CBS’ “The Talk” is set to kick off its eighth season — its first since season two without co-host Aisha Tyler — on Monday, September 11. So what should fans expect as the new season launches with just four co-hosts? And when will they announce who will take on the fifth chair, and does it have to be a woman? First, you can expect an even greater show experience. Second, yes, there will be a fifth co-host at some point. And third, no, it won’t be a man!
In an interview published in the just released Fall TV preview issue of TV Guide, Angelica McDaniel, Executive Vice President, Daytime Programs and Syndicated Program Development, CBS Entertainment and CBS Television Distribution, reveals that co-hosts Julie Chen, Sara Gilbert, Sharon Osbourne and Sheryl Underwood will be joined by a select group of women for an undetermined length of time until one of them possibly becomes the permanent co-host.
“We have a great thing going when it comes to group chemistry, so the bar is set very high,” says McDaniel of the potential hire. “The woman who fills that fifth chair must be willing to open up and be vulnerable, know that the other women are there to catch her if she falls. You can’t show up with pretense because our audience will see right through that.”
As for when fans can expect the show to announce the new host, whoever that may end up being? “We will take as long as it takes to get this right,” says McDaniel. “You can’t put a deadline on magic.”
The Fall TV Preview double issue of TV Guide, its 65th, is on sale now.
“The Talk” airs weekdays on CBS. The new season launches Monday, September 11 following all-new episodes of “The Young and the Restless” and “The Bold and the Beautiful.”