BET is expanding its talk show lineup.
The Viacom-owned network has picked up The Keke Palmer Project, a daily talk show covering topics including fashion, pop culture, social issues, sex, celebrity interviews, on the street and undercover segments.
Produced by Warner Bros. Television's syndication division Telepictures, Judge Greg Mathis is on board as an executive producer on the new series via his Mathis Productions banner. The series will launch in July and air Mondays-Fridays in the afternoon for a four-week trial.
The Keke Palmer Project (working title) will join a three other daily syndicated talk shows at BET: The Wendy Williams Show and The Queen Latifah Show, both of which were picked up for second windows on the network, as well as Telepictures' upcoming talk show The Real (which debuts in the fall).
The series will begin production in Los Angeles in the summer and target millennials. The show, BET said, is the next logical step for Palmer, who is very connected with her fans via social media. "I like to read quotes that touch on how I am feeling. If I am dealing with confusion, I will read quotes about clarity and peace of mind," Palmer said in a release announcing the news Monday. "I started posting these quotes on my Twitter page, and fans responded so positively! I realized that many of them were dealing with similar issues, and the quotes helped to open up a genuine dialogue between us."
With the series pickup, Palmer -- who starred in Akeelah and the Bee and True Jackson, VP -- becomes the youngest talk show host in history. The actress is also a four-time BET Awards nominee, winning its YoungStars award in 2010. She's repped by WME, Laron Entertainment and Hertz Lichtenstein. She next stars in features Animal, Brotherly Love, Imperial Dreams and has a multiple-episode arc on Showtime's Masters of Sex.
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