“Drew” returning for third season as CBS stations expands local news
Show will have new format to accommodate local news expansion
The struggling Drew Barrymore Show has been renewed for a third season.
Making it official, CBS Media Ventures announced Friday that the show is returning for the 2022-23 season, but with a twist – Drew is being split into two half-hours stations can run separately or together as an hour block. This strategy has been used in the past with Daily Mail TV and the short-lived Face The Truth.
The decision to renew was so CBS-owned stations who air the show in top markets can launch a half-hour 9 a.m. newscast, followed by Drew. The second half-hour is expected to run on CBS’ non-network duopoly stations, including WLNY New York and KCAL Los Angeles. In addition to CBS, other groups upping for season three include Scripps, Nexstar, Tegna, and Weigel, whose WCIU airs Drew at 9 p.m., giving it two outlets in the Chicago market. Drew currently averages 740,000 viewers a day, but ratings are up from last year.
In Chicago last summer, CBS-owned WBBM-TV moved Drew to 9 a.m., swapping time periods with CBS’ Let’s Make A Deal at 2 p.m., aligning the network show with most other CBS affiliates in the Central and Mountain Time Zones who air it in the afternoon. With some exceptions, Deal airs in the Eastern and Pacific time zones at either 9 or 10 a.m. This likely will have implications for CBS-owned KCBS Los Angeles, KPIX San Francisco, and KTVT Dallas, as all currently air Drew at 2 p.m. and Deal airs at 9 a.m. as both shows are likely to be swapped in order to launch a the new mid-morning newscast in these markets.
“We love the idea of creating a seamless flow of exquisite storytelling from the final hour of CBS Mornings to a new half-hour of local news on our CBS Stations as we lead into the distinctive approach to the topics of the day and breath of fresh air that Drew Barrymore provides,” said Wendy McMahon, president and co-head of CBS News and Stations. “We very much appreciate our CBS Media Ventures colleagues’ willingness to help us reimagine how we schedule programming on our stations. This collaboration allows us to embrace the opportunity for the growing demand for local news in the communities we serve while also continuing to support a show that is delivering its strongest quarterly performance to date on our stations and is a cherished programming asset for our company.”
CBS and CBS Media Ventures share Paramount Global as a corporate parent.
While this doesn’t specify when or even if CBS 2 is launching a 9 a.m. newscast – which would already have top-rated WGN Morning News, Live With Kelly And Ryan, and Fox 32’s Good Day Chicago as competition, one is eventually coming down the pike, given the station launched a new 4 p.m. newscast two months ago. If Drew is canceled after next season, it’ll make it easier for CBS stations to simply expand local newscasts another half-hour. Obviously, grabbing more political ad revenue is the real reason for adding more news, with important mid-term races taking places this November.
Meanwhile, there are reports surfacing on two other CBS Media Ventures shows on the chopping block: the aforementioned DailyMail and long-running The Doctors. While no decision has been made, at least one, or both shows are facing a likely end. Both come from Jay McGraw’s Stage 29 Productions.
A few weeks ago, three syndicated shows were canceled within a span of 48 hours, with Maury Povich officially announcing the end of his show two weeks ago, and of course Ellen DeGeneres also retiring after this season. Several more are also questionable to return, including Warner Bros. The Real. This comes as more and more stations are dropping syndicated programming to expand news programming and adding local lifestyle shows as viewership for linear TV – especially in daytime – continues to decline.