ABC Cancels The Chew

[BonusShell]

This news is a few days old, but ABC has cancelled The Chew:

https://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/news/the-chew-canceled-at-abc-after-seven-seasons/

For those of you who don't know, The Chew debuted on 9/26/11 and replaced the long-running soap opera All My Children. The Chew will itself be replaced by a third hour of Good Morning America (which strangely is planned to air at 1:00 P.M. Eastern time and 12:00 P.M. in the other time zones).
 
The few times that I watched The Chew, I thought that it was a silly show. While I actually thought that having a cooking show on daytime television was a cool idea, this particular show was filled with just to much gossip and "fluff." I would have much preferred a "traditional" cooking show in which the host(s) solely discusses his/her recipes.

What's notable about The Chew's cancellation is that this is the first time in six years that one of the Big Three networks has made a change to its daytime schedule. (This doesn't count last year's change in which the third hour of The Today Show was replaced by Megyn Kelly's new show, as that change really pertains to the morning as opposed to NBC's traditional daytime schedule.) The last time that any of the Big Three networks changed its schedule was ABC back in 2012: After One Life to Live ended its 43-plus year run on 1/13/12, The Revolution aired from 1/16/12 to 7/6/12, only to be replaced by Good Afternoon America (which was another attempt at an afternoon version of GMA) from 7/9/12 to 9/7/12. Beginning on 9/10/12, ABC changed General Hospital's time slot from 3:00 P.M. Eastern to 2:00 P.M. Eastern and then ceded the 3:00 P.M. time slot to its affiliates.

While The Chew's cancellation may not be a huge surprise given the recent departure of disgraced chef Mario Batali, what surprises me the most when it comes to the daytime television landscape is that General Hospital and Days of Our Lives are still on the air. I honestly expected both shows to have been cancelled years ago.

[howierules86]

I'm sure all those "All My Children" fans will feel vindicated by this news.

[mellongraig]

I'm still waiting for them to cancel The View as it has, in my opinion been unwatchable and on for too long like some of the other shows have, but given the ratings increase recently, it doesn't look like it will happen anytime soon.

[Reloaden]

i used to be a huge fan of The View before it got way too political and they do nothing but bash Donald Trump.


I never liked The Chew it was too cheesy and Michael Symon laugh annoys me.

[GameShowsRule95]

Yeah I hate too how everything that wasn't too political back then has to be political all because of who they consider the apocalypse.

I don't like Trump either but man these TV personalities need to realize they're not going to win over his supporters by making fun of him every single chance they get. Only Trump can lose his supporters by what he does.

Now why ABC is choosing a third hour of GMA as The Chew replacement, I think it's clearly because they had no ideas so they just decided to do what NBC did with the Today show. They could give us their first daytime game show in nearly three decades, but as we all know networks except CBS consider daytime game shows to be a dead genre. Though given their Summer Fun & Games block maybe they could be the next network to have a daytime game show on their schedule again.

[imhomerjay]

I'm sure all those "All My Children" fans will feel vindicated by this news.

They shouldn't. The Chew had a nice seven-year run, and beyond that, AMC simply wasn't delivering what the network needed any longer. It doesn't matter if the replacement lasted seven years, seven weeks or seven seconds. A change was necessary. The market couldn't support all those soaps.

Now why ABC is choosing a third hour of GMA as The Chew replacement, I think it's clearly because they had no ideas so they just decided to do what NBC did with the Today show. They could give us their first daytime game show in nearly three decades, but as we all know networks except CBS consider daytime game shows to be a dead genre. Though given their Summer Fun & Games block maybe they could be the next network to have a daytime game show on their schedule again.

ABC has had an eye on expanding their marquee morning "news" franchise for years. This is no "no idea" move. They finally decided to pull the trigger.

Their first attempt at "Good Afternoon America" didn't light the world on fire, but it doesn't need to to be a success. It needs to deliver a decent, sellable audience that delivers a better bottom line. The Chew had a nice run, and there's virtually no way ABC News hasn't been game-planning this kind of move for a while.

In all likelihood, this will be no hour of hard news, outside of major news days (when a special report may have been warranted anyway). As it is, GMA segues into fluff fairly quickly, so don't expect a dose of hard news at 1 p.m. What it does is, for some of their O&Os like WABC and WPVI, create a block akin to the mornings, with local news sliding straight into the network news.

Finally, I'm sure some overly nitpicky types will obsess over whether the word "Morning" is used in the title, though it airs at 1 or 12 p.m. ET. The bulk of the world will accept it means nothing and choose to watch, or not watch, regardless of such triviality.

[pricegator]

ABC has considered this for a long time now. When Michael Strahan left "Live" there were rumors that GMA would take over that 9AM hour, but reassured Kelly that her show was going to stay. Nothing will happen to "The View" or "Wendy Williams" as their ratings are doing just fine.

[imhomerjay]

Wendy Williams isn’t a factor at play. It’s not an ABC show nor owned by a sister division and carried primarily on their affiliates, as is Live with Kelly and whoever.

[pannoni1]

Despite the "GMA" branding, I sort of see a format similar to the late '80s-early '90s show Home that ABC carried or a reimagined Hour Magazine (the '80s Group W syndicated show), mixed with The Talk. I didn't see much of this except when I visited the barber a couple times, and would usually watch  Days Of Our Lives or the CBS soaps in its timeslot if I was home (along with BUZZR in its final years). There is still quite an audience for soaps as I've watched and posted many classic episodes online, but of course still a dark shadow of the days when there would be at least three on each of the Big Three. As for The Chew, it could easily be revived over on The Food Network. 

[Briguy]

I wonder if the new GMA/GAA program will have a cooking segment on it.

If so, that should satisfy most of us who are looking for cooking. (Besides, many local noon news programs have a 3- to 5-minute cooking segment on them, either syndicated or in-house.)

I think that, aside from LMaD and TPiR, and the current soaps, that era of daytime TV is pretty much a thing of the past.

Brian

[imhomerjay]

Like all things in life, eras change. So yeah, the days of a dozen soaps and another dozen games is over, though there certainly remain some echoes of that era—four soaps, a pair of games.

I’d look for something akin to the 8 an hour of GMA on a standard weekday. Some perfunctory news headlines, but mostly more in the way of celebrity fluff, music, “steals and deals” and similar lifestyle stuff. Cooking? Probably, but not daily on a regular basis.

[Teddy]

Not exactly surprising, considering the fickle state of daytime TV, with CBS being the only network to devote its air time to game shows, and NBC oversaturating its schedule with extensions of Today. As for ABC, I wouldn't be surprised if they gave GAA another try. And then, daresay a Good Evening America to complete the trifecta?

[JayC]

As for The Chew, it could easily be revived over on The Food Network.

Food Network already has a similar show called The Kitchen the airs on Saturday mornings except that it's more cooking and less talk/guest focused.

[imhomerjay]

And then, daresay a Good Evening America to complete the trifecta?

Slim to none there. CBS came the closest when its morning and evening newscasts shared a CBS ____ News naming convention.

Then World News name isn’t going away anytime soon, and there’s not a snowball’s chance in you-know-where ABC gets additional evening time back from its affiliates. Daytime extensions are as far as this brand is going, unless it expands onto a non-broadcast platform.

[Roadgeek Adam]

Slim to none there. CBS came the closest when its morning and evening newscasts shared a CBS ____ News naming convention.

Then World News name isn’t going away anytime soon, and there’s not a snowball’s chance in you-know-where ABC gets additional evening time back from its affiliates. Daytime extensions are as far as this brand is going, unless it expands onto a non-broadcast platform.

Peter Jennings would probably come back to life and slaughter anyone if they got rid of World News Tonight.

Regardless, I think the shows as they currently exist are fine. I'm not a fan of a Good Afternoon America repeat, but they choose to do so, probably because it comes cheap.