Game time is over for Ellen DeGeneres. Deadline reports that NBC has just given the television star's game show Ellen's Game of Games the boot. Its fourth season, which debuted in October 2020 before concluding in May 2021 after 20 episodes, will serve as its final season with no season 5 in the works.
When Ellen's Game of Games first launched in 2017 with an eight-episode order, it did rather well with NBC viewers. It had previously been tying for fourth among all primetime entertainment programs on broadcast with kids and even ranked as the number one game show on primetime in 2019. NBC noticed a downward trajectory for viewership with the fourth season last year, and this most likely is the biggest reason for DeGeneres getting her walking papers.
DeGeneres was the host and executive producer of Ellen's Game of Games. For what it's worth, she's not the only one who's been given the ax at NBC with their unscripted programming lineup. Last year, J. Lo's competition series World of Dance was also canceled after a four-season run. It's possible that Ellen's Game of Games could find a new life elsewhere, as was the case with The Biggest Loser finding a new home at USA Network in 2020, but given the controversy attached to Ellen's name, the odds don't seem very high for another network or streamer to make that investment.
Ellen's Daytime Talk Show Is Also Coming to an End
Ellen DeGeneres is not the beloved television personality she once was. In 2020, Ellen's daytime talk show was surrounded by controversy amid reports of a toxic workplace coming to light. An internal investigation took place and three high-level producers were fired, though it didn't help Ellen's case when celebrities like Brad Garrett and Lea Thompson alleged that DeGeneres was no better. Ellen viewership had been plummeting ever since and it was announced that season 19 would be the final season of that show, concluding in 2022 when the current contract expires.
"I was going to stop after season 16. That was going to be my last season and they wanted to sign for four more years and I said I'd sign for maybe for one," DeGeneres said at the time, insisting that the show ending was unrelated to the controversy. "They were saying there was no way to sign for one. 'We can't do that with the affiliates and the stations need more of a commitment.' So, we [settled] on three more years and I knew that would be my last. That's been the plan all along. And everybody kept saying, even when I signed, 'You know, that's going to be 19, don't you want to just go to 20? It's a good number.' So is 19."
The Kelly Clarkson Show is set to take over the Ellen time slot in 2022. It's hard to say what's next for DeGeneres exactly after Ellen ends its run next year, but for now, she can be seen on new episodes of Ellen on NBC.