Drew Barrymore Talker Won’t Make Fall ’17

A proposed Drew Barrymore syndicated talk show is no longer on track for a debut next fall, according to multiple sources.

The show was being shopped around earlier this fall by Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution for a hoped-for debut in September 2017. But the company’s sales efforts are said to have ceased for now, sources tell TVNewsCheck.

The sources caution that the show is not necessarily dead, however. Depending on conditions in the syndication marketplace, the concept of a Barrymore-hosted talk strip could be revived in time for a later debut such as fall 2018, they say.

For its part, WBDTD has never publicly confirmed — in the form of press releases or any other form of announcement — that the company was developing a Barrymore talk show or was in the hunt for station-group support for such a show.

But according to numerous sources both earlier this fall and more recently, WBDTD made presentations to a number of major station groups, and even succeeded in persuading one group — Hearst Television — to agree, at least in principal, that the Hearst stations would likely pick up the show if it came to fruition, as TVNewsCheck reported in October. 

Neither Hearst nor WBDTD would comment for this story about the status of the Barrymore show.

But sources say the show ran up against a shortage of eligible time slots on stations in major markets next fall, due in large part to Steve Harvey. According to sources, WBDTD went out into the marketplace to float the idea of a Barrymore talk show in order to take advantage of time periods which might have opened up next fall if Harvey had decided to walk away from his syndicated talk show, titled Steve Harvey and distributed by NBC Universal Domestic Television Distribution.

Though Harvey had been rumored to be mulling an exit from his afternoon talk show, he instead negotiated a new deal for himself. As TVNewsCheck reported on Nov. 11, Harvey plans to launch a new version of his talk show next fall, with a new name (yet to be announced) and a new location (it’s moving from Chicago to Los Angeles).

He also negotiated an ownership stake in the show and is moving production from Endemol Shine North America to IMG, the Hollywood talent agency that represents him. Most importantly, NBCU remains his distributor. As a result, the NBC O&O’s will reportedly continue to carry him in the afternoon slots where he has already been airing.

Sources said that left the proposed Barrymore show with no potential for afternoon clearances on the NBC-owned stations where it would have been most compatible with The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Barrymore’s show was to have been produced by Warner Bros. (Telepictures) in association with Ellen DeGeneres.

As for the other major groups with stations in major markets — ABC, CBS, Fox and Tribune — they either don’t have room for a Barrymore show now or a Barrymore show is seen as not quite compatible with the rest of their daytime lineups, sources say.

With Steve Harvey essentially launching a new talk show for next fall, NBCU still needs to negotiate new clearance agreements with non-NBC stations across the country. Sources say it’s unlikely that that will be a problem, however.