The hosts of The Real have said goodbye after eight seasons.
The emotional final episode of the daytime talk show aired Friday, June 3. In a clip from the finale, Loni Love, Jeannie Mai, Adrienne Houghton and Garcelle Beauvais reflected on bringing “historic” change to the daytime TV landscape.
“We have made our mark. I was talking to my mom earlier this morning, she knows this is the farewell show and she was just telling me like, you guys really did break the mold of daytime television, and it’s so crazy when you think of it that way,” Houton said. “There was never a show that looked like us. And I’m so grateful and I hope we are not the last.”
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Loni Love noted the show invited guests you might not otherwise see on national TV.
“The whole purpose of this show was that we would put on people that normally would not get on daytime talk,” Love said. “We’ve had people, all of the Tyler Perry movie people, we’ve had the Oprah people, we’ve had Laurence Fishburne.”
She added that the show took topics important to communities of color.
“We were able to talk about things that some people, they just ignore,” she said. “When you look back at 8 seasons, over 1300 episodes, it’s phenomenal and it’s historic. And so, this is actually a celebration. We hope that our example, with what we’ve done, can continue. Don’t let this end. Get another show like this together, with fabulous women, because we have a whole future of things that we still have to fight for like justice and equality. We can’t be afraid to talk about this. We’ve had deep discussions, and when you have multi-cultural people on, from different cultures, we’ve been able to cover AAPI, we’ve been able to cover the Haitians, we’ve been able to cover the Latinas, the Black people, the women. We are so proud, and we will not be sad today. We celebrate.”
“You’re so right Loni,” Garcelle Beauvais said.
The Real debuted with a test run in 2013, and began airing on Fox-owned stations in major markets in 2014. The daytime TV staple was canceled in April, amid falling ratings.
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The daily, one-hour talk show was produced by Warner Bros. Unscripted Television in association with Telepictures Productions and distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution.
It 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.
Previous co-hosts included actress Tamera Mowry-Housley, singer and reality star Tamar Braxton, and comedian and actress Amanda Seales.
The final episode of The Real airs Friday, June 3, check local listings. Watch the clip from the finale below.
