NBC Cancels John Walsh

By Paige Albiniak
( Broadcasting & Cable )
published

NBC Enterprises has canceled The John Walsh Show, and the syndicated talker will go off the air after the February sweeps.

"We are very proud of John Walsh and the staff of The John Walsh Show," the company said in a statement "We thank them for their dedication and hard work that has resulted in a high-quality program that we have come to expect each day."

NBC attributed the show's cancellation to how difficult it is for Walsh to do the show in light of all his other commitments, including Fox's America's Most Wanted. However, season-to-date, Walsh was averaging a 1.1 in the national household ratings, down 15% compared with its performance last year.

NBC wouldn't comment on what would take Walsh's place on stations for the remainder of the year, but NBC has three half-hour makeover shows in development that could fill the slot. Other options would be repeats of Walsh or double-runs of another NBC show, such as Starting Over.

Paige Albiniak
Paige Albiniak

Contributing editor Paige Albiniak has been covering the business of television for more than 25 years. She is a longtime contributor to Next TV, Broadcasting + Cable and Multichannel News. She concurrently serves as editorial director for The Global Entertainment Marketing Academy of Arts & Sciences (G.E.M.A.). She has written for such publications as TVNewsCheck, The New York Post, Variety, CBS Watch and more. Albiniak was B+C’s Los Angeles bureau chief from September 2002 to 2004, and an associate editor covering Congress and lobbying for the magazine in Washington, D.C., from January 1997 - September 2002.