Scribe’s daytime talk show cancelled due to poor ratings

THE current second season of journalist Anderson Cooper’s daytime talk show Anderson Live will be its last.

The show has been cancelled after two seasons and will end next summer, according to The New York Times. A Warner Brothers executive told the paper the studio had declined to renew the series for a third season due to disappointing ratings.

ìThe series will not be coming back for a third season in a marketplace that has become difficult to break through,î Warner Bros said in a statement.

The CNN anchor launched Anderson, subsequently re-titled Anderson Live, in September 2011. But the show has struggled in the ratings despite retooling in the face of competition from veteran daytime hosts such as Ellen DeGeneres, and newcomers such as Katie Couric and Survivor host Jeff Probst.

Anderson Live is attracting an average audience of about 1.4 million viewers, compared with around four million for Dr. Phil and about 2.3 million for Katie, according to TV ratings data.

Cooper, 45, and the winner of multiple Emmy awards and a Peabody Award, continues as host of the CNN news programme Anderson Cooper 360 and has hosted the network’s New Year’s Eve special from Times Square for several years running.

Anderson Cooper 360 airs on CNN Tuesday to Friday at 4am.