Sherri Shepherd this fall will host Sherri, a new daytime talk show that will launch in Wendy Williams’ time slots on the Fox Television Stations and be produced and distributed by Lionsgate’s Debmar-Mercury.
Shepherd has been one of a rotating panel of guest hosts on Wendy Williams this season, with that show’s host sidelined due to medical issues. Williams' publicist has stated that she will not be able to return to the show this season.
TV stations have allowed Debmar-Mercury to sub in guest hosts, and the show’s ratings haven’t fallen that dramatically in Williams’ absence, but at a point Debmar-Mercury needed to make a decision about what was going to happen with the show going forward. Shepherd has earned the highest ratings of any guest host, including Leah Remini, Whitney Cummings, Michael Rapaport and others, according to Debmar-Mercury.
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“Sherri is a natural who proved her hosting skills for many years as a panelist on The View, on Fox’s Dish Nation and again this season as a popular guest host of Wendy,” Debmar-Mercury Co-Presidents Mort Marcus and Ira Bernstein said in a statement. “Like our viewers, we have been impressed by the unique comedic twist Sherri puts on our daily live ‘Hot Topics’ segment, her creativity and interactions with our guests. Her love for the content and daytime fans is obvious, and we are excited to partner with her to create another long-term talk franchise.”
“This is also a bitter-sweet moment for us and our partners at Fox,” Marcus and Bernstein continued. “We all have a great love and affinity for Wendy, who grew into a true icon during her 12 incredible seasons as the solo host of a live, daily talk show dishing on ‘Hot Topics’ and interviewing celebrities. Since Wendy is still not available to host the show as she continues on her road to recovery, we believe it is best for our fans, stations and advertising partners to start making this transition now. We hope to be able to work with Wendy again in the future, and continue to wish her a speedy and full recovery.”
Should Williams return to full health and want to come back, Debmar-Mercury would be interested in working with her again to relaunch the show. In the meantime, however, the company is going forward with Sherri.
Fox, which has served as Wendy Williams’ most important station group since the show sprang to life in a 2008 summer test, also was happy with the choice of Shepherd to inherit Williams’ talk mantle.
“First of all, thanks to Debmar-Mercury for navigating through an extremely trying situation and providing stations with first-run programming throughout. Secondly, Sherri is the perfect choice for this. Her appeal to our audience is clear, plus she’s already a member of the Fox Television Stations family as host of Dish Nation,” Frank Cicha, executive VP, programming, Fox Television Stations, said, also in a statement.
Shepherd, who also co-hosts Dish Nation on the Fox Television Stations, will executive produce Sherri alongside her producing partner – media personality and producer Jawn Murray – and David Perler, who will continue in the executive producer and showrunner role he has held for the past 12 of Wendy’s 13 seasons.
“I am so excited to have my dream come true and debut my very own talk show Sherri in the fall. I can't wait until I return to New York to host the show and merge everything I love...pop culture, talk, entertainment and comedy,” Shepherd said in a statement.
Actress, comedian and best-selling author Shepherd served as a co-host of ABC’s The View for eight seasons from 2007-14. She currently can be seen in HBO Max’s Sex Lives of College Girls and recently starred in Lifetime movie Imperfect High. She also co-starred in Netflix’s comedy Mr. Iglesias, and was a recurring guest star on ABC’s Call Your Mother. She played the first African-American evil stepmother in Cinderella on Broadway in 2014 and also had a recurring role on NBC’s 30 Rock as Tracy Jordan’s wife, Angie. ■
