Warner Bros.’ panel talk show The Real officially will return for season two, the studio said late Tuesday, although the show had been expected to come back.
With this announcement, all of this year’s syndication rookies — CBS Television Distribution’s Hot Bench, Debmar-Mercury’s Celebrity Name Game, NBCUniversal’s Meredith Vieira and Trifecta’s Judge Faith — are slated to return. That has left very few open time slots for new shows.
The Real — which stars Tamar Braxton, Tamera Mowry-Housley, Loni Love, Jeannie Mai and Adrienne Bailon — debuted this September after a successful summer test on Fox owned stations in July 2013. In the week that ended Feb. 1, The Real matched its series high 1.2 in households and it’s leading all of this year’s rookies among daytime’s key demographic of women 25-54 at a 1.0. In addition, The Real is one of daytime’s youngest-skewing talk shows and is the top-rated rookie among women 18-34 and women 18-49.
“I am excited, and I am elated, but I am not shocked — because these girls rock!” said executive producer SallyAnn Salsano in a statement. “In doing this for 20 years, I’ve never met a group of girls strong enough to put all their business in the street; the show title speaks for itself! And no other hosts have the guts to talk about themselves and share their lives the way these five ladies do, and that’s what makes this show work. I’m in awe of them every day.”
The Real also is performing across social media, with nearly 88 million video views on its YouTube page, up 390% since the show’s July 2013 test. That ranks it third among all syndicated shows, behind only Warner Bros.’ Ellen and Debmar-Mercury’s Wendy Williams.
The Real airs on the Fox Owned Television Stations and in national syndication and also is rebroadcast on cable network BET. Warner Bros.’ first-run production arm, Telepictures, produces the show in association with Salsano’s 495 Productions and Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution distributes.
