Access Hollywood executive producer Maureen Fitzpatrick will be leaving the show after four years, according to sources. Fitzpatrick began helming the NBC entertainment newsmagazine franchise in 2019, taking over running both the taped show and Access Live as longtime EP Rob Silverstein exited after 20 years in the position. Fitzpatrick’s departure follows the exit of production executive Justin Batey, who served as senior executive in charge of production. (Image: NBCU)
The longtime magazine columnist who accused former President Donald Trump of raping her in the 1990s can use the Access Hollywood tape as evidence at trial in her defamation case, a federal judge ruled Friday. The Manhattan judge also rejected Trump’s effort to block the columnist, E. Jean Carroll, from using the testimony of two other women who previously accused him of sexual assault.
Access Hollywood and its spinoff/companion series Access Daily have both been renewed for three more seasons, which will take them through 2025. NBCUniversal Syndication Studios has sold both shows in more than 90% of the U.S. for next season. Currently averaging 1.4 million total viewers per day in its 25th season, Access Hollywood is hosted by Mario Lopez, Kit Hoover and Scott Evans, and features correspondents Sibley Scoles and Zuri Hall. Access Daily, which features the same trio of hosts, is in its 11th season.
An employee at daily entertainment newsmagazine Access Hollywood has tested positive for the coronavirus. The case was discovered through routine testing. According to a person familiar with the situation, the production has not shut down, and contact tracing has been implemented and completed.
All Access to premiere in select NBC-owned markets Sept. 9. Access Hollywood to go live beginning this fall. Kicking off its 10th season this fall, Access Live will change its name to Access Daily.
Exclusives
The long-time Extra host moves over to the rival entertainment newsmagazine, where he’ll fill the spot formerly occupied by Natalie Morales.
Rob Silverstein, executive producer of NBC’s syndicated entertainment newsmagazine Access Hollywood and its spinoffs, is leaving the syndication franchise after 20 years at the helm. He’ll be replaced by Hot Bench alumnus Maureen FitzPatrick.
The FBI agents who raided the office and hotel of President Trump’s lawyer on Monday were seeking all records related to the Access Hollywood tape in which Trump was heard making vulgar comments about women, according to three people who have been briefed on the contents of a federal search warrant.
Stephen Colbert didn’t let Bush, in his first televised interview since the infamous Access Hollywood tape became public, get away with an easy self-exoneration.
Seven months after the infamous “grab them by the pussy” recording got Bush fired (and nearly toppled Trump’s White House run), the former Today host goes public with what happened on that bus, the people who knew about the tape, how he broke the “awful” news to his daughters and his bold comeback move: “I plan to return to the job that I love.”
Access Hollywood is responding to reports that President Trump doesn’t believe that the infamous tape of him on the program — bragging about groping and kissing women without their consent — is real. “We wanted to clear something up that has been reported across the media landscape,” host Natalie Morales said during a Monday broadcast. “Let us make this perfectly clear — the tape is very real,” she said. “Remember his excuse at the time was ‘locker-room talk.’ He said every one of those words.”
Donald Trump said that the 2005 Access Hollywood recording in which he makes lewd remarks to co-host Billy Bush was “illegal,” telling Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly that he was considering legal action. The leak of the tape earlier this month was a bombshell in the campaign, forcing him to make a rare videotaped apology and to address it at the second presidential debate.
Today Executive Producer Noah Oppenheim said in a memo Sunday that “there is simply no excuse for Billy’s language and behavior on that tape.” Bush, who hosts the third hour of NBC’s Today, has been suspended “pending further review of the matter,” Oppenheim said.
Natalie Morales is moving to Los Angeles to host NBCUniversal’s Access Hollywood and Access Hollywood Live. She will keep a role at her current job, serving as Today’s West Coast anchor .
Morales In Talks For ‘Access Hollywood’ Role
Veteran Today news anchor Natalie Morales, who also co-hosts the third hour of the NBC morning show, is weighing her options with her contract expiring in October. Among the options, she’s being discussed as a host for NBC’s sister entertainment show Access Hollywood, according to one source.
The syndicated entertainment magazine’s longtime contributor and anchor has formed RobinHood Productions that will focus specifically on empowering women and girls.
After at least a dozen stations carried a story on how the election campaigns were getting “a little salty,” with an identical script, Conan O’Brien strung all the copycat clips together and played them for comedic effect on his nightly TV show on TBS. How did that happen? The “salty” story was produced by an “affiliate service,” CNN Newsource, and syndicated to dozens of stations around the country.
The Comcast/NBCUniversal entertainment magazine show Access Hollywood has been renewed for at least three more seasons and companion show Access Hollywood Live has been set for at least one more season — but some of the show’s production staff are grumbling over most employees’ salaries being cut.
Although syndicated entertainment magazine show Access Hollywood is having a strong season, with ratings up 5% from last year, there were significant layoffs Wednesday. Sources place the number of employees let go at 14.
