Report: Drew Barrymore to launch daytime talk show

New show to air locally over CBS 2 – or somewhere else

It’s October and that means it’s already time to start planning for next fall’s syndicated shows. With that said, CBS Television Distribution announced a new talk show featuring Drew Barrymore, scheduled to debut in September 2020.

The program cleared the CBS-owned stations in 38 percent of the country, including WBBM-TV (CBS 2) in Chicago and of course, the flagship CBS stations in New York and Los Angeles. No time periods were announced, but could be headed for afternoons slots here and in Los Angeles and a morning slot in New York.

“We are very excited to be in business with Drew Barrymore and have our stations serve as the launch group for a show that is the brightest prospect I have seen in many years,” said Peter Dunn, CBS TV Stations president. “We look forward to giving Drew and our colleagues at CBS Television Distribution our full support to help this show strike gold with our audience and advertisers.”

Currently, CTD’s Hot Bench occupies the 2 p.m. slot on CBS 2 and at 9 a.m. on WCBS in New York while in L.A,, Entertainment Studios’ Funny You Should Ask has the 2 p.m. slot at KCBS. It is not clear where Bench would wind up in Chicago if the courtroom show is replaced by Barrymore, but it’s also possible CBS 2 could pawn the show off to a another station similar to what ABC 7 (WLS-TV) did with Tamron Hall after Disney/ABC resold the show to WCIU after opting to stay with local chatfest Windy City Live. Bench ran for the first few months of its run at the former U Too, since re-branded The U (WCIU 26.2/48.1) before shifting to CBS 2 to replaced Queen Latifah’s failed talk show.

CTD’s Dr. Phil and Judge Judy are currently in the middle of multi-year deals, so they’re not going anywhere. Both shows air on CBS 2 and on the main CBS O&Os in New York and Los Angeles (a second airing of Phil airs on The U at 7 p.m.)

CBS’ last daytime talk show launch was the disastrous Jeff Probst Show during the 2012-13 season. CBS 2 slotted Probst opposite another freshman talk show Steve Harvey at 2 p.m., getting downgraded to late night four months into its run. Oddly, Probst’s show was cleared on NBC-owned stations excluding WMAQ, who filled its 2 p.m. slot with Harvey.

Barrymore could be on opposite current WMAQ 2 p.m. occupant Kelly Clarkson in Chicago and in Los Angeles, and Live With Kelly and Ryan in New York if scheduling goes to plan.

With a role in E.T. and battling back to Hollywood after years of struggle due to substance abuse issues, Barrymore has battled back and became one of the industry’s respected actresses, appearing in movies should as Never Been Kissed Charlie’s Angels, and 50 First Dates. 

Barrymore was in talks with Warner Bros. for a daytime talk show in 2016, but the project was abandoned.