‘E! News,’ ‘Pop of the Morning,’ ‘In the Room’ Canceled Amid Greater NBCUniversal Restructure (EXCLUSIVE)
Three E! entertainment news shows — “E! News,” “Pop of the Morning,” and “In the Room” — have been canceled, Variety has learned.
The move comes just a year after E! announced an expansion to its slate of entertainment news programming under veteran former “Today” producer Tammy Filler, who joined in April 2019 to lead creative and production for E!’s news operations. The goal was to build out a secondary studio base in New York and add hours to its daily coverage.
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A year ago, the flagship “E! News” program, which launched in 1991 and has been hosted by such names as Ryan Seacrest, Giuliana Rancic and Maria Menounos, transitioned its nightly Los Angeles show to a morning program in New York. “Pop of the Morning” was also based in New York, and featured a panel of hosts discussing the day’s biggest entertainment news stories. “In the Room” featured interviews with celebrities and a look inside their homes.
Amid last year’s move to New York were layoffs of around 20-25 staff who worked on the nightly “E! News” broadcast in L.A. Filler will continue on in her current role, overseeing E!’s remaining “Daily Pop” and “Nightly Pop” entertainment news programs.
The cancellations will translate to layoffs within the New York-based production team, which is fewer than 10 people big. The extent of layoffs are unclear, but a source familiar with the situation says that the company is trying to place some of those staffers in other positions within the network.
The cancellations come as E!’s parent company, NBCUniversal, looks to streamline its programming and restructure internally to create more efficiencies. Additionally, the harsh economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic factored into “E! News,” “Pop of the Morning,” and “In the Room” being taken off the cable channel’s programming slate, per a source.
Moving forward, all of E!’s studio production will be centralized in Los Angeles.
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