In August, it was announced that CBS Television Distribution had placed a pilot order for a new talk show hosted by actress Drew Barrymore. Since then there had been no word on the show’s progress, until now. CTD announced today that it has picked up the talk show for the Fall 2020 television season and will be available at launch on the CBS Television Stations Group, which reaches 38% of U.S. households, and comprises of WCBS-TV in New York and KCBS-TV in Los Angeles.

“We are very excited to be in business with Drew Barrymore and have our stations serve as the launch group for a show that is the brightest prospect I have seen in many years,” said Peter Dunn, President, CBS Television Stations. “We look forward to giving Drew and our colleagues at CBS Television Distribution our full support to help this show strike gold with our audience and advertisers.”

“Drew is a huge star and a breath of fresh air – her show will energize any station’s lineup,” added Steve LoCascio, Chief Operating and Financial Officer of CBS Global Distribution Group. “We’re looking forward to working with Peter Dunn and the CBS Television Stations group to launch this premium show in fall 2020.”

“It is beyond my wildest dreams to have this opportunity for a daily talk show,” Barrymore said. “I’m truly thrilled and honored to be creating this show with CBS.”

Barrymore had been looking to enter the daytime talk show fray for some time. In 2016, a deal was struck for the actress to star in a talk show to be produced by Warner Bros.’ Telepictures unit although a pilot was never made and the deal eventually lapsed although it did lead to Barrymore appearing as a judge in the studio’s failed competition series “The World’s Best” that aired last season on CBS and was hosted by “The Late Late Show’s” James Corden.

The new show will be produced and distributed by CBS Television Distribution. Drew Barrymore, Chris Miller and Ember Truesdell are executive producers.

The launch of Barrymore’s talk show puts several programming pieces in play with both WCBS and KCBS currently airing successful syndicated programs, including the highly-rated “Hot Bench,” “Dr. Phil” and “Judge Judy” during non-broadcast hours. WCBS airs network programming from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, with double runs of “Hot Bench” at 9:00 a.m., “Dr. Phil” at 3:00 p.m. and a double run of “Judge Judy” at 4:00 p.m. The local CBS2 news airs at noon.

Meanwhile, KCBS airs network programming from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., with local CBS2 news at 11:00 a.m., a double run of the three-season old game show “Funny You Should Ask” at 2:00 p.m., “Dr. Phil at 3:00 p.m. and the double run of “Judge Judy” at 4:00 p.m.

Current CBS Affiliate Schedule

To make room, would CBS consider canceling a broadcast show or will it gamble one of its highly rated syndicated programs in order to try out an untested property? In the case of “Funny You Should Ask,” which is the only non-CBS Corp. owned syndicated program and doesn’t air on WCBS in New York, but on KCBS, the show was already renewed for the 2020-21 television season by producer Entertainment Studios. That show could potentially move off the KCBS schedule to make room for Barrymore. The same can’t be said for WCBS, however.

In either case, we’ll just have to tune in to find out how things take shape in the months ahead.