In a move that comes as quite surprising, Tyra Banks announced today she is ending her talk show after five seasons on the air, despite doing respectable numbers in key demos.
The Tyra Show was traded to The CW last September from first-run syndication, where it spent the last four years - for Judge Jeanne Pirro, which aired on the network last year. It looks like first-run got the better end of the deal, as the Chicago-based courtroom show was recently renewed for two more seasons. Both shows are produced by Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution.
The CW has aired back-to-back episodes of Tyra from 3 to 5 p.m. in all time zones this season. Locally, the program airs on WGN-TV with the last four years being spent at WPWR-TV. Next season, her show will air in repeats from 3 to 4 p.m. only, with CW holding off on a decision to fill the 4 to 5 p.m. slot for now (keep in mind these plans may change - remember last year when CW said they were programming Sunday for the long haul and wound up giving the night back to affiliates? The same could happen here.)
Even though the program was salvaged by critics (including yours truly), Ms. Banks' show did well among young females, though the numbers pale in comparison to what Ricki Lake's talk show did in those same demos during her heyday.
Ms. Banks plans to devote more time to developing more projects for her Bankable Productions, including feature films, and of course America's Next Top Model.
With the move, The CW continues to find reliable programming in early fringe elusive since ends the Kids' WB afternoon animated block in 2005 (when it was known as The WB.), and provides yet another headache for the struggling network.
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