Talk Show Hosted by Netflix Reality Star Cancelled After 4 Seasons
Looks like it's back to Netflix full-time for Karamo Brown for now, as the Queer Eye star's daytime talk show, Karamo, has been cancelled after four seasons.
The series, originally created as a replacement for Maury, fell victim to NBC's parent company, NBCUniversal, and their decision to end all first-run syndication shows at the network.
For those unfamiliar, a first-run syndication show is "a method of distributing radio and television programs outside of the major networks," per TV Tropes. "If a television show isn't picked up by a network, producers attempt to sell the show directly to the affiliates and independent stations, in an attempt to get a high enough clearance across the country to make the show profitable enough to produce."
Famous first-run syndication shows include daytime television legends like The Oprah Winfrey Show, Jeopardy!, Dr. Phil,and The Jerry Springer Show, so Karamo stood in good company when it comes to well-known TV shows that proved successful investments. However, the golden age of this format was at least 20-30 years ago, and viewers aren't tuning in to watch daytime, network television like they used to. Brown should be aware of this change in viewing habits — as Netflix helped seal his stardom as one of The Fab Five on Queer Eye, which premiered on the streaming service 10 years ago.
“NBCUniversal is making changes to our first-run syndication division to better align with the programming preferences of local stations,” said Frances Berwick, chairman of Bravo & Peacock unscripted for NBCUniversal in a statement confirming these cancellations.
“The company will remain active in the distribution of our existing program library and other off-network titles, while winding down production of our first-run shows. These shows have provided audiences with great talk and entertainment content for many years and we’re very proud of the teams behind them.”
Karamo joins Access Hollywood and The Steve Wilkos Show as first-run syndication shows who had their production closure announced today.