In what may be a harbinger for things to come regarding first-run syndicated fare, Twentieth Television has canceled The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet after a two-season run.
The daytime strip, which competed with Live with Regis & Kelly in most markets (including Chicago until WFLD-TV expanded its morning newscast), averaged an season-to-date 0.8 Nielsen household rating, putting it twelfth out of thirteenth talk shows in syndication.
Despite performing well in several markets, The Morning Show fared poorly in others, particularly in larger ones.
Twentieth blamed economic conditions as the reason why the series is ending production, which comes in June. The program ends its run on September 11.
The Morning Show originally launched as a limited-test run series on 26 Fox O&O markets (which since has slimmed down to 18) before launching nationwide in syndication.
Over the last fifteen years, Twentieth has had a hard time launching a successful first-run talk strip. The casualty list includes Bertice Berry, Gordon Elliott, Gabrielle Carteris, Terry Bradshaw, Forgive and Forget, and Earvin "Magic" Johnson. Twentieth plans to focus on renewing its stock of courtroom shows for next fall.
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