NBCUniversal has announced the cancellation of its long-running entertainment news program Access Hollywood, marking the end of a nearly three-decade staple in celebrity journalism. The show, which first premiered in September 1996, will cease production this summer, along with its companion series Access Live, Karamo, and The Steve Wilkos Show, as the company exits first-run syndicated programming entirely.
Access Hollywood has been a fixture in syndication, delivering daily doses of Hollywood gossip, red-carpet coverage, and celebrity interviews to audiences across the U.S. Hosted by Mario Lopez, Kit Hoover, Scott Evans, and Zuri Hall in its final seasons, the program weathered various changes over the years, including host turnovers and industry scandals—like the infamous 2005 tape involving Donald Trump and former host Billy Bush. Despite these ups and downs, it remained a go-to source for entertainment news, often competing with rivals such as CBS’s Entertainment Tonight.
The decision stems from broader challenges in the syndicated TV landscape. According to NBCUniversal, the model has become unsustainable, with local stations increasingly favoring local and national news, community-oriented content, and established national franchises over original syndicated shows. This move follows recent industry trends, including the earlier cancellation of The Kelly Clarkson Show and layoffs at Access Hollywood last fall tied to the end of E!’s daily news program. Rising production costs, declining ad revenue, and competition from digital platforms like YouTube and video podcasts—where similar content can be produced more cheaply—have all contributed to the decline.
Frances Berwick, Chairman of Bravo & Peacock unscripted for NBCUniversal, addressed the changes in a statement: “NBCUniversal is making changes to our first-run syndication division to better align with the programming preferences of local stations. The company will remain active in the distribution of our existing program library and other off-network titles, while winding down production of our first-run shows. These shows have provided audiences with great talk and entertainment content for many years and we’re very proud of the teams behind them.”
While NBCUniversal will continue distributing its library of reruns—including classics like Dateline, Law & Order, and past episodes of the canceled shows—the end of new production signals a pivot away from creating fresh syndicated content. Karamo, hosted by Queer Eye‘s Karamo Brown since 2022, and The Steve Wilkos Show, a spin-off from The Jerry Springer Show running since 2007, have already wrapped filming, with episodes airing through the summer. The company also plans to vacate its Stamford Studios in Connecticut later this year.
As Access Hollywood signs off, it leaves behind a legacy of breaking entertainment stories and capturing the glitz of Hollywood. Competitors like Entertainment Tonight and Inside Edition persist for now, but the industry’s shift underscores a larger transformation: traditional TV is ceding ground to digital alternatives. For longtime viewers, this cancellation isn’t just the end of a show—it’s the close of a chapter in pop culture history.
