The Drew Barrymore Show has received some good news ahead of its fifth season premiere on September 9. The popular daytime talk show will be sticking around for the foreseeable future on CBS, and it will be receiving significant time period upgrades in several top 20 markets.
Per Variety, The Drew Barrymore Show has been renewed for a sixth season that will carry the daytime talk show through the 2025-2026 season. The news of the renewal comes ahead of its fifth season opener on Monday, September 9, which will see Drew Barrymore continue the second act of a long Hollywood career. In addition to the early renewal, The Drew Barrymore Show will also receive time period upgrades in seven of the top 20 markets in which it airs, including the 9:00 AM hour block that leads out of CBS Mornings in New York, Dallas, and Boston. For its current season, where it is leading out of CBS Mornings, it is drawing ratings 21 percent higher than the morning show. Wendy McMahon, president and CEO of CBS News and Stations and CBS Ventures, had this to say about the renewal:
“Drew is a one-of-a-kind talent who is an integral part of the CBS and Paramount family. This early renewal and upgrades are a testament to our commitment to The Drew Barrymore Show and its loyal audience, who tune in every day to see Drew’s warmth, inquisitiveness and spontaneity.”
The Drew Barrymore Show Found Success After a Rocky Start
The Drew Barrymore Show defied the odds and found gradual success despite a rocky start that was outside its control. The talk show premiered on September 14, 2020, during the pandemic and when shows such as this, which thrive on a live studio audience, couldn’t have one because of COVID restrictions. Audience members were initially beamed in via a platform called Audience From Anywhere and had their images displayed on a screen behind Barrymore to allow for a virtual audience experience. Guests, during that time, could either appear virtually or in person with Barrymore but had to sit across from the host to obey all social distancing guidelines.
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When the series returned for its second season, it was to a full studio audience and this is when the show found its grove and began building an audience. Also helping the show was a move made during its third season where it was reformatted into two half-hour segments that could be aired back-to-back or separately, depending on the market. One segment has Barrymore breaking down pop culture and lifestyle stories, while the other was typically slated for celebrity guests and interviews.
The show saw a bit of controversy in 2023 during the Writers Guild of America Strike when the talk show resumed production with its writers. Guild members picketed outside the studio, declaring that Barrymore was a strikebreaker for continuing the show. Feeling the backlash, The Drew Barrymore Show extended its hiatus and did not return until the writers’ strike was over.
The Drew Barrymore Show is currently averaging 1.1 million viewers, which is solid in this current climate of daytime TV, and it has garnered the show and Barrymore several Daytime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Entertainment Talk Show Host and Outstanding Talk Show Entertainment.