Tabloid Talk Show - Decline and Resurgence

Decline and Resurgence

By the early 2000s (decade), the genre began to decline in popularity with viewing audiences, and certain hosts either saw their shows cancelled due to low ratings (e.g. Jenny Jones and Sally Jessy Raphaël), died (e.g. Wally George) or voluntarily ended their shows to pursue other interests, such as Ricki Lake. Many media analysts have attributed the decline in popularity of tabloid talk shows and daytime talk in general to competition from cable as well as the presumption that viewers were tiring of the constant recycling of subjects that are often shown on such programs. Another explanation would be that the same audience shifted directly over to the new "Reality" TV genre that rose to prominence at around the same time, and most reality TV shows featured conflicts and raunchy material that would be normally seen in a tabloid talk show. As early as the late 1990s, hosts such as Oprah Winfrey, and to a lesser extent Montel Williams, began to distance their programs from the genre by refocusing them to more serious subject matters or staying on stage like more traditional talk shows. Another example of this trend was Geraldo Rivera ending his show in 1998 to focus on his CNBC News program full-time. New talk shows also followed the trend of emphasizing less bawdy themes; The Ananda Lewis Show (2001–02) made a point of being an alternative to the tabloid style talk shows still airing at the time.

The Phil Donahue Show, seen by many as originating the genre, was cancelled in 1996 when it could not compete with the new crop of shows. Donahue and Rivera would attempt to re-establish their journalistic credentials on cable television: Donahue with a short-lived talk show on MSNBC, and Rivera going back to his "roving reporter" roots, filing reports on CNBC, NBC, and Fox News Channel. Maury Povich began hosting a weekend news show in 2006 with wife Connie Chung on MSNBC while still hosting his daytime show. Weekends with Maury and Connie was cancelled after six months, due to low ratings and being panned by many of the same critics who criticized his daytime talk show. Jerry Springer, while continuing to host his televised "freak show", also hosted a more serious talk show on Air America radio in the mid-2000s (decade). The TV series Judge Hatchett, dealt with many of the topics of tabloid talk shows but was set within the framework of a court show and was more direct in its efforts to intervene in the participants' lives.

Only a handful of the shows from the tabloid talk era remained in production as of 2011, and only one new tabloid talk show between 2000 and that time: The Tyra Banks Show, which ran from 2005 to 2010. Tyra was a replacement for Ricki Lake after Lake quit her show. Tyra's format was more contemporary like Oprah and Dr. Phil, but has gone over the limits of her show by having her audience members appear in their underwear along with her and most famously, pretending to suffer the effects from rabies to a shocked reaction.

Tabloid shows have seen a slight comeback in the late 2000s (decade) and early 2010s, although with a greater emphasis on self-help than their predecessors (owing to the popularity of shows such as Dr. Phil). The Steve Wilkos Show debuted in 2007. The once-defunct Tribune Entertainment commissioned new pilots for tabloid-style talk shows hosted by radio shock jock Bubba the Love Sponge and conservative talk radio host Bill Cunningham, for possible debut in fall 2011; while Bubba's show was not picked up, The Bill Cunningham Show began production in fall 2011. An American version of the British tabloid talk show The Jeremy Kyle Show also launched in fall 2011. Ricki Lake and The Queen Latifah Show are both slated to return in 2012, but with revamped, more mature formats to reflect the hosts' increased age; also set to debut is show hosted by Trisha Goddard, who hosted a tabloid show in the UK for several years.