After airing for 19 years, The Ellen DeGeneres Show is ending in 2022. The talk show host told the Hollywood Reporter that “as great as this show is, and as fun as it is, it’s just not a challenge any more”. The news comes just months after the show faced accusations that it was a toxic place to work. Three senior producers of the show lost their jobs and DeGeneres started the current season with an on-air apology.
The long-running US talk show has aired since September 2003 and will come to an end in 2022 after its 19th season. The Ellen DeGeneres Show is a daily mix of comedy, interviews and human interest stories. It has been a US TV staple but ratings have gone down in recent years. “I was going to stop after season 16,” DeGeneres said. “That was going to be my last season and they wanted to sign for four more years and I said I’d sign for maybe one.
“They were saying there was no way to sign for one. ‘We can’t do that with the affiliates and the stations need more of a commitment.’
“So, we [settled] on three more years and I knew that would be my last. That was the plan all along.”
Last month, the show aired its 3,000th edition and DeGeneres admitted that it was an “emotional” experience.
“It’s going to be really hard on the last day, but I also know it’s time,” she said. “I’m a creative person, and when you’re a creative person you constantly need to be challenged.”
The 63-year-old host said the allegations last year that the show’s workplace was “dominated by fear” were not the reason she decided to end the show, reported the BBC.
“If I was quitting the show because of that, I wouldn’t have come back this season,” she said, while admitting it “destroyed” her to see “everything I stand for… attacked”.
“It broke my heart when I learned that people here had anything other than a fantastic experience – that people were hurt in any way,” she said.
Accordng to the Hollywood Reporter, the talk show host told the staff of her decision on Tuesday and is due to give an interview to fellow chat show host Oprah Winfrey on Thursday.
Her show has won more than 60 Daytime Emmy awards, most recently in 2020 when it was named the outstanding entertainment talk show.
The show regularly attracts A-list Hollywood guests and clips from the show often attract millions of views on YouTube.
“Although all good things must come to an end, you still have hope that truly great things never will,” said Mike Darnell of show producer Warner Bros.
He said the show was a “phenomenon” that had become “the premiere destination for both superstars and incredible heartfelt human-interest stories”./TISG