WASHINGTON (Circa) — “Good Morning America,” ABC’s morning news show, will expand to three hours a day beginning in September.
The show, which already airs from 7-9 a.m., will add an extra hour at 1 p.m. ET/12 p.m. CT and PT. Because of this change, “The Chew” will be canceled.
The latter show faced some controversy after one of its hosts, Mario Batali, was fired due to allegations of sexual misconduct. On Sunday, it was announced the New York Police Department was investigating allegations that Batali drugged and sexually assaulted a woman in 2015.
Ironically, the Daily Mail reports “The Chew” had a season high in the ratings during the first week of 2018. The show beat its primary competition during that time slot – CBS’ “The Talk.”
There is no word yet on who will be hosting this new hour of “GMA” or whether the show will keep its name during the 1 p.m. hour. Robin Roberts, George Stephanopoulos and Michael Strahan are the show’s current lead hosts.
It is unknown if the three main hosts will maintain any role in the third hour due to their other positions besides “GMA.” Strahan owns a production company, is a football analyst at Fox Sports and will be hosting the “Thursday Night Football” pregame show in the fall. Stephanopoulos is ABC News’ chief anchor and hosts “This Week,” while Roberts also owns her own respective production company.
“’Good Morning America’ keeps finding new ways to inform and delight our audience. We recently expanded ‘GMA’ through our social channels and a newly launched website. Now we will build a whole new hour of compelling content that is true to ‘GMA’’s spirit,” James Goldston, president of ABC News said in a press release.
ABC News says the new show will feature more news as well as pop culture.
“GMA” is currently the top rated morning show on American television among total viewers. “Today,” which changed anchors in January, is currently in second place but was able to garner a major win during their coverage of the royal wedding.
