There won't be a second season of The Jeff Probst Show. CBS Television Distribution said Wednesday that it has canceled the syndicated freshman talk show hosted by the Survivor veteran.
Jeff Probst’s daytime talker will not return even though it has a two-year deal for distribution on syndicated television. A victim of low ratings and an inability to stand out among so many shows, the series will finish its current run before leaving the schedule in the summer.
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“We believe Jeff is an incredible talent and that he and his dedicated producing team delivered quality episodes throughout the season,” said CTD in a statement. “Unfortunately, the audience isn’t there to support a second year. We are grateful to the entire staff, our affiliate partners and advertisers for their ongoing support of The Jeff Probst Show. Production and broadcast of original episodes will continue through the current season.”
Said Probst. “I'm super bummed but extremely proud. The truth is all shows come to an end -- ours just ended a decade sooner than we had hoped.”
It is the second freshman talker to be canceled this month. Twentieth Television pulled the plug on The Ricki Lake Show on Feb. 4.
The cancelation announcement comes on the same day that Survivor returns on CBS in primetime for its 26 season with Probst as host and as an executive producer. Survivor: Caramoan will feature ten fans of the show competing with former contestants.
To allow Probst to also do a talk show, CBS had agreed when it renewed his Survivor contract to work out a schedule that would allow him to do both. Now there won’t be any conflict to be concerned about.
What Probst was not was a fan favorite as a talk show host. Whatever his skills, which are considerable, his likability didn’t translate to daytime where the key audience is women from 25 to 54 years of age.
As one insider said Wednesday, this decision was all about his low ratings. CBS, according to a source, had let NBC and other station groups know they would not hold them to the two-year contract for Probst and shackle them with such a low rated show.
Oddly, Probst provided the lead in for Steve Harvey in many markets, who started around the same time and has done considerably better. In the latest national ratings, Harvey had a 1.6 household rating, which translates into about 2.2 million viewers a day.
Probst was one of four major talk shows that premiered last September, an unusually large number for current market conditions. Besides Ricki Lake, who was cancelled last week, there was Disney/ABC’s Katie, starring Katie Couric, which will return for a second season. In the latest syndicated ratings, Katie had a 2.0 household rating and was averaging 2.6 million viewers a day.
From his premiere week last September, when he drew an average household rating of .7 (less than a third of what Dr. Phil attracts) Probst was fighting an uphill battle. His formula of bringing on real people and an occasional celebrity just didn’t find a following.
In one of his trademark segments, most recently called On The Couch, he put the spotlight on average people who answered questions about their lives from his studio audience.
In another segment called Ambush Adventure, Probst got an average person to agree to go off with him on a brief adventure.
In mid-January, former Facts Of Life star Lisa Welchel was added as Probst’s co-host, but it was too late.
The ratings never got better after Probst stumbled out of the gate. His season to date average household rating is still a 0.7, which translates into about 968,000 viewers a day. That compares to a recent average for Dr. Oz of 4.2 million viewers a day and Ellen with 3.7 million viewers a day.
In metered markets, over the past two weeks Probst averaged a 0.9 (with a 3 percent share of viewers), which was down 18% from the shows in the same time periods on the same stations a year ago, which had averaged a 1.1 rating.
Probst, while working for CBS, was anchored on NBC stations in the nation’s largest markets, mostly at 2 pm. That pitted him against tough competition including Katie, The Doctors, Wendy Williams, Steve Wilkos and Dr. Oz in some markets, among others.
Outside of the NBC stations, his show was carried by station groups including Gannett, Post Newsweek, Belo, Cox and Lin, often in time periods that used to carry Oprah before she left syndication two seasons ago. Probst never came close to being the replacement for Oprah they had all been praying for, but have yet to find.
