The Talk (talk show)
The Talk is an American talk show that debuted on October 18, 2010, as part of CBS' daytime programming block.[5] The show was developed by actress and host Sara Gilbert.
The Talk
United States
English
15
2,000+
Carrie Ann Inaba (2019–2021)
42 minutes
October 18, 2010 –
present
The show features Sheryl Underwood, Amanda Kloots, Jerry O'Connell, Akbar Gbajabiamila, and Natalie Morales (who serves as moderator). They discuss the latest headlines, current events, and human-interest stories while engaging in open conversation. The original concept theme focused on motherhood, and over time evolved into a broader platform.
The Talk is broadcast before a live studio audience at the CBS Studio Center in Studio City, California, each Monday through Friday at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time Zone, and airs live on most CBS owned-and-operated station and network affiliates in the Eastern and Central United States at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time Zone. The show is on a broadcast delay elsewhere from the Mountain Time Zone westward. The Friday shows are recorded on Thursday afternoons at 1:00 pm PT for broadcast the next day. Friday shows are taped before the same studio audience in attendance for the earlier live Thursday broadcast.
On April 12, 2024, CBS announced that the 15th season would be its last, with the show concluding in December 2024.[6] On April 15, a new soap titled The Gates was greenlit by CBS and is slated to premiere in January 2025, likely to take the time slot of The Talk.[7]
Development[edit]
In December 2009, CBS announced the cancellation of As the World Turns after 54 years, and was looking for a program to replace the long-running soap opera in its time slot. Sara Gilbert approached CBS about producing a pilot that would feature six women talking about the day's headlines with opinions told through "the eyes of mothers."[9]
On July 21, 2010, CBS announced that it had picked up the show (by then, given the title The Talk), beating out several other contenders, including a cooking show featuring Emeril Lagasse; Say It Now, a talk show featuring Valerie Bertinelli and Rove McManus; and a revamped version of the classic game show Pyramid, hosted by Andy Richter.[9]
In the four weeks prior to the show's debut, new episodes of The Price Is Right and Let's Make a Deal, as well as repeats of The Young and the Restless, aired in the timeslot vacated by As the World Turns.
Notable episodes[edit]
Season premieres[edit]
The first week of shows featured several celebrity guests, including model Christie Brinkley, singer/actress Jennifer Lopez, actress/director Chandra Wilson, actress/author Jamie Lee Curtis, and former South Carolina first lady Jenny Sanford.[52]
The third-season premiere (aired on September 10, 2012) featured all five co-hosts, as well as members of the studio audience, without their make-up and dressed in robes during the broadcast; all of the co-hosts were also shown beside pictures of themselves with make-up. The guests for that edition, who also participated in the stunt, were Jamie Lee Curtis; Michelle Stafford and Melody Thomas Scott of The Young and the Restless; and Katherine Kelly Lang of The Bold and the Beautiful.[53][54]
The premiere weeks of the fourth and fifth seasons (September 9 to 13, 2013 and September 8 to 12, 2014) featured "The Talk Tells All", a daily feature on the season's first week of shows in which the co-hosts revealed never-before-disclosed personal secrets on-air.[55]
Season six premiered on September 14, 2015, with a slightly new set design featuring three new large monitors with backdrops including palm trees and the Los Angeles skyline. Season seven premiered on September 12, 2016, with the same set. The hosts kicked off premiere week by unveiling answers to the viewers' biggest questions with a theme they called "The 7 Wonders of The Talk."[56]
On-location editions[edit]
The show made two trips to New York City during its second season, broadcasting live for one week on each trip.[57] The Talk has done week-long broadcasts from New York City twice per season since then (usually during the February and May Nielsen ratings periods and in December), with the Thursday and Friday episodes being recorded on the same day as the Tuesday and Wednesday live broadcasts.[58] The program's first set of New York City episodes in the third season (from December 10 to 14, 2012), featured a partnership with Toys for Tots, asking all guests and audience members to bring a new unwrapped toy to donate to the charity.
During the third season, The Talk broadcast a week of episodes from New Orleans, Louisiana – site of Super Bowl XLVII - from January 28, 2013, to February 1, 2013, to help promote CBS's coverage of the National Football League championship game.
The Talk After Dark[edit]
From January 12–16, 2015, The Talk aired special late-night episodes, billed as The Talk After Dark. Recorded each afternoon that week before the studio audience in attendance for the earlier live daytime broadcasts, the episodes featured a separate slate of guests and featured topics from the daytime editions. They also included a house band led by musician Linda Perry, wife of series creator and co-host Sara Gilbert. The episodes were broadcast in the 12:37 a.m ET timeslot normally occupied by The Late Late Show.[59][60]
The Talk: Keep Talking[edit]
From March 15 to 16, 2018, The Talk aired two exclusive episodes on their Facebook page entitled Keep Talking as CBS broadcast the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament games on the aforementioned dates. This special edition featured all five co-hosts communicating with their Facebook fans asking them personal questions and advice for their own personal problems. Unlike a normal episode the topics were decided entirely by the fans. Both episodes were around four minutes.[61][62][63]
The Talk: @Home[edit]
Carrie Ann Inaba announced on the March 12, 2020 episode that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, The Talk would broadcast without an audience. Afterwards CBS halted the in-studio production of The Talk. Once CBS forced the production to shut down, Inaba began hosting a daily Instagram live from her own home during the stay-at-home order. CBS greenlit Inaba's show while including all five co-hosts under a new format titled The Talk: Chat Room which aired via Instagram Live. On March 30, 2020, the show began using Zoom, allowing the show's hosts (and guests) to broadcast from their homes. The format of the show remained the same starting with discussions from trending current events, host discussions, and having guests join who were also using the same video platform. The show continued to use the @Home format until September 14, 2020, when the show returned to the newly reconfigured studio for the Season 11 premiere.[64]
Reception[edit]
Ratings[edit]
The debut episode of The Talk was number one in its timeslot in 20 of the 56 markets.[65] As of October 2011, The Talk averaged 1.83 million viewers per episode,[66] a 25% decrease from As the World Turns' ratings the previous year.[67]
By June 2012, The Talk averaged 1.7/6 in households, 2.29 million viewers, 1.1/7 in women 25–54 and 0.8/5 in women 18–49. The women 25–54 rating was The Talk's highest since the week ending February 17, while the women 18–49 rating was the best since the week ending May 4. Compared to the same week last year, The Talk was up +21% in households (from 1.4/4), +24% in viewers (from. 1.85m), +38% in women 25–54 (from 0.8/5) and +33% in women 18–49 (from 0.6/4).[68]
Criticism[edit]
In reference to a news story about Catherine Kieu, a woman who cut off her husband's penis and put it in the garbage disposal because he asked for a divorce, Sharon Osbourne said, "However, I do think it is quite fabulous", prompting laughter from the other panelists. When Sara Gilbert pointed out that "if somebody cut a woman’s breast off, nobody would be sitting laughing,” Osborne replied: “It’s different,” CBS received a number of complaints and an apology was made during a subsequent show.[69] Osbourne said "she was sorry she offended people" and that she "did not condone genital mutilation".[70]
The failure to disclose on-air why Remini and Robinson Peete were released, or even to mention them, prompted criticism of the show from some viewers, with some fans of the two stars protesting their dismissals.[71][72]
Just weeks before the start of the 11th season it was announced that Osmond would leave the show stating her desire to pursue new projects.[73]
In a taped episode on March 10, 2021, a heated discussion between Osbourne and Underwood concerning Piers Morgan’s comments about Meghan, Duchess of Sussex following the broadcast of Oprah with Meghan and Harry received significant criticism from viewers. Osbourne apologized on Twitter.[74] The interaction on the program led to an internal review conducted by CBS with the show not being broadcast on March 15 and 16.[75][76] Sometime later in the day on March 16, it was announced that the show would be going into an extended hiatus, following news reports of former co-host Remini accusing Osbourne of saying racist and homophobic slurs about fellow former co-hosts Robinson Peete, Chen, and Gilbert.[77] Later that month on March 26, it was announced that Osbourne had been officially terminated from her position on the series and that the show would return after an extended hiatus on April 12. Osbourne was the last of the six original hosts from the premiere to no longer be a part of the show moving forward.[78]