truTV Cancels Star Jones Show
Low-Rated Daytime Talk Show to Be Replaced by Arrest & Trial
By Anne Becker -- Broadcasting & Cable, 2/1/2008 8:00:00 AM
truTV canceled Star Jones Reynolds' low-rated daytime talk show after just six months. Star Jones Show's last episode will be Friday, and its 3 p.m. weekday slot will be filled by Arrest & Trial. The lawyer-turned-TV personality will keep working with the network as a contributor to its trial coverage.
"Due to the rebranding and programming refocus of the network, truTV and Star Jones Reynolds have mutually agreed to cease production of the Star Jones show," said a statement from truTV executive vice president and general manager Marc Juris.
The live show -- a mix of panel discussions and Jones monologues on current events and legal issues -- premiered to lackluster numbers in August, while truTV was still known as Court TV, and never really gained steam. Jones Reynolds had signed on to be an executive editor at Court TV, according to sources familiar with the situation.
Although it premiered before the rebrand, Jones Reynolds' show represented the beginnings of Court TV's move from its longstanding daytime-programming model devoted to trial coverage. When truTV began running high-rated unscripted fare at night, the show served as a buffer between the two different types of fare.
Jones Reynolds, a former district attorney, got her TV start at Court TV in 1991 covering the William Kennedy Smith rape trial, but she is probably best known for tenure on ABC's The View. Her departure in June 2006 spilled over into a messy public spat with the show's co-creator and host, Barbara Walters.
