Queen Latifah Getting Her Own Talk Show On CBS
Queen Latifah will have her own talk show next year, Deadline reports.
Sony Pictures TV’s The Queen Latifah Show has been set for a fall 2013 launch. The talk show will be executive produced by the Queen, Will Smith, and Jada Pinkett Smith. The show will be aired across all 16 of the stations owned and operated by CBS.
The deal comes a year after Sony TV, Queen Latifah, and Shakim Compere’s Flavor Unit and Will Smith and James Lassiter’s Overbrook Entertainment closed a deal to develop a daytime talk show for the rapper and actress to host. NBC had also been in talks to pick up the show, but it eventually went to CBS.
While the show will feature celebrity interviews, human interest stories, and all the other hallmarks of a typical daytime talk show, it will also blend Queen Latifah’s talent for comedy and music into its format.
CBS currently has hit shows like Judge Judy, Dr. Phil, and Rachael Ray, but The Queen Latifah Show will be unlike anything else on the network. The other major networks (ABC, NBC, and Fox) have their own entertainment syndicated daytime talk show, but this will be a first for CBS.
The Queen Latifah Show will be joining another newcomer next fall. Real housewife Bethenny Frankel will be getting her own daytime talk show, Bethenny, which is slated to launch on the Fox stations. Bethenny had a successful trial run this past June and is co-produced by Ellen DeGeneres. Incidentally, Bethenny is distributed by Telepictures, the same company that distributes Anderson, which will be ending after its third season next year.
This will be Queen Latifah’s second shot at daytime television. She hosted a talk show with the same name in 1999. It ran for two seasons before ending in August 2001.