CBS has been dealing with a depressed version of “The Talk” long before the drama surrounding Sharon Osbourne and Sheryl Underwood‘s on-camera dispute over race spiraled out of control in early March, at least in the Nielsen numbers. Since the current season began in September 2020, the show had been averaging just 1.5 million daily viewers. Those numbers would be considered a high point, however, when compared to the show’s performance during the week of April 26-30, 2021, according to newly released ratings data obtained by Soap Opera Network.
For the week, “The Talk” averaged an anemic 1.197 million viewers and a 0.9 household rating in Live+Same Day, ranking it 13th among the 13 daytime broadcast shows aired on ABC, CBS and NBC, and a total audience low for the show which aired originals all week.
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In the key sales demos that set advertising rates for daytime television, “The Talk” again ranked 13th with just a 0.18 rating in Women 18-49 and a 0.32 rating in Women 25-54. Down -0.06 in both W18-49 and W25-54 compared to its performance one year earlier, “The Talk” was actually down the least among all daytime shows in both demos year-to-year, albeit its audience was already small to begin with.
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Last year, when the show was producing an @Home edition during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic, “The Talk” averaged 1.564 million viewers in Live+Same Day which itself was down from the 2.319 million viewers that were watching the show in 2019 (week of 04/29/2019-05/03/2019).
With Osbourne’s exit in March, “The Talk” is now co-hosted by Elaine Welteroth, Carrie Ann Inaba, Sheryl Underwood and Amanda Kloots. Inaba, however, recently announced she would be taking a leave of absence from the show so that she could concentrate on her “health and well-being.” A search for Osbourne’s replacement is likely underway.
During the month of May, the show is highlighting “The Talk’s Men of May” which features male guest co-hosts giving their perspective on the latest hot topics. This week Jerry O’Connell and Justin Baldoni (“Jane the Virgin,” “The Bold and the Beautiful”) are stepping in as guest co-hosts.