(ABC / Lorenzo Bevilaqua)
Today, ABC airs the final episode of their daytime series, The Chew. Last month, the network announced that the cooking-themed talk show had been cancelled after more than 1,400 episodes. Will you miss it? Was this the right decision?
Launching in September 2011, The Chew replaced the All My Children soap opera after its 41 years on the network. A talk show that incorporates cooking and lifestyle-related segments, the series was initially hosted by Mario Batali, Carla Hall, Clinton Kelly, Daphne Oz, and Michael Symon. Oz departed the show after six seasons and Batali left following sexual misconduct allegations in December 2017.
ABC decided to cancel The Chew in order to expand their Good Morning America series to three hours. NBC’s Today show has had a third hour (with various titles) since October 2000. The current incarnation is Megyn Kelly Today.
While the third hour of Today typically followed the regular program’s two-hour broadcast, hour three of Good Morning America will air separately, in the afternoon. The new hour of GMA is expected to be taped and not presented live, as the regular program is. ABC is making this move as Today has been taking the lead in various demographics in the morning ratings race.
If ABC had wanted to expand GMA to three hours, couldn’t they have replaced either The View or Live with Kelley and Ryan? That was unlikely to happen since both perform better in the ratings than The Chew. In particular, The View has been growing its audience and has been seeing its best ratings since the 2014-15 season (a rarity in today’s landscape). Meanwhile, The Chew has been in last place, ranking 13th out of 13 daytime series.
While ABC may have high hopes for a third hour of GMA, they no doubt have an uphill battle ahead. Daytime audiences often don’t like change and some viewers still hold a grudge against The Chew for replacing All My Children. Time will tell if the new hour of GMA will fare any better than The Chew did.
What do you think? Do you think that ABC should have cancelled The Chew TV series? If not, what could they have done to boost the ratings? Will you check out a third hour of Good Morning America?
I will not be watching GMA at all, I loved the Chew and it was a big mistake to cancel it, you will not get the following you hoped for, we are sticking to always loving and missing the Chew
I have loved THE CHEW because the hosts were witty, and funny and smart, who gave us great recipes and cooking advice. Clinton, Michael and Carla are such warm, caring people, and their show was so welcoming. AND it was a politics free zone, which is something that is needed these days with all of the media vomiting caustic political gossip all the time. I hope some network, like hulu, amazon, netflix brings back this ensemble cast to us in a NEW CHEW!
My favorite daytime show. Please bring it back!
Best daytime show! Uplifting, informative, fun, fun Snd no politics
Please bring back this fabulous, witty, informative, and extremely comical “Happiest Hour” on television and not too mention my favorite show….The Chew. I really don’t care for GMA so I will not Be watching yet another hour of it, And oddly enough calling it GMA Day??? which translates to Good morning america day….in the afternoon. It already has an indentity complex. Just bring back The Chew #savethechew
I used to love watching GMA, but I switched from GMA to the Today Show even before the Chew was cancelled because the Today show people are more positive than the GMA people. I do not like Megyn Kelly, however. I won’t watch the third hour of GMA because its time slot is not convenient. It was a big mistake for ABC to cancel the Chew. It was such a positive show. The View and GMA have become way to negative and judgy.
The Chew was the one hour during the day that I really looked forward to! I scheduled my day around it and refused to have any appointments during that time! The Chew Crew was definitely a part of my family and since it’s been cancelled it almost feels like a death has occurred in my life! There was no good reason to cancel The Chew and for that I will not be watching ABC’s shows! It’s a very sad day for television when they cancel a hit show and deliberately alienate a huge audience thus causing their ratings to drop!… Read more »
#savethechew I will not watch the new GMA Day. It was a huge mistake to cancel the chew.
It is heart wrenching to think when I get home from work next Monday, even reruns of the Chew won’t be recorded for me. So, so sad this entertaining, informative show won’t be on.
The best educational cooking hour along with uplifting laughs along the way.878Ub
The Chew is one of the few daytime shows I watched faithfully and I am so disappointed it was canceled. If they needed to exppand the show to keep up with The Today show they could have found another time slot to keep The Chew on the air. I find it hard to believe that The View had better ratings than The Chew…..
The Chew should not have gotten canceled they are basing the rating of the ones they can see thru Nelsion what about the thousands of others that loved and watched everyday. Tbe chew was the Hour to get away from News and ot was a time to learn new things going to miss it #Savethechew
I have loved The Che for years – fun, funny, informative. Loved the hosts – I seriously planned my day around The Chew. I will NOT be watching the replacement. Who needs a watered down news light? Nope! #savethechew
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The Chew was so entertaining in a day and age when there is so much turmoil. No politics, just fun and we learned so much about cooking. It will leave a big hole for many of us. I have since decided to not watch anything on ABC, I have switched to the Today show and find it much more interesting than GMA. #savethechew Big mistake ABC, someone should get fired for this one.