The Talk Information

The Talk is a talk show created by actress Sara Gilbert, who also serves as the executive producer. The show premiered on October 18, 2010, and airs on CBS as a part of CBS Daytime. Along with Gilbert, the show originally featured Julie Chen as the moderator, Leah Remini, Holly Robinson Peete, and Sharon Osbourne discussing the day's latest headlines while usually tying in the show's theme of motherhood or at least parenthood, such as by giving their opinions "through the eyes of mothers". It also contains celebrity interviews and segments for mothers and/or parents in general.

On January 29, 2013, The Talk was renewed for a fourth season.

Production

In December 2009, it was announced that CBS was cancelling As the World Turns, and was looking for a replacement to air in its timeslot. Sara Gilbert, after drinking a box of wine and watching The View, approached CBS about producing a pilot that would feature six women talking about the day's headlines with opinions told through "the eyes of mothers." Along with Gilbert, the first confirmed co-host was Holly Robinson Peete. In April, it was announced that actress Leah Remini (best known from the popular CBS sitcom The King of Queens) and Big Brother hostess Julie Chen (whose husband, Leslie Moonves, is president and CEO of CBS Corporation) would also be starring in the pilot. Two months later, Marissa Jaret Winokur confirmed that she would also be starring in the pilot. In late June, former talk show hostess and America's Got Talent judge Sharon Osbourne had been confirmed to be joining the program.

On July 21, 2010, it was announced that CBS had picked up the show, therefore beating out several other contenders, including a cooking show featuring Emeril Lagasse, Say It Now, a talk show featuring Valerie Bertinelli and Rove McManus, and a newly-revamped version of the hit game show Pyramid, hosted by Andy Richter.

In the four weeks prior to the show's debut, new episodes of The Price Is Right and Let's Make a Deal as well as repeats of The Young and the Restless aired in the vacated As the World Turns timeslot.

Marissa Jaret Winokur was originally featured as the "mother on the street", dealing with issues like taking her toddler on an airplane, talking with kids about sex, talking to parents about the "terrible twos", etc.; however, she departed from the series mid-season over lack of airtime. Both she and producers of the show came to the decision amicably.

On August 26, 2011, it was announced that original co-host Leah Remini had been released from the show. On September 2, 2011, it was confirmed that Holly Robinson Peete had been released from the show as well.

Comedienne Sheryl Underwood joined the panel as a co-host on September 6, 2011, and Aisha Tyler's addition to the panel was announced on October 23, 2011.

Co-hosts

Season synopsis

Season 1 (2010"11)

Season 1 premiered on October 18, 2010. The show debuted on CBS at 2 pm ET, replacing As the World Turns. The first week of shows featured several celebrity guests, including model Christie Brinkley, singer/actress Jennifer Lopez, actress/director Chandra Wilson, actress/author Jamie Lee Curtis, and former South Carolina first lady Jenny Sanford.

On January 14, 2011 Marissa Jaret Winokur reported that she would not be returning to the show in 2011. In an exclusive statement, Brad Bessey, executive producer of The Talk, told People magazine, "We think the world of Marissa as a creative talent, on-air personality and super mom. This is a mutual decision based on time, not talent."

When America's Got Talent resumed filming on March 2, 2011, Osbourne's daughter Kelly Osbourne began filling in for her on a substitute basis, as the show's first substitute host.

Season 2 (2011"12)

Season 2 premiered on Tuesday, September 6, the day after Labor Day. Holly Robinson Peete and Leah Remini would not have their Season 2 contract options "picked up" according to CBS. Molly Shannon was the guest co-host for September. Joining that fall, as a new panelist, was comedienne Sheryl Underwood. On October 24, 2011, it was announced that Aisha Tyler would join as a new co-host.

As of May 9, 2012, the talk show has been nominated for three Daytime Emmys for the 39th Daytime Emmy Awards, including the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show Entertainment. Also during this season, The Talk made two trips to New York City, broadcasting live for one week on each trip. The first trip garnered some criticism for placing some audience members inside and some outside the studio. Beginning with the second trip, the show commenced to be taped in a studio that was similar to its LA studio, with the audience entirely inside.

Season 3 (2012–13)

The third season officially started on September 10, 2012. It began by introducing each of the co-hosts without their make-up and dressed in robes. The audience were dressed in robes and without their make-up as well. All of the co-hosts were shown beside pictures when make-up has been applied. The guests, also participating, were Jamie Lee Curtis, Michelle Stafford and Melody Thomas Scott (both from The Young and The Restless), and Katherine Kelly Lang (from The Bold and the Beautiful). This season "The Talk" returned to NYC for another special week of shows, this time teaming up with "Toys For Tots" and asking all guests and audience members to bring one new unwrapped toy to donate. As part of the donation drive, Hasbro donated $15,000 worth of toys. Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu (who appeared on "The Talk" in support of their CBS series "Elementary") donated $10,000 worth of toys on behalf of their entire cast and crew. It was also announced during this week of shows that "The Talk" will be broadcasting another special week of shows, this one from New Orleans, Louisiana in order to help promote CBS's coverage of the Super Bowl. That week of shows will air the week immediately before the Super Bowl on CBS.

Season 4 (2013–14)

It has been confirmed on March 18, 2013 that Sheryl Underwood, Sharon Osbourne, and Julie Chen will be returning for a fourth season of The Talk. Aisha Tyler and Sara Gilbert will not be returning after the third season ends and will be replaced, respectively, by actress/comedienne Yvette Nicole Brown and actress Ali Wentworth.

Reception

Critical reviews

Linda Stasi from the New York Post said, "This mommy-answer to The View is a somewhat dumbed-down version of The View (something heretofore unthinkable) except here the panel - Julie Chen, Sara Gilbert, Sharon Osbourne, Holly Robinson Peete, Leah Remini, and Marissa Jaret Winokur - discuss traditional "women's topics" i.e. kids, cooking and such". A review from Matthew Gilbert of The Washington Post said, "The Talk [is] an hour of plastic blatherers pretending to be microcosm of American women".

Criticism has been directed towards co-host Remini, accused of being too loud and obtrusive. On one episode, it was stated that she had received a significant amount of negative tweets about it via Twitter. Remini addressed the issue on the air, stating that she refuses to change who she is and that thousands of fans like her for who she is. Her co-hosts supported her response.

The Talk was parodied on Saturday Night Live on March 12, 2011. Remini was played by Abby Elliott, Osbourne was played by Nasim Pedrad, Gilbert was played by Vanessa Bayer, and Chen was played by Kristen Wiig. Holly Robinson Peete was not parodied in the sketch, said to have been on vacation. Disapproving of being left out of the sketch, Robinson criticized SNL for having no black female cast members to impersonate black women.

Controversy

2010 Marie Claire controversy

During the week of October 25, 2010, The Talk co-hosts discussed a commentary blog posted by Marie Claire magazine, in which one of the magazine's writers took issue with a new sitcom: Mike & Molly, because the show focused on a "plus-size" couple. Outraged by the writer's perspective, Sharon Osbourne called the writer a "bitch." Billy Gardell, one of the stars of Mike & Molly, appeared on the show on November 1, 2010, to address the matter.

2011 Kieu case

In July 2011 The Talk panelists, with the exception of Sara Gilbert, were criticized for their conduct when discussing the alleged crimes of Catherine Kieu. Osbourne described Kieu's cutting off of her husband's penis and then throwing it in the garbage disposal as "quite fabulous." She and the others were widely criticized for this particularly by men's rights advocates who responded by boycotting the program. Only Sara Gilbert objected to the laughter, calling it "sexist." On July 19, Osbourne discussed her behavior, stating between spurts of laughter that she was "sorry that she offended people" and claiming that she did "not condone genital mutilation" but that only increased the anger of men's rights advocates and their boycott of the program.

Remini & Robinson-Peete dismissals

After serving on The Talk for its first season, Leah Remini and Holly Robinson Peete were both unceremoniously let go. Failure to ever disclose why the two were released or even make mention of them brought a great deal of audience criticism of the show, as well as protests from the stars' fans. While there was much speculation that their former Talk co-host Julie Chen had involvement in the decision, as she's married to the CBS President and CEO, Leslie Moonves, it was Sharon Osbourne who explained their dismissals in December of 2011 on The Howard Stern Show, stating:

"Some people don't really know who they are, and you have to know who you are when you're in something like this. You can't pretend to be something you're not. You have to know your brand. You can't be all things to everyone." Additionally, Osbourne commented on the failure to let Remini and Peete know why they were let go, stating "Why should we call them to discuss?"

In March of 2012, a heavily publicized Twitter dispute ignited between Remini and Osbourne when Remini fired back at Osbourne for her comments on The Howard Stern Show. In response to questions from her Twitter followers, Remini tweeted: "Ask Sharon. She had us fired," and "Sharon made it happen and i guess ppl who still watch her make it happen? Sharon thought me and Holly were 'Ghetto', (her words) we were not funny, awkward and didn't know ourselves? Haters Gon' Hate. True. But, Haters have the balls to say they 'Hate'...not call themselves your friend. she had us fired all the while calling me and holly her friend. heartbreaking. Yes. she had us fired she told howard stern. explains why she never called us back." In response, Osbourne tweeted:

"I had absolutely nothing to do with her departure from the show & have no idea why she continues to take to Twitter to spread this false gossip. Leah knows that I have never been in the position to hire or fire anyone on the show. That being said, my only wish is that Leah would just stop all this negative, unprofessional and childish behavior. It's been seven months. . .it's time to move on. Leah is a very talented actress and I only wish her happiness and success. I know that better things are to come if she can just get beyond this negativity." Remini tweeted back that she had no intention of keeping quiet and that Osbourne: "just wants publicity out of this. If someone wants me to stop, they should call a lawyer and tell them what I am NOT telling the truth about. We can go from there." In an additional tweet on the matter, Remini wrote: "I will not respond to Sharon BUT only to say this, IF she wanted to clear it up she has my number & has had ALL this time and didn't use it. Not even to say she was sorry. So to Sharon I say... Well done Sharon, you won. I will move on now as you suggested. And so should u. Be at Peace."

Ratings

The debut episode of The Talk was number one in its timeslot in 20 of the 56 markets. However, as of October 2011, The Talk averaged 1.83 million viewers per episode, a 25% decrease from As the World Turns's ratings the previous year.

By June 2012, however, The Talk averaged 1.7/6 in households, 2.29 million viewers, 1.1/7 in women 25-54 and 0.8/5 in women 18-49. The women 25-54 rating was The Talk's highest since the week ending Feb. 17, while the women 18-49 rating was the best since the week ending May 4. Compared to the same week last year, The Talk was up +21% in households (from 1.4/4), +24% in viewers (from. 1.85m), +38% in women 25-54 (from 0.8/5) and +33% in women 18-49 (from 0.6/4).

International broadcasts

• In Australia, The Talk began broadcasting on August 6, 2012 on Network Ten, as a replacement for controversially axed local talk show The Circle. The Talk rates lower than the former local offering, achieving just 29,000 viewers on August 15 compared to the axed show's 39,000 two months earlier, and well below rival programs Channel Seven's The Morning Show and Channel Nine's Mornings which rated 200,000 and 119,000 viewers respectively.
• In Canada, The Talk airs simultaneously on Global TV and on NTV in Newfoundland and Labrador.
• In South Africa, The Talk began broadcasting on April 1, 2011 in the 1:00 PM timeslot on MNet.
• In the Philippines, the program airs on Talk TV.
• In the Czech Republic, The Talk airs on Prima Love.
• In New Zealand, The Talk began broadcasting on January 23, 2012 on TV3.
• In The Arab World The Talk airs on MBC 4