The Ellen DeGeneres Show to end after 19 seasons

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Ellen DeGeneres has made the decision to end her popular talk show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, after 19 seasons. The upcoming season, its nineteenth, will be its last.

According to "The Hollywood Reporter", the decision fell solely on DeGeneres and it has been in the making for several years. The staff of her show was informed on May 11, 2021, and DeGeneres will sit down with her friend and daytime predecessor, Oprah Winfrey, to discuss her reasons for ending the show's run on May 13, 2021. DeGeneres had this to say about making the decision to bring her talk show to an end:

"When you’re a creative person, you constantly need to be challenged – and as great as this show is, and as fun as it is, it’s just not a challenge anymore."

DeGeneres has struggled in the past about when she should bring her talk show to an end. The decision has to be a difficult one. During its long run, the talk show has been a true ratings winner and has won a staggering 61 Daytime Emmy Awards, including four for Outstanding Talk Show and seven for Outstand Talk Show Entertainment, surpassing the record held by The Oprah Winfrey Show, which won nine. DeGeneres herself has also won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show Host four times. With all of this success, it has to be a struggle to determine when to call it quits and, back in 2018 in a "New York Times" profile, DeGeneres revealed that her wife Portia de Rossi had been encouraging to move on from the show, which produces 180 shows. a year on average. Conflicting this decision was that her comedian brother and executives at Warner Bros. pushed her to continue. By the end of it, DeGeneres signed a new three-season contract but it was made clear to herself and her team that by the end of this contract, the show would definitely be coming to an end. 

The Ellen DeGeneres Show has been widely praised for being one of the best of its kind. The show has made nearly $70 million in charitable donations during its run and has given out more than $300 million in audience giveaways. The show reportedly earns DeGeneres about $84 million in annual income and she has always seemed to genuinely enjoy the job. In fact, DeGeneres had the rep for being the nicest person working on daytime TV.

The show has not been without controversy, in fact, some of the recent controversies likely made it a bit easier for DeGeneres to walk away. In July of 2020, "BuzzFeed News" wrote an expose that detailed allegations of a toxic workplace environment. The expose prompted an internal investigation and the dismissal of key executives. DeGeneres took a hit after the expose because many believed that since she's the name of the brand, she should've been aware of these issues and done what was necessary to fix the problems before they escalated. When season 18 opened in September of last year, DeGeneres began with a lengthy apology and told viewers "I learned that things happen here that never should have happened. I take that very seriously. And I want to say I am sorry to the people who were affected." The opener was Ellen's highest-rated premiere in years but, despite her apology, viewership quickly dwindled, signaling that much of the shine may have come off of The Ellen DeGeneres Show due to the controversy.

It should be pointed out that a lot of Hollywood's A-list remained loyal guests to her show, even after the BuzzFeed News expose. There were some that took swipes at DeGeneres for not being as nice as she seems but, for the most part, many celebrities continued to have her back and have made several appearances throughout its current 18th season. DeGeneres will also continue to be a big part of Warner Bros. as she has built a plethora of unscripted shows that have proven to be successful including Fox's The Masked Singer, NBC's Ellen's Game of Games, and HBO Max's Ellen's Next Great Designer. The studio also plans on continuing to work with her Ellen Digital Ventures footprint as well. which is responsible for more than 60 original series. 

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