The Talk is an American talk show that aired on CBS from October 18, 2010, to December 20, 2024. The show was developed by actress and host Sara Gilbert, who served as a co-host for the first nine seasons.
The show's final panel of hosts consisted of Sheryl Underwood, Amanda Kloots, Jerry O'Connell, Akbar Gbajabiamila, and Natalie Morales (who served as moderator). They discussed the latest headlines, current events, and human-interest stories while engaging in open conversation. The original concept theme focused on motherhood, and over time evolved into a broader platform.
The Talk was broadcast before a live studio audience at the CBS Studio Center in Studio City, California, each Monday through Friday at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time Zone, and aired live on most CBS owned-and-operated station and network affiliates in the Eastern and Central United States at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time Zone. The show was on a broadcast delay elsewhere from the Mountain Time Zone westward. The Friday shows were recorded on Thursday afternoons at 1:00 pm PT for broadcast the next day. Friday shows were taped before the same studio audience in attendance for the earlier live Thursday broadcast.
After years of declining ratings, on April 12, 2024, CBS announced that The Talks 15th season would be its last season. Three days later, a new soap titled Beyond the Gates was greenlit by CBS. The final episode aired on December 20, 2024. 2,993 episodes were produced.
Format
The Talk has a format similar in style to ABC's The View. The opening segment of the broadcast is known as "Everybody Talks" and usually runs a combined 12 to 25 minutes. The panel discusses current news items, typically focusing on tabloid headlines, offbeat stories, and celebrity news. The program also actively incorporates social media to allow viewers to provide their opinions on the stories discussed through Twitter (using the hashtag #EverybodyTalks, or alternately the abbreviated #EVBT). In season five, the program began allowing viewers to use Instagram to record and upload videos using the aforementioned hashtags, with one or two videos being selected to air on the live broadcasts.
On most editions, the "Top Talker" joins the panel on the final segment of the topical discussion, featuring a rotating set of contributors – most of whom are correspondents/hosts of entertainment-related newsmagazine programs or magazines or hosts of local or syndicated radio programs – providing detailed analysis of a single trending, usually celebrity-related, story. Following the "Everybody Talks" segment, the panel interviews one or two featured celebrity guests; most of these interviews are conducted at the set's roundtable. Musical performances are also occasionally included.
The show also regularly has a cooking segment two to four times each week, with two of the panelists assisting in the preparation of the featured recipes with the guest chef. Product giveaways are also done once per week, as part of an advertorial segment showcasing fashion/beauty products and electronics that are given away to studio audience members for attending the show, and are often tied into online deal of the day where the viewing audience can purchase the products offered at a reduced price.
For the first nine seasons, each episode signed off with one of the co-hosts, primarily the moderator, saying "Remember, it's always the right time to have The Talk!". With the start of season 10, the sign-off was changed to "Let’s talk tomorrow,” (on Fridays or into hiatuses) "Let’s talk soon,” or "Tune in to see what we're talking about right here on The Talk."
Development In December 2009, CBS announced the cancellation of As the World Turns after 54 years, and was looking for a program to replace the long-running soap opera in its time slot. Sara Gilbert approached CBS about producing a pilot that would feature six women talking about the day's headlines with opinions told through "the eyes of mothers."
On July 21, 2010, CBS announced that it had picked up the show (by then, given the title The Talk), beating out several other contenders, including a cooking show featuring Emeril Lagasse; Say It Now, a talk show featuring Valerie Bertinelli and Rove McManus; and a revamped version of the classic game show Pyramid, hosted by Andy Richter.
In the four weeks prior to the show's debut, new episodes of The Price Is Right and Let's Make a Deal, as well as repeats of The Young and the Restless, aired in the timeslot vacated by As the World Turns.
Co-hosts
Timeline + Co-hosts timeline of The TalkCo-hostYearsSeasons 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Julie Chen 2010–2018 colspan="8" colspan="7" Sara Gilbert 2010–2019 colspan="9" colspan="6" Sharon Osbourne 2010–2021 colspan="11" colspan="4" Leah Remini 2010–2011 colspan="1" colspan="14" Holly Robinson Peete 2010–2011 colspan="1" colspan="14" Marissa Jaret Winokur 2010 colspan="1" colspan="14" Aisha Tyler 2011–2017 colspan="1" colspan="6" colspan="8" Sheryl Underwood 2011–2024 colspan="1" colspan="14" Eve 2017–2020 colspan="7" colspan="4" colspan="4" Carrie Ann Inaba 2019–2021 colspan="8" colspan="3" colspan="4" Marie Osmond 2019–2020 colspan="9" colspan="1" colspan="5" Elaine Welteroth 2021 colspan="10" colspan="1" colspan="4" Amanda Kloots 2021–2024 colspan="10" colspan="5" Jerry O'Connell 2021–2024 colspan="10" colspan="5" Akbar Gbajabiamila 2021–2024 colspan="11" colspan="4" Natalie Morales 2021–2024 colspan="11" colspan="4"
Season 1 The original panel consisted of Sara Gilbert, known for her role on the TV series Roseanne; Holly Robinson Peete, known for her roles on the TV series 21 Jump Street and Hangin' with Mr. Cooper; Leah Remini, known for her role as Carrie Heffernan in the 1998–2007 CBS sitcom The King of Queens; Big Brother host Julie Chen; and former talk show hostess/The X Factor judge Sharon Osbourne, the wife of the British rocker Ozzy Osbourne. Marissa Jaret Winokur was featured in an out-of-the studio position as the "mother on the street," dealing with issues like taking her toddler on an airplane, talking with kids about sex, talking to parents about the "child development stages" and other parental issues.
On January 14, 2011, Winokur reported that she would not be returning to the show in 2011. In an exclusive statement to People, original executive producer Brad Bessey said of Winokur's departure, "We think the world of Marissa as a creative talent, on-air personality and super mom. This is a mutual decision based on time, not talent."
When America's Got Talent resumed filming on March 2, 2011, Osbourne's daughter Kelly Osbourne began filling in for her on a substitute basis, as the show's first substitute host.
On August 26, 2011, it was announced that original co-host Remini had been released from the show. On September 2, 2011, it was confirmed that Peete had also been released from the show. Osbourne eventually gave opinion on their dismissals in December 2011 on The Howard Stern Show, stating: "Some people don't really know who they are, and you have to know who you are when you're in something like this. You can't pretend to be something you're not. You have to know your brand. You can't be all things to everyone."
Seasons 2–6 On August 26, 2011, CBS announced that comedian Sheryl Underwood would join the panel as a co-host at the start of its second season; Underwood was officially added to the program on September 6, 2011, beginning with that season's premiere episode.
Molly Shannon served as the (guest) co-host during the month of September 2011. Actress and comedian Aisha Tyler's addition to the panel was announced on October 23, 2011.
On October 12, 2016, The Talk featured special tributes to CBS' current soap operas The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful and past serials As the World Turns and Guiding Light as part of the network's celebration of its then-30-year streak as the top-rated American broadcast network in daytime.
Seasons 7–10 On June 15, 2017, Tyler announced she would leave the series following the completion of the series' seventh season. She said she would return as a guest host and to promote her various projects. Her last show aired on August 4, 2017. The current hosts of The Talk auditioned women on air as "dates" to fill in Tyler's seat. At the start of the eighth season, the guest hosts included Wayne Brady, Shemar Moore, Eric Christian Olsen, Wilmer Valderrama, Chris O'Donnell, Garcelle Beauvais, Tyler, Sabrina Soto, Vanessa Lachey, Vanessa Marcil, Pat Harvey, Roselyn Sanchez, Carrie Ann Inaba, Michelle Williams, Eve, Carnie Wilson, Jack Osbourne, Paula Abdul, Grant Show, and Sasheer Zamata. Hip-hop rapper Eve was announced as the fifth permanent co-host on November 14, 2017.
In a promo for the ninth season, it was revealed that all five co-hosts would return to the panel. However, Chen did not return to the show for the ninth-season premiere amid sexual misconduct allegations against her husband Les Moonves. Chen officially announced her departure from the talk show in a pre-taped message on Tuesday, September 18, 2018. Guest hosts included Jodie Sweetin, Inaba, Wilson, Bertinelli, Tyler, Anjelica Huston, Jack Osbourne, Sheila E, Leeza Gibbons, Sanchez, Lisa Ling, Constance Marie, Ricki Lake, Camila Alves, Katherine Schwarzenegger, Brenda Song, Meredith Vieira, Salt-N-Pepa, Soledad O'Brien, Arsenio Hall, Catt Sadler, Robin Thede, Rita Moreno, Sara Evans, Lachey, Robin McGraw, Paris Hilton, Ayesha Curry, and Sean Hayes. On December 6, 2018, Variety announced that Inaba had been chosen to join the show as a permanent co-host and moderator, with a projected January 2019 debut. Inaba officially joined the show on January 2, 2019.
During the April 9, 2019 episode, Gilbert announced she would depart the talk show at the conclusion of its ninth season; she cited acting opportunities and her desire to produce other projects as the reason for her departure; her final episode aired on August 2, 2019., then she flew East to WPRI-TV to go behind the scenes before they come on the air
The tenth season premiered on September 9, 2019, with Marie Osmond replacing Gilbert as co-host. In addition to Osmond's addition, a new set was unveiled. In March 2020, the show was scheduled to broadcast without an audience due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, but CBS later decided to stop the show altogether out of an abundance of caution. The show was quickly revamped as The Talk @Home and began broadcast using Zoom, featuring each host from their own homes. Osmond departed the show in September 2020, before the 11th-season premiere.
Season 11 Season 11 of the show premiered on September 21, 2020, with the hosts returning to a new set redesigned to promote social distancing between the hosts due to the continuing global pandemic by removing the table that the hosts previously sat behind the previous seasons. Inaba, Osbourne and Underwood had a chair on the stage while Eve used a monitor screen to broadcast from London due to the travel restrictions between the US and the UK. Originally, Osbourne was scheduled to return to be in the studio on the day of the premiere but (due to a diagnosis that revealed that the daughter of her son Jack had tested positive for COVID-19 just before the premiere), Osbourne had to be placed in quarantine, and thus would be appearing for the first two weeks of the season via Zoom call with a similar screen to the one Eve used. Additionally, when Osbourne was cleared to return to the studio and be on set, Inaba had to broadcast via Zoom call for a day due to feeling under the weather and because her autoimmune disorder increases the risk of her contracting COVID-19.