The Talk will almost certainly be cancelled once it comes up for renewal, barring a sudden and dramatic increase in ratings.
IMO, the most likely "replacement" for The Talk will be to see that hour given over to CBS's local stations. As hard as this is to believe, CBS hasn't given back any time to its local stations since September 1993, when "The New Family Feud Challenge" (a 60-minute show) was cancelled. So in a way, a move like this is overdue, especially when you consider what NBC and ABC have done in recent decades:
*Any sort of "NBC Daytime" branding ceased to exist once Days of Our Lives became that network's sole soap opera in September 2007. But to compare NBC to its rivals, one could make a case that its "daytime lineup" consists of DOOL plus the third and fourth hours of Today.
*I don't believe that any sort of "ABC Daytime" branding still exists, either. However, its current three-hour "daytime lineup" consists of General Hospital, The View, and GMA3: What You Need to Know.
Thus, even if the hour currently occupied by The Talk is given back to its local stations, CBS will still broadcast more daytime programming (3.5 hours worth) than its competitors.
On a bit of a different matter--and based on my own recollections--I believe that The Talk was created by Sara Gilbert as a show that would be a non-political alternative to The View, with a concentration on topics of concern to modern-day mothers. While The Talk indeed became a non-political alternative to The View, the former show actually found its niche by discussing celebrity gossip and other "light" topics. More than anything, The Talk was a vanity vehicle for Julie Chen. Ms. Chen, of course, is the wife of disgraced former CBS CEO Les Moonves. Because of Ms. Chen's involvement with the show, it had the full support of the entire network. But Chen left the show not long after Moonves resigned as CBS CEO, and The Talk has been in a downward spiral ever since.
Before I conclude, I wanted to share an interesting anecdote involving David Faber, since he has been in the news recently. In his role as CNBC journalist, he interviewed Mr. Moonves back in December 2009. One of the topics discussed was the announcement that As the World Turns had just been cancelled. I unfortunately cannot find the video of this interview, but Moonves did say the following: "The days of the soap opera have changed very much. Guiding Light left earlier this year and As the World Turns will leave later next year. They've had long and distinguished runs and their days are over."
https://www.gawker.com/5421720/classy-les-moonves-just-told-a-cnbc-reporter-hes-firing-his-mother-in-law-on-live-tvhttps://daytimeconfidential.com/2009/12/08/les-moonves-on-cancellation-of-pg-soaps-their-day-is-overObjectively speaking, I do not disagree with Moonves' comment (and in the case of GL, its quality had deteriorated so much to the point I considered its cancellation to have been a mercy killing). But--if you actually watch the interview--he seemed almost gleeful when making that statement. Worst of all, though, is the fact that Moonves either didn't know or didn't care that Faber's mother-in-law is actress Marie Masters, who was a long-time cast member of ATWT.
There's no doubt that Les Moonves deserves a great deal of credit for turning CBS's fortunes around, but that whole incident showed me what an awful person he is. (And that, of course, was before he placed his wife as head panelist of a show that had yet to air, and also many years before the horrendous allegations of his sexual behavior came out.) It's one thing to cancel soap operas that are doing poorly in the ratings, but its quite another to come across as smug while doing so or to not seem to care about firing your interviewer's mother-in-law.
Given all that history, I was thrilled when Moonves' day was over, and I am also glad that time seems to be up for The Talk.
