It’s the end of an era as The Wendy Williams Show prepares to air its final episode this Friday, June 17.
After a 13-year run, the daytime talk show will come to a conclusion, and according to Variety, the titular host won’t be present for the finale. Williams hasn’t been part of the current season as Sherri Shepherd took over hosting duties.
The finale will celebrate Williams and her accomplishments on the show through a video montage acknowledging her groundbreaking TV run. “The final original episode of The Wendy Williams Show will air on Friday, June 17th with a video tribute to the iconic host. The series comes to an end after 13 successful years in syndication,” a spokesperson told Variety.
(Credit: Lars Niki/Getty Images for New York Women in Film & Television)
Williams has been absent from the show for the entirety of the 2021-2022 season due to health-related issues, as she suffers from Graves’ disease, an autoimmune disorder. Despite her absence, Williams’ show has continued on in her stead with various guest hosts and panelists helming the episodes.
Among those guest hosts and panelists have been Shepherd who will take the lead for the final week of episodes. Shepherd will continue in her daytime role in the forthcoming syndicated series Sherri, which will fill the timeslot left behind by The Wendy Williams Show this fall on Fox owned-and-operated stations.
Debuting in 2008, The Wendy Williams has become one of the biggest hits in talk show history as the show began its run in the summer of that year before launching into national syndication in 2009. At the time, Williams was best known as a popular New York radio DJ who conducted celebrity interviews and unfiltered takes on current pop culture news.
Before Williams’s long-term break from the show, she had taken various health-related hiatuses from hosting. Her absence this season has remained a bit of a mystery to viewers with few details regarding the prolonged period out of the spotlight. In March, Williams claimed she’d return to the show, but that hasn’t appeared to be the case.
Regarding Williams’s absence and future with the show, co-presidents of Debmar-Mercury, Ira Bernstein and Mort Marcus told Variety that they’re still willing to work with the host. “We do have the desire to be in business with her, if she can come back and be healthy, and so does Fox,” Bernstein said.
“Other than her health, she could have continued to keep doing it as long as she wanted. She was still getting a rating and she has a die-hard audience that turned it into a profitable show,” added Marcus. “We were protecting the business, while we waited for her. And at some point, we had to say, ‘We have a business to run and she’s not here.’ It was a hard call.”
So, what do you think of The Wendy Williams Show ending? Let us know in the comments section, below.
The Wendy Williams Show, Weekdays, Check your local listings
