Sherri Shepherd is officially the new talk show queen on the block and The Wendy Williams Show is gone…at least in its current form.
The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed that Shepherd, who had been made a permanent guest host for The Wendy Williams Show, will now get her own show in Williams’ timeslot. Debmar-Mercury, the production company behind Williams’ show, are now in the process of bringing it to an end due to Williams’ ongoing medical issues. The company made the announcement Tuesday.
Shepherd's new show will debut in the fall.
The details surrounding the show are as follows: it will be called Sherri and will be distributed by Debmar-Mercury. David Perler, who acted as showrunner for Williams’ show, will move into the same role for Shepherd. Shepherd’s producing partner Jawn Murray will also executive produce with Perler.
Debmar-Mercury co-presidents Mort Marcus and Ira Bernstein gave a statement surrounding the series shakeup.
“Sherri is a natural who proved her hosting skills for many years as a panelist on The View, on Fox’s Dish Nation and again this season as a popular guest host on Wendy,” they said. “Like our viewers, we have been impressed by the unique comedic twist Sherri puts on our daily live ‘Hot Topics’ segment, her creativity and interactions with our guests. Her love for the content and daytime fans is obvious, and we are excited to partner with her to create another long-term talk franchise.”
The two also talked about how “bitter-sweet” the announcement is, saying, “We all have a great love and affinity for Wendy, who grew into a true icon during her 12 incredible seasons as a solo host of a live, daily talk show dishing on Hot Topics and interviewing celebrities. Since Wendy is still not available to host the show as she continues on her road to recovery, we believe it is best for our fans, stations and advertising partners to start making this transition now. We hope to be able to work with Wend again in the future, and continue to wish her a speedy and full recovery.”
