'Access Hollywood,' To End After 30 Years As NBC Cuts Slate Of Programs

HOLLYWOOD, CA — The entertainment news program "Access Hollywood," which has been on the air since September, 1996, is ending, NBCUniversal announced on Friday.

The light-hearted celebrity show, hosted by Mario Lopez, Kit Hoover, and Scott Evans, was a mainstay of television entertainment news since before shows such as tabloid giant "TMZ on TV" ever aired.

The entertainment company is also cancelling the shows “Karamo” and “The Steve Wilkos Show” due to a decision to end all first-run syndicated programming. First-run syndicated programs are shows that are sold to local stations on a market-by-market basis rather than aired nationally.

In a statement obtained by Variety, Frances Berwick, chair of Bravo and head of Peacock unscripted, who has oversight of the first-run syndication unit, said that NBCUniversal was making the changes to better align itself with the programming preferences of local stations.

"The company will remain active in the distribution of our existing program library and other off-network titles, while winding down production of our first-run shows," Berwick explained in the statement. "These shows have provided audiences with great talk and entertainment content for many years and we’re very proud of the teams behind them."

The talk shows “Karamo” and “Steve Wilkos” have already ceased production, but original episodes are expected to air through the summer.

NBCUniversal had previously announced that its flagship daytime talk program, “The Kelly Clarkson Show,” would also wrap up after seven seasons this year.

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