"Good Morning America" Expands to 3 Hours, "The Chew" Canceled by ABC after 7 Seasons
by Nellie Andreeva
May 23, 2018


ABC News’ "Good Morning America", will expand to three hours. The new third hour will air at 1 PM. EDT, noon CDT/PDT.

The extra hour will replace ABC’s daytime food-themed program "The Chew" which, after seven seasons, 1454 episodes, multiple Emmy nominations and two Emmy Awards, will cease production at the end of this season but will continue to air as planned until September with all-new episodes airing in June.

GMA’s move resembles "NBC News’" continuous expansion of "Today", which now consists of 4 hours. I hear the rationale behind the decision is that GMA is cheaper to produce and draws higher multiple from advertisers. The move will not impact "Live! with Kelly & Ryan", which airs at 10 AM EDT.





“Over the past six years Good Morning America has solidified its place as America’s No. 1 morning show,” said Ben Sherwood, co-chairman, Disney Media Networks, and president, Disney|ABC Television. “We believe there is great opportunity for viewers and advertisers in expanding to a third hour.”

“While this is the right decision for our business, it is also bittersweet,” Sherwood added. “For seven years ‘The Chew’ has delighted audiences by delivering innovative food segments in an entertaining atmosphere. We applaud and thank Gordon Elliott, Aimee Householder, Michael Symon, Carla Hall, Clinton Kelly and the entire cast and crew for their great work and amazing run. And we wish them the very best.”





In telling his staff, executive producer and "The Chew" show creator Elliott saluted ABC’s move into a brand-new genre seven years ago. “Before ‘The Chew,’ no one had attempted a talk/food hybrid. Our hosts Clinton, Carla and Michael and the staff created television history executing the show as well as they did for all these years. I know I speak for all of the people who work on the show when I say it was the best television we have ever had the privilege to produce.”

Leading the competition season-to-date, "Good Morning America" has been the most-watched morning newscast in the country for six consecutive years and recently won back-to-back Emmy Awards for Outstanding Morning Program.



“Good Morning America keeps finding new ways to inform and delight our audience. We recently expanded GMA through our social channels and a newly launched website. Now we will build a whole new hour of compelling content that is true to GMA;s spirit,” said James Goldston, president of ABC News.

Additional details about the program, including the title and anchors, will be announced in the coming months.

http://deadline.com/2018/05/good-morning-america-expands-to-3-hours-the-chew-canceled-7-seasons-1202396779/

Did ABC cancel The Chew over low ratings or the Mario Batali sexual harassment scandal? (https://www.thewrap.com/chew-canceled-abc-low-ratings-mario-batali-sexual-misconduct-accusations/)
Since Batali's ouster last December, the daytime show hasn't seen a sharp ratings drop in female viewership. In fact, the number of female viewers in the 18-49 demo has been slightly up, according to The Wrap. Still, according to Page Six, ABC saw significant overall viewership loss (https://pagesix.com/2018/05/23/good-morning-america-to-expand-to-three-hours-the-chew-canceled/) after Batali's exit.

Well It's Too Bad The Chew didn't survive due to the exits of Daphne Oz & Mario Batali during the 2nd half of last year. Hopefully GMA's 3rd hour will do better as soon as The Chew goes off the air.

The Chew hosts say goodbye over a meal of Chinese food, pizza and ice cream (https://tvline.com/2018/06/15/the-chew-series-finale-recap-cancelled-abc/)
Clinton Kelly, Michael Symon and Carla Hall bid an emotional goodbye on today's final taping. The ABC daytime show will continue airing through next week, but those episodes are pre-taped. "This is the most fun any of us have ever had doing television," said Symon. "It’s because of the crew that makes the show possible. And obviously, the reason we were able to be on for seven years and 1,500 shows is because all you fans watched every day… (It was) an unbelievably special seven-year run that was just really fantastic.” The Chew will be replaced by a third hour of Good Morning America.

For this hour will it be called Good Afternoon, America? I miss All My Children which had the 1pm slot before the Chew.

I bet those who still haven't gotten over the loss of All My Children and One Life to Live are probably cheering at this news.

Sara Haines is leaving The View to co-host Good Morning America's third hour with Michael Strahan (https://variety.com/2018/tv/news/michael-strahan-sara-haines-good-morning-america-1202880388/)
Haines and Strahan, who already works on the first two hours of GMA, are expected to helm the third early afternoon edition of the daily morning show, reports Variety. ABC News has yet to confirm the news.

It will be called GMA Day.