Sherri Shepherd's talk show will resume production amid writers' strike
Following previous announcements by “The Jennifer Hudson Show” and “The Drew Barrymore Show,” a third daytime talk show has returned to production under an agreement with the striking actors union.
Season 2 of actor-comedian Sherri Shepherd’s “Sherri” premieres Monday at 10 a.m. on WNYW/5, with guest Wayne Brady discussing his recent revelations about his sexuality, among other topics. Shepherd also will debut “Funny Over 50,” a nationwide search for “funny women over 50 who are still waiting for their big break in comedy,” according to a news release Tuesday from the show’s syndicator, Lionsgate's Debmar-Mercury.
Upcoming guests on the New York-produced show include Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg, Katherine Heigl, Keke Palmer, Vanna White, Julie Chen Moonves, Brian Austin Green, Nicole Ari Parker and Michelle Buteau.
SAG-AFTRA's National Code of Fair Practice for Network Television Broadcasting, aka the Network Code, covers daytime dramas, variety shows, game shows, talk shows and unscripted projects. This “is a separate agreement and is not struck,” a union spokesperson told Newsday. “Members may appear as hosts … without violating the strike rules in effect for the TV/Theatrical and New Media contracts.”
The Writers Guild of America, however, also remains on strike, and union writers cannot under the rules write for talk shows.
Monday on social media, Shepherd, 56, posted a 1-minute video promoting the new season — speaking evidently extemporaneously in an almost stream-of-consciousness litany of “cooking, fitness, fashion, music … . We’re gonna have a new look, a new show open, way more behind-the-scenes — before the show, after the show, in-between the show, on the weekend; I hope you don't mind me with no makeup. Reupholstering the couch so I don't slip and fall off. A Threads account — I don't even know what that is but they tell me I need one. Robots, lasers, flying cars — who knows? It’s the future!”
Shepherd on Sept. 4 had announced the new season’s airdate, without Tuesday’s specifics. “The Jennifer Hudson Show” announced on Aug. 31 it was returning Sept. 18; a spokesperson for the show did not respond to a Newsday request for details.
The Hollywood Reporter, citing anonymous sources, said the CBS daytime panel-discussion show “The Talk” will also premiere its new season Sept. 18.