Debmar-Mercury Names ‘Nick Cannon’ EPs

Lionsgate’s Debmar-Mercury has named longtime, Daytime Emmy Award-winning producers Katy Murphy Davis (The Oprah Winfrey Show, Red Table Talk) and Matt Strauss (The View, The Dr. Oz Show, Katie) as executive producers and showrunners of Nick Cannon. The new, nationally syndicated daytime talk show has surpassed 95% coverage of the U.S., including 49 of the top 50 markets, and will originate from the 106 & Park studios in Harlem.

To accommodate the popular host’s bi-coastal production commitments, Debmar-Mercury Co-Presidents Mort Marcus and Ira Bernstein also announced the premiere date of the day-and-date talker has moved to Oct. 5 from Sept. 21.

Davis and Strauss, both prolific producers with a long list of credits, will work closely with Cannon and Debmar-Mercury to shape the direction of the daily talk show, which they say will provide a “fun and entertaining hub for the multi-talented host’s varied interests, offering an eclectic mix of music, comedy, sketches, games, pop culture and celebrity interviews.”

“Nick is such a unique and gifted artist, and Katy and Matt together bring a very broad set of skills to this show that perfectly match Nick’s many interests and talents,” said Alexandra Jewett, EVP of programming for Debmar-Mercury. “Both of them are extraordinarily creative showrunners with unmatched connections in the celebrity, music, comedy and pop culture worlds. Combined with their impressive backgrounds and producing skills, we know Nick will be in very good hands.”

Having served as senior supervising producer during much of her 1992-2011 run of The Oprah Winfrey Show, Davis led her teams to create many headline-making and culturally noteworthy shows. They featured world leaders, presidents, numerous celebrities and countless human-interest stories, all of which touched the heart and ignited audience action. Davis was also the executive producer of Winfrey’s ABC primetime special, Building a Dream: The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls.

She launched and served on the board of Oprah’s Angel Network (OAN), a public charity that mobilized millions of viewers to join forces with the show to raise and distribute more than $80 million over its 12 years, impacting scores of lives around the world. Most recently, she was co- EP of Red Table Talk, the mega-hit Facebook Watch show, and prior to that, served as a creative consultant on NBC’s Today.

Strauss, who has worked with some of daytime’s biggest stars over the past two decades, joins Nick Cannon from Endeavor Content, where he launched and developed multiple projects.  Previously, he launched and executive produced CBS Television Distribution’s Daily Mail TV, and the successful summer test of Endemol Shine’s Page Six TV.

Earlier, Strauss co-executive produced and launched The Meredith Vieira Show for NBC Universal Television Distribution, Katie for Disney-ABC Domestic Television and launched The Dr. Oz Show as a supervising producer for Sony Pictures Television and Harpo Productions.  He also played an instrumental role on the launch team of ABC’s The View, eventually serving as coordinating producer.

Cannon and Michael Goldman also serve as executive producers of Nick Cannon, which has been cleared on station groups including Fox, CBS, Sinclair, Hearst, Nexstar, Mission, COX, Sunbeam, Capitol, Meredith, Tegna, Lockwood and CW Plus.