syndication

The plan for a Judy Justice foray into broadcast syndication is coming into focus. According to sources, the Amazon Freevee court show, created by and starring Judy Sheindlin, is being taken out to stations by Scott Koondel’s Sox Entertainment, targeting a fall 2024 launch. As Deadline noted in May, when rumors about a potential Judy Justice syndication play first surfaced, the move would make the first original court show on streaming also the first streaming show to sell into broadcast syndication.

 The syndicated Extra, distributed by Warner Bros. TV, has produced more than 9,000 episodes, been on over 14,000 red carpets and logged more than 79,000 celebrity interviews. It’s become so much a part of its audience’s daily lives that producers report fans coming up to them at airports and singing its name: “Extra! Extra!”

Daily Blast Live, a Tegna-produced topical talker shot in Denver, may be heralding a new wave of cheaper, functional syndicated daytime shows. Its producer, Burt Dubrow and Tegna’s Brian Weiss, VP of entertainment programming and multicast networks, make the case. A full transcript of the conversation is included.

Alice Travis might not be a familiar name now, but in the late 1970s she became the first Black woman to host a nationally syndicated talk show.

The comedian-actor Jeong will executive produce with Jim Biederman with a 2024 launch target.

The Drew Barrymore Show is returning to screens but it will be down a few writers. The daytime talk show revealed this morning that it would return on Oct. 16. This comes after Barrymore originally planned to return on Sept. 18 when the writers were still striking and then reversed her decision after much picketing and outcry from WGA members. However, the show will now be without three WGA members of its own — Chelsea White, Cristina Kinon and Liz Koe — who have decided not to return to the show. The trio are co-head writers.

After having to postpone its premiere due to the writers’ strike, CBS Media Ventures’ The Drew Barrymore Show will debut its fourth season on Monday, Oct. 16, the show posted on Instagram today.

The Jennifer Hudson Show will return for its sophomore season in syndication beginning next week after delaying its premiere due to the WGA strike, which officially came to an end earlier this week. Beginning Monday, Oct. 2, the host will welcome guests Gwen Stefani, Niall Horan, Taye Diggs and Cedric the Entertainer, among others, for the daytime talk show’s first week back.

The syndicated daytime talker adds 21 stations as the new season gets underway, now carried in over 55% of U.S. TV homes.

The syndicated daytime talk show can now proceed without trouble after the WGA and the AMPTP reached a tentative deal on Sunday.

The rocky daytime TV landscape has hit another bump.

Sherri Shepherd tested positive for COVID, causing a temporary halt to taping of her daytime talk show. The show announced Shepherd’s positive test in an Instagram post Wednesday. “I am absolutely heartbroken that I cannot return to host my show this week,” Shepherd said in a statement. “As soon as I get the all-clear from my doctor, I look forward to coming back strong to deliver the fun, laughter and a real good time.”

After lengthy negotiations, Wheel Of Fortune co-host Vanna White has extended her contract for additional two years to continue on the hit syndicated game show through the 2025-06 season. The news comes as the show just kicked off Season 41 last week, which will be the last for host Pat Sajak. White will provide continuity, working alongside Wheel’s new host, Ryan Seacrest, who will take over for Sajak next fall.

As Drew Barrymore digs herself into a deeper hole regarding the return of her daytime talk show, lost in the debate is a conversation about the peculiar nature of syndicated TV.

As co-hosts, Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos are tasked with enacting a version of their marriage on-camera. Where does that performance begin and end?

The Jennifer Hudson Show is following The Drew Barrymore Show and The Talk in delaying its upcoming season while the writers remain on strike. A source close to the production confirms to Deadline that after much discussion, and at Hudson’s urging, The Jennifer Hudson Show is pausing production and its season two premiere, which was slated for Monday, Sept. 18.

Drew Barrymore, who drew criticism for taping new episodes of her daytime talk show despite the ongoing writers and actors strikes, now says she’ll wait until the labor issues are resolved. Hours later CBS’s The Talk did the same.

“I won’t polish this with bells and whistles and publicists and corporate rhetoric. I’ll just stand out there and accept and be responsible,” the “Drew Barrymore Show” host says.

Extra, as it enters its 30th season in syndication, is dropping two podcasts into the mix: weekly entry Extra: The Podcast and twice-weekly True Crime Daily, drawn from the syndicated strip of the same name. They will be produced in partnership with Audacy.

On Monday, two audience members were removed from a taping of the CBS show as the WGA strike continues.

Ken Jennings will be hosting Jeopardy as it returns for its 40th season. The show returns today, Sept. 11, as part of a “changed” season 40, per exec producer Michael Davies. There had been confusion as to whether Jennings would host solo or whether Mayim Bialik, who has co-hosted the show, would return given the fact that SAG-AFTRA is on strike.

Mathis Court with Judge Mathis, Justice For the People with Judge Milian and Equal Justice with Judge Eboni K. Williams are now available.

Several low-cost shows are premiering this fall, but big names are nowhere to be seen.

The pop culture game show based on crosswords will debut on top market stations belonging to Fox, CBS, Nexstar, Scripps, Hearst, Gray, Sinclair and others, with Fox’s WWOR New York slotting It at 6 p.m. weeknights.

Mayim Bialik will not be hosting Season 2 of Celebrity Jeopardy as she continues to support the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, Variety has learned from sources. On Monday, ABC issued a press release with changes to its fall schedule, noting that Ken Jennings will host the new season of Celebrity Jeopardy, which premieres Sept. 27 at 8 p.m. ET.

CBS News said Monday that the series, in primetime since 1988, will be repackaged as a syndicated strip weekdays this fall with contributors Jericka Duncan and Jonathan Vigliotti anchoring the episodes. All cases that will air have been updated to include new information.

Cutlers Court, produced by Atlanta-based Crazy Legs Productions, will debut in broadcast syndication on September 11, the company said Thursday.

Cutlers Court, starring married couple judges Dana and Keith Cutler, is cleared in more than 80% of the country. The show has been picked up in 17 of the top 20 markets and on stations from groups including CBS Television Stations, Sinclair, Nexstar, Gray Television, Weigel Broadcasting, Tegna and E.W. Scripps.

Tom Werner’s Werner Entertainment, the production company behind ABC’s popular comedy series The Conners, has signed a global licensing deal with Lionsgate’s Worldwide Television Distribution Group and Debmar-Mercury to make past seasons of the sitcom available on streaming and in syndication. Under the agreement, Lionsgate’s Worldwide Television Distribution Group will handle global distribution, including SVOD, AVOD, basic cable and FAST rights, while Lionsgate’s Debmar-Mercury will shepherd domestic syndication for the Roseanne spinoff. The deal covers all five seasons of the series as well as rights to future seasons following ABC’s first window.

Jeopardy is undergoing a big change for its Season 40 as a result of the writers strike. Michael Davies, who took over as exec producer and showrunner on a permanent basis last year, admitted that a lot of his plans for Season 40 and the post-season episodes have been “derailed” and that the show is now in a “holding pattern.” Essentially, it will bring back previous contestants for Season 40 and will use a combination of questions written by the writers before the strike as well as recycled material.

There has been a round of layoffs at the daily syndicated entertainment newsmagazine Entertainment Tonight. About 10% of the staff at the CBS Media Ventures program were affected, sources say. The layoffs are said to include the head of graphics, post supervisor, head of photography and some producers. The cuts stemmed from a reduction in the ET digital programming footprint over the past few months, sources said.

Several of last season’s biggest moneymakers say they won’t cross picket lines for the annual event.

David McGuire, EVP of programming and development for Warner Bros.’ first-run and unscripted arm, Telepictures, is departing following the exit of Warner Bros. Unscripted Television President Mike Darnell. Both executives are leaving the Warner Bros. Television Group after a restructuring. McGuire worked at Telepictures for more than 30 years, having started his tenure there as a production assistant on syndicated talk show Jenny Jones.

Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy and Family Feud continue to attract big audiences even as streaming upends viewing habits.

Lionsgate’s Debmar-Mercury promotes Emmy-winning producer Fernita Wynn to executive producer and showrunner, with Joelle Dawson-Calia upped to EP, Siobhan Schanda and Dan Fitzpatrick to co-EPs. Pictured (l-r): Siobhan Schanda, Fernita Wynn, Jawn Murray, Sherri Shepherd, Joelle Dawson-Calia, Dan Ftizpatrick (Andrew Werner photo)