Disney-ABC Talking About More ‘Katie’

Will Katie be back for a third season?

The answer may soon be forthcoming. Disney-ABC has begun talking to stations that now carry the sophomore daytime talk show about their interest in renewing the show beyond its original two-year run.

“The sales team is currently in the marketplace having conversations with our station partners,” according to a Disney-ABC spokesperson. “The viewer response has been great and we’ve been very pleased with the creative changes and direction that Katie and Rachel Miskowiec have made to the show this season.”

Katie is the No. 6 talk show in households and it has held steady in the ratings to last season. Katie averaged a 1.8 the week of Sept. 16, flat to last year, based on Nielsen live-plus-same-day ratings. It ranked No. 7 among women 25-54, down 10%, tied with NBCUniversal’s Steve Harvey, Sony Pictures Television’s rookie Queen Latifah and NBCU’s Steve Wilkos.

This season, Katie’s set has been brightened up under new executive producer Miskowiec. And the show’s format has evolved from single-topic episodes to multi-segment shows with celebrity guests.

“We’ve broken the show into three parts: ‘The Big Conversation,’ ‘The Spotlight’ and a daily signature segment,” Miskowiec says. “ ‘The Big Conversation’ could be a headline interview with a celebrity guest or it could be a topical conversation. Then, Katie shifts to our ‘Spotlight’ story, which could be a celebrity with a cause or a human interest guest who has done something extraordinary.”

Miskowiec is trying to attract younger viewers to Katie, in part by incorporating social media into the show, like giving viewers a chance to chime in on a topic.

Disney-ABC’s marketing strategy for the show is to focus on “Talk That Matters” by building on Couric’s experience as a CBS Evening News anchor and as co-host of NBC’s Today.

“We are going to tackle topics both serious and light in a way that only Katie can,” Miskowiec says. “There is really no other show that can do the range of topics that Katie can and with the depth she can.”

Several new shows are in development for fall 2014, including a Warner Bros. talk show with former NBC News reporter Chris Hansen, a Debmar-Mercury panel talk show with one-time View co-host Star Jones and a Disney-ABC panel talk show with comedian Mo’Nique.

Warner Bros. is also expected to soon take out its panel talk show The Real to stations.