The Jennifer Hudson Show has been renewed by Fox Television Stations for a third season, Channing Dungey, chairman and CEO, Warner Bros. Television Group; David Decker, president of content sales, Warner Bros. Discovery; and Frank Cicha, executive VP of programming for Fox Television Stations, said Thursday.
Fox serves as Jennifer Hudson’s anchor group in top markets such as New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. Hearst Television stations also have renewed the show.
As a result of the Jennifer Hudson renewal, Debmar-Mercury has pulled its talk show starring Ken Jeong from the marketplace.
“We know Ken is an A-plus talent deserving of an A-plus lineup, and market conditions did not afford us an opportunity at this time,“ Debmar-Mercury said in a statement. “We will monitor the market for future Ken opportunities.”
Debmar-Mercury was hoping to land a slot for Ken Jeong on the Fox stations, where another Debmar-Mercury-produced talker, Sherri, already airs. But with the renewal of Jennifer Hudson, Fox is full when it comes to talk shows with cash license fees. Fox tends to program two or three big talk shows and then fill the rest of its time slots with lower-cost programming, such as court, game and entertainment news.
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Hosted by EGOT winner Jennifer Hudson, The Jennifer Hudson Show has improved 13% this year among adults 18-23 and has averaged 4.4 million viewers weekly, according to Warner Bros. It’s also grown audience on its social platforms, where it has increased its impressions by 438% on Instagram, with 44 million impressions, and 300% on Facebook, with 53 million impressions in November and December. On YouTube, the show scored 63 million views in the same time frame, also according to Warner Bros.
“There is nothing I love more than watching people come together in positivity on one accord — sharing our humanity and our stories, learning from each other, and celebrating one another,“ Hudson said as she announced the renewal on the show. ‘I feel so blessed to have this platform where we do just that every single day. We get to experience life to the fullest — we laugh out loud, we cry joyful tears, we dance the best we can, and we sing our hearts out.”
Guests on the show so far this season have included Mariah Carey, the cast of The Color Purple with producer Oprah Winfrey, Demi Lovato, Octavia Spencer, Matthew McConaughey and Adam Sandler. Upcoming guests include Kaley Cuoco, Heidi Klum, Common, Snoop Dogg and Chrissy Teigen.
“Jennifer is a rare talent, both in front of and behind the camera. Her enthusiasm and endearing demeanor radiates from the stage and onto television screens everywhere. It’s no wonder her audience continues to skyrocket,” Dungey said in a statement.
Produced by JHUD Productions and Warner Bros. Unscripted Television in association with Telepictures and distributed in national syndication by Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution, The Jennifer Hudson Show is executive produced by Hudson, Mary Connelly, Andy Lassner, Corey Palent, Graehme Morphy and Walter Williams III, with LaNeé Griffin as co-executive producer.
