Earlier this month, we heard that that Ellen DeGeneres was finally taking her talk show off life-support next year after 19 seasons. It wasn’t a huge surprise. Between Ellen’s general disinterest in the show, the accusations of a toxic workplace and her empire expanding into game shows, we’d been waiting for this announcement. So much so that folks started speculating who would replace Ellen before she’d decided to leave. I think Chrissy Teigen was considered for a hot minute. I know Kristen Bell desperately wanted Ellen’s chair. Tiffany Haddish rose quickly to the top of everyone’s betting sheets. Instead, NBC is pulling the show altogether and replacing it in that time slot with Kelly Clarkson’s show, technically making Kelly Ellen’s replacement.
Singer and talk show host Kelly Clarkson will take over Ellen DeGeneres’ slot on US TV, network NBC has confirmed.
Earlier this month, DeGeneres announced her talk show would come to an end in 2022 after 19 seasons.
The presenter said she was leaving because her show was “not a challenge any more”.
NBC said The Kelly Clarkson Show – now in its second season – will replace DeGeneres’ programme from autumn 2022.Tracie Wilson, the executive vice president of NBCUniversal Syndication Studios, said: “Kelly and our entire production team put their heart, intent and incredible passion into making a show that resonates with people of all ages, cultures and backgrounds.
“We’re working on some big plans for season three and are looking forward to becoming the premier show in daytime for years to come.”
On paper, it’s a smart move. Kelly has a show and an audience already. No one will have to worry about filling Ellen’s shoes or being compared to her because they aren’t coming in to her house. Kelly’s just moving into a coveted time slot. However, with Ellen’s show going away, Kelly and NBC can cannibalize it and incorporate certain gimmicks and bits that might work well with Kelly’s personality into her show. Most importantly, she can take over the sacred 12 Days of Christmas Giveaway, which will be an automatic audience boost. There are some parallels between Kelly and Ellen that might help Kelly maintain Ellen’s audience: Ellen had her dancing and dance-alongs, Kelly sings and has sing alongs. Ellen sold herself as “nice,” Kelly seems like an actually nice person. All in all, Kelly appears a pretty safe bet.
Whether it will actually work, I don’t know. I have been underwhelmed with Kelly as an interviewer and I can’t see any improvement in season two. I really like Kelly, I wanted this to work for her. But she needs to learn how to ask a question and listen to her guests. That said, who knows what will happen if she’s given this large a stage. Fingers crossed.
It’s a little disappointing that a seat created by one of the first publicly open lesbians was just filled by a straight white woman. It seems like NBC had an opportunity there.
Photo credit: Instagram, Avalon and Backgrid
I watched Ellen’s new design show on HBOmax and it must have been shot pre-all the bad stuff leaking about her and let me say, she comes off having this mean sense of humor, like she FaceTimed a contestant to let them know they made it on the show but she pretended that she didn’t make it and called by accident… not a great look.
Gosh, another white person.
How original.
At least it’s not Drew?
When Ellen’s sitcom started years ago, I honestly tried to like her, especially after she became the first prime time star to admit she is gay on camera. I thought that was incredibly brave. But for some reason I always got this queasy visceral reaction to her and just never enjoyed any show/movie she did. I have seen odd clips of her talk show over the years, and my negative reaction to her never changed.
When the stories about how horrible her show was for employees, I realized my gut had been telling me what her staff knew all along: she is a fake and a liar. Her niceness was a facade.
I am glad Kelly Clarkson got the time slot and hopes she does well. She seems like a genuinely kind and fun person.
Drew though I adore her, is distracting. Kelly is not. And she’s improving.
Why do they have to pick someone who is not straight? This is a money decision and a convenience decision, pure and simple. They didn’t sit around and say well we need to get a lesbian or trans and maybe they actually did, but the current best choice is Kelly.
I now watch Kelly every day and she’s not only improved, she CONNECTS positively with every guest. That is why her show works. People are clamoring to get on her show because it’s not just good exposure, it’s feel good – really feel good and most importantly, it’s GENUINE on her part. Even Simon Cowell is eating out of her hand now.
The current best choice at Ellen’s time, was when she was actually a delight (hard to imagine, I stopped watching several years ago). The fact that she’s a lesbian had no bearing on it. She was great at the time, and obviously a good choice. Too bad she didn’t leave far sooner, but at least she’s gone now.
Because representation is important. White straight people have been disproportionately heard from so far, its time to hear other perspectives
I didn’t see anything in Ellen’s show through the years that felt any different than mainstream talk stuff. What kind of perspective are you referring to? She was mainstream.
I thought Kelly Clarkson’s show was a cooking show. I am so way behind the times when comes to broadcast TV.
That’s probably a good move, shifting Kelly into that spot rather than trying to actually replace Ellen right now. Then they can test out some other show in Kelly’s old spot.
I don’t really watch daytime TV, but i love Kelly, and occasionally will watch youtube clips of all the songs she sings on her show.
Over the past few months Kelly’s show and she herself has improved. The games are fun and well constructed, she has minor celebrity guests as the games’ moderators, with bigger celebrity game players. So far it’s doing well. Wanda Sykes killed it over Kelly and was fun to watch. Wanda looked dubious at first but she ended up having fun. Emily Blunt clearly had a great time, and so have others. Kelly’s appeal is that she is genuine, comes from a humble background and loves to connect with people. I believe over time her ebullience will temper but hopefully not too much.
Watching the segment with the former Idol judges a while back was so satisfying. And Simon was just on again hawking his book.
Creating/hosting a talk show is actually really, really hard. We’ve seen plenty of famous, funny, likeable people try and fail. Doesn’t surprise me one bit that they went with someone who’s already shown some success at it.
I haven’t enjoyed watching Kelly the few times I’ve watched her show. From what I saw, she would ask questions of the guest and then insert her own personal stories and talk over them.
I used to feel that way too and checked out but sitting at home I’ve watched more; it’s gotten better.