People (the TV Show!) will go off the air after April, DotDash Meredith confirmed Thursday.
“After a year and a half in a limited number of markets, People’s daily online and broadcast TV entertainment news show will air its final episode at the end of April,” said a DotDash Meredith spokesperson. “We are turning our full attention to the evolution of People’s digital, video and print future, including our successful programming like People Magazine Investigates, People Puzzler and Home Town Kickstart. We thank the entire team for their passion and energy in putting the show on every day.
“The PeopleTV OTT app will continue to stream People and other DotDash Meredith branded content like People in 10, Reality Check and Red Carpet Live.”
People (the TV Show!) was first launched in September 2020 after Meredith acquired People’s owner, Time Inc., in January 2018 for $2.8 billion. The show initially aired in 12 Meredith markets, including Atlanta, Phoenix, St. Louis, Portland, Nashville, Kansas City, Hartford-New Haven, Greenville-Spartanburg, Las Vegas, Mobile-Pensacola, Flint-Saginaw and Springfield-Holyoke, Mass. In October 2020, Meredith contracted Sony Pictures Television’s sales force to try to get the show cleared across the entire country but it never reached national coverage.
In 2021, Meredith Local Media was sold to Gray Television and Meredith’s print assets were sold to Barry Diller’s IAC DotDash, with both deals closing in December. In March 2021, Meredith said it had renewed People (the TV Show!) through the 2023-24 TV season. In February 2022, IAC DotDash announced that six of the magazines that were part of that deal, including Entertainment Weekly and InStyle, would no longer be published as print editions, while People and Food & Wine would continue as printed magazines, at least for now.
The now Gray-owned stations are considering how to fill those time slots, although many of those stations had already been looking at adding more local newscasts. WGCL Atlanta has already determined that it will add a 7 p.m. newscast in People (the TV Show!)’s slot debuting on Monday, May 2, GM Erik Schrader told staff on Wednesday. That station is also adding a 7-9 a.m. newscast that will debut on Monday, May 9. As a result of these additions, the station is looking to hire many positions, including producers, directors, editors, on-air talent, photographers and digital content producers.
People (the TV Show!) was executive produced by former Access Hollywood EP Rob Silverstein and was hosted by Kay Adams and Laurence K. Jackson with correspondents Jeremy Parsons and Sandra Vergara and special contributors Nancy O’Dell and Gretchen Carlson.
The New York Post first reported the news. ■
