that TV stations generally haven’t aired sports programming in syndication. But nothing on broadcast TV is as marketable or appealing as the NFL, so it makes sense TV stations would want to offer pro football-focused programming to their local audiences. 

In a similar vein, broadcast networks are also starting to toy with the model of letting other platforms pay for the privilege of getting a show’s first run. Amazon MGM Studios is producing a U.S. remake of hit British game show 1% Club, with Patton Oswalt as host. Eight days after each episode debuts on Prime Video, it will run on Fox. 

“Deals like this make broadcast sustainable when it was increasingly becoming not,” Frank Cicha, executive VP, programming, Fox TV Stations and MyNetworkTV, said. “This is what needs to happen.” 

NBCUniversal is currently in the market floating the idea of bringing Suits to TV stations, sources said, after the off-basic cable show became a streaming sensation on Netflix. Suits — starring Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle, Gabriel Macht and Patrick J. Adams — originally aired on USA Network from 2011 to 2019. It was previously available on Prime Video, but Netflix snapped up the rights to seasons one through eight when they became available and started streaming the show in June. (Season nine, by which time Markle and Adams had departed, is only available on Peacock.) All of a sudden, a show that had been off the air for four years was dominating the streaming charts for weeks on end.

Should TV stations decide to pick up an off-network run of Suits, it will mark the first time a series has started on cable, moved to streaming and then headed to TV stations — riding a resurgence years after its original cable run.

Similarly, Amazon MGM is considering bringing procedural Bosch to TV stations. Bosch, starring Titus Welliver, aired for seven seasons on Prime Video and its sequel, Bosch: Legacy, also starring Welliver, has aired for two seasons on Amazon Freevee with season three on the way. Stations would have plenty of episodes to work with even with the shorter seasons that streamers typically order.

All of this gives TV stations more options and flexibility as they consider their programming options. 

“A lot of the shows we’re doing now, we’re acquiring on a nonexclusive basis,” E.W. Scripps head of programming, national networks Tom Zappala said. “With declining ratings on the traditional side, you need more avenues to monetize the shows.”

Scripps, which now owns Court TV, is looking at how it can turn a true-crime show like Someone They Knew into a program it can run on its TV stations. Scripps also owns such FAST networks as Bounce, Grit and Laff, acquired from Katz Media Group in 2017. Scripps purchased Ion Media’s networks and TV stations in 2017 and offers national news service, Scripps News, formerly Newsy, which streams over OTT platforms. Many Scripps stations offer an hour of Scripps News each day.

“There are fewer syndicated options, but we are creating our own opportunities with the content we create and with our recent foray into sports,” Zappala said.

Groups Churn Out Content Hubs

Scripps is a good example of what many television station groups — including Nexstar, Sinclair and Gray — are doing, which is making themselves into local, regional and, in some cases, national content hubs. Groups are producing local content and news and offering that content over TV stations, FAST channels, diginets and apps. 

Gray has Investigate TV Plus, which it produces and runs on its owned TV stations in 113 markets, Matt Jaquint, senior managing VP and chief revenue officer at the station group, said. Gray is considering taking Investigate TV Plus out to the rest of the country. Gray also has FAST channel Local News Live, produced from its Washington, D.C., bureau. A version of LNL already airs as a linear show on Gray’s NBC and The CW affiliate WIS in Columbia, South Carolina, and Gray could add LNL to its other owned stations.

Station groups selling their programming to other broadcasters is something that is always discussed but rarely works. As traditional providers pull back, though, stations need to produce for themselves. 

“I think that will be looked at more and more as we look at synergies and costs, because these things aren’t cheap to make,” Jaquint said. “I think as station groups consider what we can do together that makes sense, that’s how the industry changes.” 

By taking advantage of all of these options, stations can be less reliant on expensive shows produced by Hollywood studios, although buyers say there’s still room in a mix for a few of those. 

“We are definitely still willing to pay for premium syndication,” Jaquint said. “Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! are perfect examples; we have those in 53 of our markets. There’s a reason we still pay for syndication, but the cost has to fit the model and daytime is a tougher place to make that work.” 

While the local TV-station business has gotten tougher than ever, as recent station-group earnings reports demonstrate, groups are now freed up to find programming in whatever ways work for them.

“We’re willing to look at content wherever it is coming from,” Zappala said. “Our main feature is local news and information. Our job is to get great information and deliver it to people across all those different ways of distribution. That’s why I see more optimism in our future.” 

The King of Queens has been licensed across the cable and streaming platforms of Paramount Global in a non-exclusive multiplatform deal, Sony Pictures Television said Thursday.

The deal includes rights to stream all nine seasons of the half-hour sitcom on Paramount Plus and the first three seasons on Pluto TV.

“Paramount recognized the importance of consolidated cross-platform negotiations years ago to deliver entertainment to audiences anywhere and everywhere they consume content,” Paramount Global chief program acquisitions officer Barbara Zaneri said in a statement. “We look forward to continuing to execute industry-leading deals that give fans more ways to watch what they love across our multiplatform ecosystem of cable and streaming products.”

Sony Pictures Television took the show to market for a new licensing cycle a year ago. Since 2020, The King of Queens has been available to stream on Peacock, where it will remain, but now it will also be available on Paramount Plus. It’s been airing on Paramount-owned cable networks CMT and TV Land. 

“We are thrilled to extend our long-standing relationship with Paramount through this multi-platform agreement for one of the most iconic sitcoms in SPT’s library,” Sony Pictures Entertainment executive VP Flory Bramnick said in a statement. “We’re fortunate to be able to offer our partners highly coveted content across any genre that can be programmed specifically to their unique audience needs, and we’re confident The King of Queens will be a strong performer across multiple platforms.”

The King of Queens stars Kevin James and Leah Remini as married couple Doug and Carrie who live with Carrie’s father, Arthur (Jerry Stiller). The series aired on CBS from 1998 to 2007 and it began running in broadcast syndication in 2002. 

The King of Queens is produced by Hanley Productions and CBS Productions in association with SPT. The series was created by Michael J. Weithorn and David Litt, and is executive-produced by Tony Sheehan, Kevin James, Josh Goldsmith, Cathy Yuspa, Jeff Sussman, David Bickel, Ilana Wernick, Chris Downey, Rock Reuben and Rob Schiller.

The Jennifer Hudson Show will spend the week of April 8 with the cast of ABC’s Emmy-winning comedy, Abbott Elementary. 

Series star and creator and multiple Emmy-winner Quinta Brunson, who plays optimistic second-grade teacher Jeanine Teagues at the fictional Philadelphia school, will kick off the week on Monday, sitting down with Hudson in the show’s Burbank, California, studio. Also appearing that day is Deanna Dixon, known on social media as “The Rideshare Queen.” Dixon’s viral videos boast more than 20 million views and include carpool karaoke, cab confessions and personal chat.

Tyler James Williams, who stars as fellow teacher Gregory Eddie, shows up on Tuesday along with Dorian Missick, who stars in Netflix’s new movie, Shirley, about Black Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm’s historic run for president in 1972.  Janelle James, who plays Principal Ava Coleman, and William Stanford Davis, also known as the school janitor, Mr. Johnson, come by on Wednesday. 

Thursday brings Emmy-winner Sheryl Lee Ralph, who stars as kindergarten teacher Barbara Howard, and Chris Perfetti, who plays eighth-grade teacher Jacob Hill. Finally, Lisa Ann Water, who stars as the questionably-connected second-grade teacher Melissa Schemmenti, drops by on Friday.

Besides the cast appearances, Jennifer Hudson is launching an Abbott Elementary-themed Watch and Win sweepstakes, also starting Monday. Participants can win a bundle of Abbott Elementary merchandise as well as a poster signed by Jennifer Hudson.

Produced by JHUD Productions and Warner Bros. Unscripted Television in association with Telepictures and distributed in national syndication by Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution, The Jennifer Hudson Show is executive produced by EGOT-winner Hudson, who also serves as host, along with Mary Connelly, Andy Lassner, Corey Palent, Graehme Morphy and Walter Williams III.  The Jennifer Hudson Show is renewed for a third season on the Fox Television Stations and across the country.

Fox First Run has renewed its trio of syndicated game shows — 25 Words or Less, Pictionary and Person, Place or Thing — through next season, Stephen Brown, executive VP of programming for Fox Television Stations, said Wednesday. 

As part of that renewal, Fox First Run is expanding its “Super Fan Experience” to all three shows, after experimenting with it this season on 25 Words or Less. 

Each episode of each game show will feature an interview with a Super Fan from one Fox affiliate and the opportunity for that person to win a prize. On Pictionary, if the Super Fan can guess what host Jerry O'Connell is drawing, they win a prize. On 25 Words or Less, if either team wins $10,000, the Super Fan is awarded $1,000. And on Person, Place, or Thing, if a contestant wins the grand prize, the Super Fan is awarded $500. Through QR code experiences, fans also can play online minigames, as well as receive coupons and other offers from sponsors via specially created behind-the-scenes footage.

"The success of the Super Fan initiative on 25 Words or Less last season further proved that engaging with our audience in a meaningful way is how we best develop loyal fans who watch more than the average 1.2 times a week," Brown said in a statement. 

The three games join Fox’s TMZ and TMZ Live, Warner Bros.’ Jennifer Hudson and Extra, and Debmar-Mercury’s Sherri, all of which have been picked up for next year on the Fox-owned stations. 

Hosted by Meredith Vieira, 25 Words or Less debuted as a preview show on the Fox Television Stations in August 2018 before going into syndication in fall 2019. The half-hour game show is cleared nationally in 97% of the country. 25 Words or Less is produced by Dino Bones Productions and distributed by Fox First Run.

Pictionary debuted as a preview show on the Fox Television Stations in July 2021, before going into syndication in fall 2022. The half-hour game show is cleared in 99% of the country and produced by Fox First Run along with Bill's Market and Television Production. Pictionary is based on Mattel's popular 1985 board game.

Person, Place, or Thing, hosted by Melissa Peterman, debuted as a preview show on the Fox Television Stations in Summer 2022, before going into syndication in fall 2023. Created by Jeff Proctor and Paul Franklin, the half-hour game show is cleared in 96% of the country. Person, Place, or Thing is produced by Dino Bones Productions and distributed by Fox First Run.

Flip Side, the new syndicated game show hosted by Jaleel White, will be produced in a cost-sharing partnership between CBS Media Ventures and Game Show Enterprises Studios with both entities sharing distribution windows. TV stations, including anchor group CBS Stations, will air the show’s first run with Game Show Network airing those episodes one week later.

“Flip Side is a project that we have been developing for over a year for the syndication marketplace,” Wendy McMahon, president and CEO of CBS News and Stations and CBS Media Ventures, said in a statement. “Bringing Game Show Enterprises Studios on as a creative partner was an intriguing proposition to us — it creates a new business model for a daily syndicated show and will boost the show’s exposure out of the gate with the second run on Game Show Network. We’re excited to work together to make Flip Side a success on both platforms.” 

“We are delighted to partner with CBS Media Ventures in bringing Flip Side to the marketplace and to our viewers at Game Show Network,” added John Zaccario, president of GSN, also in a statement. “CBS Media Ventures understood right away what Game Show Enterprises Studios could add to this creative partnership and to the commercial success of this show.”

Game Show Enterprises Studios also produces People Puzzler, starring Leah Remini, in partnership with Start Entertainment and Dotdash Meredith’s People Magazine. Debmar-Mercury distributes People Puzzler to TV stations in off-network all-barter deals and just renewed the show for a second season. 

Syndicators and TV stations are increasingly working with partners to help cover the upfront costs of new shows, such as Judy Justice airing first on Amazon Freevee before being sold to TV stations in all-barter deals. Prior to this, producers frequently sold shows to stations and then to cable and streaming networks in second windows; however, having the production costs covered can be preferable to trying to find new revenue streams on the back end. 

Hosted by White (Family Matters), Flip Side is based on a format created by Keller/Noll (Chopped, America Says). The easy-to-play-along game pits two teams of players against each other to guess how they think two different groups of people feel about the same issue. The teams compete for a shot at $10,000 by guessing the top answers based on anonymous surveys.

Jay James, Corin Nelson and Rich Sirop executive produce along with Cleve Keller and Dave Noll (Keller/Noll) and Ken Ross. T. Jones serves as co-executive producer.

Karamo has been renewed for a third season, Tracie Wilson, executive vice president, NBCUniversal Syndication Studios & E! News, said Thursday. 

The conflict talker is hosted by reality television personality, author, actor, producer and activist Karamo Brown, who previously starred on Netflix’s reboot of Queer Eye. 

“With his direct, no-nonsense approach, Karamo has established himself as one of daytime television's most authentic and innovative hosts,” Wilson said in a statement. “In each episode, Karamo tackles a wide range of topics, often intense and dramatic subject matters, while boldly representing all sides of the story with a goal of getting to the emotional core of the conflict.”  

Along with NBCU’s The Steve Wilkos Show, which has been renewed for its 18th season, Karamo is produced in Stamford, Connecticut, at NBCU’s Stamford Studios Production. The show is executive produced by Kerry Shannon and co-executive produced by Gloria Harrison-Hall. 

“For the last two seasons, Karamo has listened, empowered and motivated our guests to confront difficult parts of their lives and take the first step toward a resolution,” Shannon said. “Whether it’s a decades-long DNA mystery, a couple struggling with accusations of infidelity or a family in crisis, Karamo can connect with his guests on a deep and personal level.”

Karamo addresses such typical daytime topics as infidelity, DNA mystery, parenting and complex family dynamics but does it from the perspective of a gay Black man and single father. The show also features a popular segment called “Unlock the Phone,” in which guests can have Karamo’s investigative team uncover their partner’s cell-phone history.  

For the 2023-24 season, Karamo is delivering the most growth compared to the prior year among all syndicated talk shows in households (26%) and total viewers (20%), according to NBCU. In the week ended March 17, Karamo averaged a 0.4 live plus seven national rating, according to Nielsen, and it has frequently hit a 0.5 this season.

“I’m beyond excited to come back and keep helping my audience grow emotionally and mentally,” Brown said. “In season three, things are going to continue to be exciting, entertaining and, most importantly, elevated. I can’t wait!”  

The Steve Wilkos Show has been renewed for its 18th season in national syndication, Tracie Wilson, executive VP, NBCUniversal Syndication Studios & E! News, said Wednesday. 

“For 17 seasons, Steve Wilkos has not only evolved as a host, but also has the unique ability to relate to people from all walks of life,” Wilson said in a statement. “His willingness to get to the heart of the matter has kept The Steve Wilkos Show at the forefront and will continue to do so for the show’s 18th season.” 

The show is hosted by Wilkos and executive produced by his wife, Rachelle. It was spun out of Jerry Springer in 2007. Wilkos, a former Chicago police officer and U.S. Marine, had appeared on Springer as one of Springer’s key bouncers since 1994.

“I want to congratulate Steve on a milestone 30 years in television,” Wilson continued. “We watched him take charge on The Jerry Springer Show in 1994 [before] helming his own show beginning in 2007, which was an extraordinary achievement.” 

The Steve Wilkos Show is a part of NBCUniversal’s conflict talk blocks that air in the afternoons on station groups, and on Nexstar, in particular, in top markets. Those blocks include repeats of Maury and Jerry Springer, as well as NBCU’s latest entry, Karamo, starring Karamo Brown, which is now in its second season and awaits a third-season renewal.

“I’m incredibly grateful to the fans of the show as their continued support is the reason we’ve made it to a remarkable season 18,” Wilkos said. “I love doing my show and look forward to continuing  to make a positive and long-lasting impact on the lives of our in-studio guests and at-home viewers.”    

“I’m so proud of Steve as he continues to be a strong, authentic voice in daytime that resonates with so many fans across all of our platforms,” said executive producer Rachelle Wilkos. “His ability to connect, empathize and empower his guests in his own unique way is the key to the show’s success.”   

The Steve Wilkos Show is syndication’s second longest-running talk show in original production, following only Disney’s Live with Kelly and Mark. The show is averaging 765,000 viewers season to date. According to NBCU, The Steve Wilkos Show delivers the most growth over lead-in among all syndicated talkers, increasing 40% in homes, 32% among women 25-54, and 30% among adults 25-54.

The Steve Wilkos Show is sold in 87% of the country and appears on leading station groups, including Nexstar Media Group, Sinclair, Weigel Broadcasting, Tegna, Sunbeam Television, Hearst Television, Scripps, Bahakel Communications, Cox Media Group, Block Communications, CW Plus and more.    

The Steve Wilkos Show is executive produced by Rachelle Wilkos, co-executive produced by Selina Santos and distributed in national syndication by NBCUniversal Syndication Studios. The show is produced by Stamford Studios Productions, which also produces Karamo and previously produced Maury, Jerry Springer and Judge Jerry.

Steve Harvey is joining Dr. Phil McGraw’s Merit Street Media, the partners said Thursday, with Harvey taking an equity stake in the new network.

As part of the deal, Merit Street acquired 300-plus episodes of Harvey’s NBC-produced daytime talker, Steve, which originally aired on TV stations from 2017-19. Harvey also hosts syndicated game show Family Feud as well as a celebrity version on ABC primetime. He’s also hosted his nationally syndicated morning radio show, The Steve Harvey Morning Show, since 2000. 

Harvey’s first project for the network will see him co-executive producing a documentary special about his Steve Harvey Mentoring Program for the network, which will feature both Harvey and McGraw. The mentorship program is about giving young men the tools they need to grow into leaders. The special is slated to air this fall. 

“Partnering with my good friend on such an innovative network allows me to continue my mission of empowering and inspiring individuals through entertainment,“ Harvey said in a statement. “The docustyle special highlighting the impactful work of the Steve & Marjorie Harvey Foundation is particularly close to my heart. I believe in the power of mentorship to transform lives and look forward to sharing this journey with viewers. The positive impact we can create together will be unlike anything seen before," said Harvey in a statement.”

“Steve and I have been personal friends for over a decade, and it’s always the best experience when we work together,” said McGraw, also in a statement. “It’s easy to say that he's the funniest human I’ve ever met,” he continued. “But his kindness and his passion to help others are really unmatched.”

Besides Harvey, Merit Street also has signed such talent as Chris Harrison, former host of ABC’s The Bachelor, and Nancy Grace, former host of an eponymous show on HLN. Grace is anchoring a true-crime show that airs weekday afternoons on Merit Street. 

Merit Street also will run morning and evening news blocks. The morning block, titled “Morning on Merit Street,” will be co-hosted by Dominique Sachse and Fanchon Stinger, while evening’s "The News on Merit Street" will feature senior anchor Kris Gutierrez and co-hosts Lyndsay Keith and Loni Coombs. 

McGraw, who starred in and executive produced daytime talker Dr. Phil for 21 years, will debut his new series, Dr. Phil Primetime, on Merit Street April 2, when Merit Street Media will launch across the Trinity Broadcast Network. 

People Puzzler, starring Leah Remini, will return for a second season on TV stations owned by the Fox, Sinclair, CBS Stations, Nexstar Media Group, Gray Television and E.W. Scripps broadcast groups covering more than 90% of the country, said Lionsgate-owned Debmar-Mercury on Thursday.

The show, which turns People Magazine’s crossword puzzles into a game show, is averaging more than 900,000 viewers, according to Debmar-Mercury, up 42% from the show’s September debut. People Puzzler comes to TV stations off of Game Show Network, where three seasons and 325 episodes have aired.

“The healthy ratings growth we’ve seen from People Puzzler in its first months in syndication has been nothing short of remarkable,” Debmar-Mercury co-presidents Mort Marcus and Ira Bernstein said in a statement. “Stations are hungry for proven performers and we are excited to be able to bring this winning game show back to the market next season.”

People Puzzler is produced by Game Show Enterprises Studios, Start Entertainment and People, a Dotdash Meredith brand. The game show combines pop culture with fun facts, pitting three contestants in a three-round battle that puts their pop-culture knowledge to the test. The contestant with the most points after the three rounds moves into the “Fast Puzzle Bonus Round” and gets the opportunity to win a cash prize.

Remini executive produces People Puzzler along with Rane Laymance for Game Show Enterprises Studio, as well as Scott St. John and Neal Konstantini for Start Entertainment and Rachel Feinberg for Dotdash Meredith.

Sony Pictures Television said it is launching a 60th Diamond Collection campaign to mark the three-score anniversary of the long-running answer-and-question game Jeopardy!

The year-long celebration will including a new “Why Not You?” campaign to recruit contestants kicking off March 30, which is being designated as “JeoparDay!”

“For 60 years, Jeopardy! has been America’s favorite sport of the mind, defying time and continuing to attract viewers of all generations,” said Suzanne Prete, president, game shows, at Sony Pictures Television. “Like the true diamond that it is, we’re excited to bring our fans a year of festivities to honor this important milestone while inspiring enthusiasm for the franchise’s future through the 60th Diamond Celebration.”

Also Read: Remembering Jeopardy! Host Alex Trebek

There will also be a nationwide series of live events from April through December starting in New York, with a taping of the Inside Jeopardy! podcast featuring host Ken Jennings and other Jeopardy! Champions.

A new Jeopardy! bar trivia game will also be coming to major cities later this fall.

“Sixty years ago, Merv Griffin and his wife, Julann, created a quiz show that remains as unique and exciting today as it was in 1964,” said Jeopardy! executive producer Michael Davies. “It is only fitting to honor their creation, and the show’s enduring legacy, with a meaningful celebration that pays tribute to the show’s past and to its future. And we want to invite every fan to celebrate alongside us as this will be Jeopardy!’s biggest and best year yet.”

Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group said it reached a multiyear renewal of its carriage agreement with Charter Communications.

The deal covers retransmission consent for AMG’s local TV stations and cable networks The Weather Channel, TheGrio, Justice Central.TV, Pets.TV, Recipe.TV, and Cars.TV.

Similar to Charter’s recent agreement with The Walt Disney Co., which gave Charter’s Spectrum video subscribers free access to Disney streaming services Disney Plus and ESPN Plus, Spectrum video subscribers will also get The Weather Channel DTC app.

"We are delighted to continue growing our relationship with Charter Communications,” Byron Allen, founder, chairman and CEO of Allen Media Group, said. “Charter/Spectrum has been a phenomenal partner to our television networks and our broadcast television stations, and we look forward to prospering from this mutually beneficial arrangement for years to come.”

The new agreement comes three years after Allen and Charter resolved the $10 billion discrimination lawsuit Allen brought against the cable operator for not carrying his channels.

NFL Network's Good Morning Football is headed to syndication for the 2024-25 season, confirms Sony Pictures Television, which is handling national distribution.

The show, which has been airing on NFL Network since August 2016, will produce two additional original hours each day to air five days a week on broadcast and other platforms. Good Morning Football — or GMFB, as it will be called in syndication — will premiere ahead of NFL preseason football this summer.

Stations can take one or two hours each day and air the show whenever they want. GMFB is being sold to stations with a 7-7 barter split, meaning there will be seven minutes of national advertising and seven minutes of local advertising in each hour-long episode. Deals are currently in progress, according to Sony, and will be announced at a later date.

Good Morning Football stars Kyle Brandt, Jamie Erdahl, Jason McCourty and Peter Schrager, who discuss all things NFL in a roundtable setting. Besides the regular hosts, it also features guests and sideline reporters talking about the NFL news of the day. The show airs 7-10 a.m. ET Monday through Friday on NFL Network and is available to watch on the NFL Network live stream. 

While the NFL season runs from preseason matchups in August through the Super Bowl in early February, Good Morning Football airs year-round. Producers plan to produce 42-48 weeks of original episodes, while stations will be able to run the show 52 weeks a year, including repeats.

Riding the coattails of the Travis Kelce-Taylor Swift romance and a highly competitive NFL season, Good Morning Football posted its most-viewed season since 2017, with viewership up 16%, according to Sony.

Good Morning Football is executive produced by Michael Davies and his Embassy Row Productions, which is housed at SPT.

Judge Judy has been renewed for three more years by the CBS and Fox owned television stations with Gray and Hearst also signing on for multiple years, CBS Media Ventures senior VP, domestic sales Greg Guenther said Wednesday.

The syndication-leading court show ended original production in 2021, but the show continues to air on TV stations in repeats. In the week ended February 4, Judge Judy averaged a 4.2 live-plus-same-day national household rating, according to Nielsen. That’s far ahead of the second-highest-rated court show, CMV’s Hot Bench, a panel court show created by Judge Judy Sheindlin herself, at a 1.3. This season, Judge Judy has been averaging 6.1 million total viewers, more than all other syndicated court shows combined, CMV said. In the week ended January 14, Judge Judy hit a viewership season high of 6.7 million total viewers. 

“The Judge Judy library is a powerful force on stations across the country,” Guenther said in a statement. “It draws viewers and boosts stations’ lineups, improving its new time periods on average by +40% among total viewers.”  

This fall, Judge Judy will be competing with itself in a way, with Sox Entertainment having cleared Sheindlin’s new show, Judy Justice, off of Amazon Freevee on stations in the Nexstar, Sunbeam, Cox Media, Weigel and Mission Broadcasting groups. Season three of Judy Justice began airing January 22 on Freevee. 

CMV’s Judge Judy, starring Sheindlin, aired in broadcast syndication from 1996 to 2021. The show focuses on small claims disputes and featured Sheindlin’s no-nonsense rulings. 

Talk won’t be the talk of syndication this fall — instead, producers are bringing out much more economical true-crime series and games to fill station slates.

In January, Warner Bros. renewed talk strip Jennifer Hudson for a third season, airing on Fox-owned stations in the country’s biggest markets. That caused Debmar-Mercury to withdraw its talk show starring Ken Jeong from the marketplace. After that, several pieces of the fall 2024 syndication puzzle fell into place. 

Two new first-run shows have been cleared for launch this fall, Warner Bros.’s True Crime News and The Flip Side from CBS Media Ventures, and the potential is there for a few more shows to emerge. 

True Crime News is a new version of Crime Watch Daily, a strip that Warner Bros. produced from September 2015 through June 2018. Crime Watch Daily’s watch ended when stations elected to instead pick up a less-expensive but similar format, Investigation Discovery’s True Crime Files. That show did not last long in station lineups, though, while Crime Watch Daily continued on in the form of True Crime Daily: The Podcast and the True Crime Daily website. 

True Crime News will be hosted by Ana Garcia, who hosts True Crime Daily: The Podcast and contributes to ABC’s newsmagazine 20/20. True Crime News will be produced by Warner Bros. Unscripted Television in association with Telepictures, and provide stations with 52 weeks of original programming, including breaking crime news, ripped-from-the-headlines cases and updates on stories pulled from WBD’s vault of crime footage. 

Ties to Local Newsrooms

True Crime News also will work closely with local newsrooms to integrate local crime stories into episodes, using stations’ footage and reporting. That type of integration is something increasingly important to launch group Fox, which has worked collaboratively with Warner Bros. entertainment magazine Extra in some markets. For example, Fox-owned KTTV Los Angeles morning show Good Day LA and Extra partnered ahead of the 75th annual Emmys in January, producing a pre-ceremony red-carpet show at 4:30 p.m. PT on KTTV.

Along with the third-season renewal of Jennifer Hudson and the pick-up of True Crime Daily, Warner Bros. has renewed Extra for a 31st season and is shopping off-CBS sitcom Bob Loves Abishola to stations. While it looked like Warner Bros. was stepping away from first-run syndication after the studio canceled such long-running series as Judge Mathis and People’s Court and The Ellen DeGeneres Show ended in May 2022 after 19 years on the air, the studio’s recent moves indicate that Warner Bros. remains in the syndication game.

True Crime News isn’t the only new true-crime show in the offing: Trifecta is shopping Crime Stories With Nancy O’Dell, which will spend each 30-minute episode telling the story of one murder, Trifecta Entertainment president Hank Cohen said. 

Trifecta also renewed iCrime with Elizabeth Vargas for a third season, Cohen said, after tweaking the show creatively, revamping the set and bringing in a new showrunner. Both iCrime and Crime Stories are executive produced by Scott Sternberg Productions, which has produced such shows as Investigation Discovery’s On the Case With Paula Zahn. 

While syndicators and stations look to introduce new true-crime shows, NBCUniversal’s repackaged version of Dateline has been renewed for an eighth season while CBS’s syndicated version of 48 Hours debuted in September. Repackaging longstanding libraries and offering them to TV stations on an all-barter basis is a growing trend in syndication as TV stations face shrinking margins and less cash to spend. 

Along those lines, Judge Judy Sheindlin, star of CBS Media Ventures’s Judge Judy and Amazon Freevee’s Judy Justice, is poised to compete with herself in syndication. Scott Koondel’s Sox Entertainment has cleared Judy Justice in all-barter deals in 98% of the country on such TV station groups as Nexstar Media Group, Sunbeam Television, Cox Media Group, Weigel Broadcasting and Mission Broadcasting. The show stars Sheindlin as well as her granddaughter, Sarah Rose, as her law clerk; Whitney Kumar as the court stenographer and Kevin Rasco as the bailiff. Randy Douthit, Sheindlin’s longtime executive producer on Judge Judy, executive produces Judy Justice. 

Sheindlin also has launched another court show on Freevee, Tribunal Justice, which is similar to one she created for CMV, Hot Bench. Tribunal Justice, which was renewed for a second season in October, stars two of Hot Bench’s three original judges — Patricia diMango and Tanya Acker as well as Sheindlin’s son, Adam Levy. Tribunal Justice also is expected to be shopped to TV stations, potentially putting it up against Hot Bench. 

Meanwhile, the CBS and Fox owned stations have renewed Judge Judy library episodes for three more seasons.

One big court entity not offering any new shows this fall is Allen Media Group, sitting out this season after launching three new court shows in September — Mathis Court with Judge Mathis, Justice for the People with Judge Milian and Equal Justice with Eboni K. Williams. Allen Media Group scooped up Judge Greg Mathis and Judge Marilyn Milian after Warner Bros. canceled Judge Mathis and People’s Court. 

 “We are in ongoing development discussions focused on fall 2025 and we will continue to invest heavily in linear broadcast television adding to our portfolio of 70-plus shows,” Andrew Temple, chief operating officer, broadcast sales and syndication, Allen Media Group, told B+C Multichannel News. “This year, we are focused like a laser on upgrading Funny You Should Ask, Comics Unleashed and all nine of our outstanding court-show series.” 

Over on ‘The Flip Side’ 

While stations build up their true-crime schedules, many of them are leaning heavily on game shows. In January, the CBS-owned stations picked up The Flip Side, which is the first new syndicated series to be produced under the leadership of Wendy McMahon, president and CEO of CBS News and Stations and CMV. 

The Flip Side will be hosted by Jaleel White, known for his role as Steve Urkel on Family Matters, which aired on ABC from 1989 to 1997. Since then, White, who also works as a writer, producer and comedian, has starred in Netflix’s Hustle, CBS’s Me, Myself and I and Apple TV Plus’s The Afterparty.

The Flip Side pits two teams of players against each other, testing them on how they think two different groups of people feel about the same issue. Teams choose from multiple-choice answers, and whoever reveals the best intuition regarding human behavior will find themselves richer.

Overall, game shows are popular in syndication right now, often taking the place of more expensive off-network sitcoms. The Flip Side will air on CBS’s duopoly stations in big markets, and Fox also has renewed most of its game slate for next year. That includes Pictionary, starring Jerry O’Connell; Debmar-Mercury’s People Puzzler, starring Leah Remini; 25 Words or Less, starring and executive produced by Meredith Vieira; and Person, Place or Thing, starring Melissa Peterman. Fox also renewed Dish Nation, which features radio deejays chatting about the entertainment gossip of the day, for a 13th season after doing some cost-cutting. Going away after one season is the TMZ-produced Who the Bleep Is That? 

Among the major talk shows, NBCUniversal’s Kelly Clarkson and Debmar-Mercury’s Sherri, starring Sherri Shepherd, have been renewed through next season. NBCU’s newest conflict talker, Karamo, starring Karamo Brown, is expected to snag a renewal for season three. ABC’s Tamron Hall, now in season five, is awaiting word on a season-six pickup. 

Meanwhile, former syndicated talk show stars are finding new homes elsewhere. 

Dr. Phil McGraw, who starred in an eponymous syndicated talk show produced and distributed by CMV from 2002 to 2023, is launching Merit Street Media on February 26. Besides a primetime version of Dr. Phil, the network will feature morning and evening newscasts and a daily afternoon true-crime block anchored by a new show hosted by Nancy Grace. 

Rachael Ray, whose CBS-produced show ended after last season, immediately started a production company, Free Food Studios. In late January, A+E Networks said it bought 50% of that enterprise and also ordered 278 episodes featuring Ray and other talent that will run as part of the Home.Made.Nation lifestyle programming block on A&E, FYI and other platforms. A+E Networks will distribute the content around the world. A+E Networks will distribute the shows globally.” 

Jeopardy! will host its biggest Tournament of Champions yet with 27 players taking on the challenge starting Friday, February 23. 

The field includes players who have won the most games since Jeopardy!’s last Tournament of Champions in 2022. It also includes six players who advanced out of Jeopardy!’s Wildcard competitions, which feature former contestants who won between one and three games playing for $100,000 and an invitation to the Tournament of Champions. Four Wildcard champions are playing from season 37/38 and two are coming in from season 39, which has yet to conclude on broadcast. Rounding out the cast are the winners of the Jeopardy! High School Reunion Tournament as well as season one of ABC’s Celebrity Jeopardy!.

Players will compete across nine quarter-finals, three semi-finals and a best-of-seven finals series. The first player to win three games during the best-of-seven final will claim a $250,000 grand prize and an invitation to compete on the upcoming Jeopardy! Masters primetime event on ABC. 

Jeopardy!’s Tournament of Champions tends to garner strong ratings, especially as the tournament goes on and the stakes climb ever higher. 

Following is the list of returning champions and the competition schedule:

Friday, February 23: Quarterfinal 1

– Suresh Krishnan, a six-game champion from Suwanee, Ga.

– Matthew Marcus, a four-game champion from Portland, Ore.

– Emily Sands, a three-game champion and S37/38 Champions Wildcard winner from Chanhassen, Minn.

Monday, February 26: Quarterfinal 2

– Ben Goldstein, a five-game champion from Dexter, Mich.

– Cris Pannullo, a 21-game champion from Ocean City, N.J.

– Jared Watson, a three-game champion from Greenville, Texas

Tuesday, February 27: Quarterfinal 3

– David Sibley, a four-game champion from Walla Walla, Wash.

– Yungsheng Wang, three-game champion and S37/38 Champions Wildcard winner originally from Lafayette, La.

– Hannah Wilson, an 8-game champion from Chicago, Ill.

Wednesday, February 28: Quarterfinal 4

– Nick Cascone, a one-game champion and S37/38 Champions Wildcard winner originally from Queens, N.Y.

– Jake DeArruda, a three-game champion originally from Ludlow, Vt.

– Yogesh Raut, a three -game champion from Vancouver, Wash.

Thursday, February 29: Quarterfinal 5

– Kevin Belle, a three-game champion from Silver Spring, Md.

– Luigi de Guzman, a five-game champion from Arlington, Va.

– Juveria Zaheer, a S39 Second Chance winner and S39 Champions Wildcard winner from Whitby, Ontario, Canada

Friday, March 1: Quarterfinal 6

– Brian Henegar, a three-game champion from LaFollette, Tenn.

– Josh Saak, a three-game champion and S37/38 Champions Wildcard winner from Boise, Idaho

– Stephen Webb, an eight-game champion from Longmont, Colo.

Monday, March 4: Quarterfinal 7

– Ike Barinholtz, Celebrity Jeopardy! Season 1 champion from Chicago, Ill.

– Melissa Klapper, a three-game champion from Merion Station, Pa.

– Ray Lalonde, a 13-game champion from Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Tuesday, March 5: Quarterfinal 8

– Justin Bolsen, Jeopardy! High School Reunion Tournament champion from Canton, Ga.

– Ben Chan, a nine-game champion from Green Bay, Wisc.

– Emmett Stanton, a three-game champion from Baltimore, Md.

Wednesday, March 6: Quarterfinal 9

– Sean McShane, a three-day champion from South Boston, Ma.

– Troy Meyer, a six-day champion from Tampa, Fla.

– Season 39 Champions Wildcard Winner (to be determined)

The semi-finals start Thursday, March 7, and the finals begin Tuesday, March 12. The finals will run through at least Thursday, March 14, if someone manages to win three in a row, but if seven games are needed, the tournament will conclude Wednesday, March 20. 

Syndicated game show Jeopardy!, now in its 40th season, is produced by Sony Pictures Television and distributed by CBS Media Ventures. It is hosted by Ken Jennings and executive produced by Michael Davies. 

Jennifer Hudson is partnering with HGTV for a week of home renovation and lifestyle programming starting February 19. 

The programming event is a nifty bit of co-promotion: daytime talker Jennifer Hudson is produced and distributed by Warner Bros. Television Group while lifestyle cable network HGTV is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery.

Slated to appear during the week are such HGTV stars as Home Town’s Erin and Ben Napier; Page Turner from Rock the Block; Brian and Mika Kleinschmidt from 100 Day Dream Home; and Egypt Sherrod and Mike Jackson from Married to Real Estate. In addition, Cole and Chelsea DeBoer from Down Home Fab; Dave and Jenny Marrs from Fixer To Fabulous and Fixer to Fabulous: Italiano; Property Brothers Drew and Jonathan Scott from Celebrity IOU and Lil Jon from Lil Jon Wants To Do What? will  appear. The week also will feature non-HGTV guests will.i.am, country music star Brandy Clark, actress Sanaa Lathan, and country singer Kane Brown. 

Jennifer Hudson has been renewed for a third season on both the Fox Television Stations and the Hearst-owned stations. In the week ended January 26, the show hit its season-best numbers with a 0.6 in households and 918,000 households, according to Warner Bros. The show also is up 14% over the prior year among young adults 18-34, Warner Bros. said.

That week featured guests Common, who confirmed his romantic relationship with Hudson, as well as Paris Hilton and Snoop Dog. 

Jennifer Hudson is produced by JHUD Productions and Warner Bros. Unscripted Television in association with Telepictures and distributed in national syndication by Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution. Hudson -- a rare Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony (EGOT) winner -- also executive produces along with Mary Connelly, Andy Lassner, Corey Palent, Graehme Morphy and Walter Williams III. 

The Conners, a spinoff of ABC’s hit ‘90s sitcom Roseanne, has been sold to TV stations covering more than 85% of the country, Lionsgate’s Debmar-Mercury said. The show, which is produced by Werner Entertainment and entering its sixth season on ABC, will premiere on CBS, Gray Television, Lockwood Broadcast Group, Nexstar Media Group, Scripps and Weigel Broadcasting-owned stations this fall.  

“With Tom Werner providing the highest-rated sitcom to enter off-network syndication in recent memory, The Conners will serve as the cornerstone of many of our great station partners’ late afternoon and early evening schedules for many years to come,” Debmar-Mercury co-presidents Mort Marcus and Ira Bernstein said in a statement. “This will provide them with a strong competitive advantage in their most valuable dayparts.” 

Last August, Lionsgate’s Worldwide Television Distribution Group and distribution company Debmar-Mercury partnered with Tom Werner’s Werner Entertainment on a global licensing deal for the show. Under the terms of the agreement, the Worldwide Television Distribution Group handles global distribution, including subscription video-on-demand (SVOD), ad-supported VOD, basic cable and free ad-supported television (FAST) rights, while Debmar-Mercury shepherds domestic syndication. The deal covers all existing seasons of the series, as well as rights to future seasons following ABC’s first window.

The Conners — starring Sara Gilbert, John Goodman, Laurie Metcalf and Lecy Goranson — is produced by Werner Entertainment. Tom Werner, in association with Gilbert, serves as executive producer along with Bruce Helford, Dave Caplan, Bruce Rasmussen and Tony Hernandez.

The deal was negotiated by Bernstein, Marcus and Lionsgate President of Worldwide Television Distribution Jim Packer for the studio, and UTA and Jackoway Austen on behalf of Werner Entertainment.   

Extra has been picked up for its 31st season on the Fox Television Stations, David Decker, president of content sales, Warner Bros. Discovery; Frank Cicha, executive VP of programming for Fox Television Stations; and Lauren Blincoe, senior VP, current programming, Telepictures, said in a joint statement on Monday. Extra is produced by Warner Bros. Unscripted Television and Telepictures.

Also Read: Big Swings Are Rarer but Stations, Studios Stay in the Game

“The team at Extra has delivered quality entertainment news for over three decades," Decker said. "That’s programming gold and our partners Fox have integrated it into their schedule in groundbreaking ways.” 

For example, Extra collaborated with Fox-owned KTTV Los Angeles to produce “Good Day LA Red Carpet Extra,” which aired at 4:30 p.m. PT leading into the 75th Annual Primetime Emmys on Monday, January 15.

“One of the best things about Extra is the synergy that has developed between our stations and the show,” Cicha said. “We’re looking forward to growing that even further.” 

The Fox stations also have picked up Warner Bros.’ true-crime strip, True Crime News, for a fall debut, Warner Bros. and Fox said Monday. Fox, along with Hearst, renewed Warner Bros.-produced Jennifer Hudson for a third season earlier this month.

Extra is hosted by Billy Bush with senior correspondent/weekend co-host Melvin Robert, senior correspondent/weekend co-host Mona Kosar Abdi, and correspondents Megan Ryte and Terri Seymour. 

Extra is executive produced by Theresa Coffino and Jeremy Spiegel and produces an original half-hour edition every weekday and an original hour each weekend, 52 weeks a year. The series is produced by Telepictures Productions in association with Warner Bros. Unscripted Television and is distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution. 

True Crime News, a new daily syndicated crime show from Warner Bros. Television Group, will premiere nationally this September on select Fox-owned television stations, Channing Dungey, chairman and CEO, Warner Bros. Television Group; David Decker, president of content sales, Warner Bros. Discovery; and Frank Cicha, executive VP of programming for Fox Television Stations, said Monday in a joint statement.

Also Read: Big Swings Are Rarer but Stations, Studios Stay in the Game

True Crime News will be produced by Warner Bros. Unscripted Television in association with Telepictures. The show will deliver 52 weeks of original programming. The series will offer breaking crime news, ripped-from-the-headlines cases and updates on stories pulled from WBD’s vault of crime footage. 

True Crime News will be hosted by veteran journalist Ana Garcia, who hosts True Crime Daily: The Podcast, produced by Telepictures. Garcia also contributes to ABC’s news magazine 20/20.

“Audiences continue to be fascinated by true crime stories, mysteries, and investigations, and the talented team at Telepictures has developed a distinctive series that is sure to captivate,” Dungey said. “We’re thrilled to have Emmy winner and expert crime reporter Ana Garcia as host, and we can’t wait for viewers to see True Crime News this fall.”

The announcement comes on the heels of Warner Bros.’ renewal of daytime talker The Jennifer Hudson Show for a third season. The Fox-owned stations also serve as the launch group for that show. 

“This project works on two fronts. First, it speaks to our audience, and secondly, it creatively delivers a first-run program despite syndication’s harsh economic realities,” Cicha said.

True Crime News sets out to advance cases, with a true-crime tip line and call to action in every episode.  It also will work closely with local newsrooms to integrate local crime cases and allow local newsrooms to roll in a crime story in their market.

Warner Bros. and Telepictures produced a very similar program, Crime Watch Daily, which aired from September 2015 through June 2018, when it was replaced by a less-expensive but similar format, Investigation Discovery’s True Crime Files. That show did not last long in station lineups, however. Crime Watch Daily continued on in the form of True Crime Daily: The Podcast and the “True Crime Daily” website.

The news comes on the heels of another syndication announcement Monday morning that the CBS-owned television stations have picked up syndicated game show The Flip Side, hosted by Jaleel White, to premiere this fall. Meanwhile, Debmar-Mercury has pulled its proposed talk show starring Ken Jeong from the market in light of Fox’s renewal of Jennifer Hudson.

The Flip Side, a new syndicated game show from CBS Media Ventures, is set to launch on CBS-owned television stations this fall, said Wendy McMahon, president and CEO of CBS News and Stations and CBS Media Ventures (CMV). The show is the initial first-run syndicated show to launch under McMahon’s leadership of CMV.

The Flip Side will be hosted by Jaleel White, known for his role as Steve Urkel on ABC’s Family Matters, which aired on the network from 1989 to 1997. Since then, White, who also works as a writer, producer and comedian, has starred in Netflix’s Hustle, CBS’s Me, Myself and I and Apple TV Plus’s The Afterparty.

“Game shows have been a bright spot in syndication — and network primetime —  the last few years,” McMahon said in a statement. “Their loyal viewers tune in more times per week than any other genre. We are excited to bring a fun concept, combined with the exceptional comedic skills of host Jaleel White, to the marketplace with The Flip Side. It’s a perfect addition to any station’s lineup with the flexibility to play in multiple time periods or a game-show block.”  

The Flip Side is so far the only new first-run show that’s gained clearance for a fall 2024 debut. Debmar-Mercury had been shopping a talk show starring Ken Jeong but the renewal of Warner Bros.’ Jennifer Hudson caused Debmar-Mercury to pull it from the market.  Jennifer Hudson airs on Fox-owned TV stations in top markets. Both Fox and Hearst TV have renewed that show for a third season.

CBS Media Ventures also produces game-show Pictionary, starring Jerry O’Connell, in partnership with Fox First Run. Pictionary airs on Fox-owned stations in top markets.

The Flip Side will pit two teams of players against each other, testing them on how they think two different groups of people feel about the same issue. Teams choose from multiple-choice answers, and whoever reveals the best intuition regarding human behavior will find themselves richer.

“I have had fun being a celebrity contestant on numerous game shows, but I’ve always really wanted to be the host, giving people money and making their day!” White said, also in a statement. “When I first heard this concept I immediately wanted to be the ringleader of this entertaining, funny game show where the only requirement is being in tune with human nature.”