It’s the end of the road for The Real.
Following weeks of speculation about its future, the syndicated daytime talk show was canceled Friday after eight seasons, TheWrap reported.
Current co-hosts Loni Love and Garcelle Beauvais confirmed the news on Twitter.
“In the end The Real cast & crew did everything we could to scale the show down… We shot 7-8 shows in 3 days, no audience, made a conference room into a studio, but in my opinion Covid costs killed this show,” Love tweeted. “It’s been a great ride and thanks to the viewers for 8 great seasons!”
Beauvais added, “Got to work with an group of amazing women and crew.”
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The Real was produced by Warner Bros. Unscripted Television in association with Telepictures Productions and distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution.
Insiders said Warner Bros. opted to cancel the show after Fox stations declined to pick it up for another season. The decision was apparently not related to the upcoming fall launch of The Jennifer Hudson Show.
The Real debuted with a test run in 2013, and began airing on Fox-owned stations in major markets in 2014. The daily, one-hour talk show was described as a “destination for multicultural women.”
Most recently it was co-hosted by Loni Love, Adrienne Houghton, Jeannie Mai Jenkins, and Garcelle Beauvais, The Real saw a number of talent changes over the years. Previous co-hosts included actress Tamera Mowry-Housley, singer and reality star Tamar Braxton, and comedian and actress Amanda Seales.
Viewers may have tired of the frequent changes to the on-air panel. In July 2020, Mowry exited the series saying she was “embarking on the next chapter” of her life.
Related Story: Tamar Braxton Apologizes to ‘The Real’ Co-Hosts – ‘Please Forgive Me’
Seales quit the show in June 2020 after just five months, saying she wasn’t able to fully express herself as a Black woman. “The people at the top are not respecting the necessity for black voices to be at the top too,” she said on Instagram.
Braxton was fired from the series in 2016. Two years later, The Real co-hosts addressed Braxton’s departure in an interview with Power 105.1’s The Breakfast Club.
“I got a call on Saturday. They said that Tamar was being let go. I asked a question, we all got on a text, like what was going on,” Loni Love said, adding that the hosts tried to reach out to Braxton, but she ceased all communication.
The series won a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Entertainment Talk Show Host in 2018, when Mowry, Bailon, Mai and Love were on the panel. It picked up additional Daytime Emmys over the years for makeup and hairstyling.
Season 8 of The Real premiered on Monday, Sept. 20, 2021. But the show had recently struggled in the ratings and fell to a meager .3 rating in recent weeks. In comparison, Nick Cannon was averaging a .4 rating or about 400,000 viewers when it was canceled in March 2022 after six months on the air.
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