Drew Barrymore’s CBS owned syndicated talk show is in trouble.
CBS just announced they’re adding a third hour of “CBS Mornings” soon from 9 to 10am.
Right now New York’s WCBS gives a half hour to local programming and then 30 minutes of Barrymore. In other markets, Drew Barrymore is offered as an hour. In some, it runs in the middle of the night.
But if the network grabs the hour, Barrymore would be most likely to suffer in that situation.
Already NBC’s Today show has a third and fourth hour. ABC’s Good Morning America comes back in the afternoon after the morning shift.
CBS doesn’t have a lot of wiggle room. They’ve got The Price is Right and Let’s Make a Deal from 10 til 12 noon. There’s a half hour of local news, followed by the soaps, “The Young and the Restless” (an hour) and “The Bold and the Beautiful.” CBS has already announced the end of “The Talk” in December, and have contracted for a new soap, “The Gates,” at 2pm beginning in January.
An extra hour of “CBS Mornings” would be fatal for whatever goes out now at 9am.
Barrymore’s show could still be offered to non CBS affiliates. But it’s low rated compared to other talkers, even after five years of holding on.
Variety was first to report the additional 9am show for CBS Mornings. The new hour will also be available on CBS’s streaming service, they say. isn’t everything already?
Stay tuned…
