Extra (American TV program)
Extra (originally titled Extra: The Entertainment Magazine from 1994 to 1996) is an American syndicated television news magazine that is distributed by Warner Bros. Television Distribution and premiered on September 5, 1994. The program serves as a straight rundown of news headlines and gossip throughout the entertainment industry, providing coverage of events and celebrities; however, since 2013, it has also placed an even greater emphasis on interviews and insider previews of upcoming film and television projects. As of 2019, the program's weekday broadcasts are anchored by Billy Bush, with the weekend editions anchored by Renee Bargh and Jennifer Lahmers.
| Extra | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Also known as | Extra: The Entertainment Magazine (1994–1996) |
| Genre | Entertainment news magazine |
| Presented by | Billy Bush (2019–present) |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 25 |
| No. of episodes | 8,088[1] |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Lisa Gregorisch Dempsey (1996–present) Jeremy Spiegel (2008–present) Theresa Coffino (2012–present) |
| Production location(s) | Victory Studios, Glendale, California (1994–2010) The Grove at Farmers Market, Los Angeles (2010–2013) Universal Studios Hollywood, Universal City, California (2013–2019) The Burbank Studios, Burbank, California (2019—present) |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | 20 minutes (weekday editions) 42 minutes (weekend edition) |
| Production company(s) | Time-Telepictures Television (1994–2003) (seasons 1–9) Telepictures Productions (2003–present) (season 10–present) Nuell Riley Productions (1994–1996) (seasons 1-2) Lisa G Productions (2014–present) (season 20–present) |
| Distributor | Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution |
| Release | |
| Original network | First-run syndication |
| Picture format | |
| Original release | September 5, 1994 – present |
| External links | |
| Website | |
History
The series was developed in the fall of 1993, for a planned launch during the 1994–95 television season. The program was developed under the working title Entertainment News Television; however due to claims that it too closely mirrored its own name, cable channel E!: Entertainment Television filed a lawsuit against Warner Bros. Television and Telepictures Productions to bar them from using the title; although E! lost the lawsuit in a summary judgment hearing allowing Warner Bros. to continue to use the ENT title for the series, Warner Bros. decided to change the name of the program to Extra: The Entertainment Magazine in May 1994, four months before the series made its debut, with Warner Bros. executives citing that the abbreviated ENT title itself would be too similar to that used by Entertainment Tonight, long shortened officially to just ET, possibly leading to viewer confusion and confusing A.C. Nielsen ratings diary homes which would have seen their panelists writing down the wrong program they watched.[2]
The program was initially anchored by Dave Nemeth and Arthel Neville. Neville joined the program after being anchor at New Orleans ABC affiliate WVUE-TV (now a Fox affiliate) and a three-year run on Extreme Close-Up, a one-on-one celebrity interview show that she co-produced for E! Entertainment TV. Extra was initially distributed by Time-Telepictures Television, a joint venture between Time Inc. and Telepictures – both of which were owned at the time by Time Warner (which would eventually spin off Time Inc. in 2012) – that was absorbed by Telepictures in 2003. Nemeth and Neville were both replaced by Brad Goode and Libby Weaver on June 10, 1996 for the remainder of Season 2, and Season 3 (which premiered on September 9, 1996), before Weaver was replaced by Maureen O'Boyle in July 1997 during Season 3. O'Boyle took over as main anchor of the program in September 1997 during season 4 premiere; following O'Boyle's departure in September 2000, former Entertainment Tonight anchor/correspondent and talk show host Leeza Gibbons became its main anchor of season 7.
In September 2002, Telepictures debuted a spin-off series, Celebrity Justice. The program, which was hosted and executive produced by Harvey Levin, had originated as a segment featured on Extra that focused on legal issues involving celebrities and high-profile court cases with little to no relation to the entertainment industry; Celebrity Justice ran for three seasons before being cancelled in 2005 (Levin would subsequently launch the celebrity news website TMZ and three years later, partner with Telepictures and Warner Bros. Television Distribution on a more successful entertainment newsmagazine venture spun off from the site, TMZ on TV).
Following Gibbons's departure in 2004, Extra switched to a two-anchor format for the weekday editions with Sugar Ray lead singer/founder Mark McGrath and correspondent Dayna Devon (who was formerly a news anchor/reporter at ABC affiliates KMID and WPTY-TV) taking over as presenters. In September 2007, the production staff of Extra also began handling production responsibilities for CW Now, a weekly lifestyle newsmagazine that aired as part of The CW's Sunday night lineup; that program was cancelled due to low ratings in February 2008, after 18 episodes, continuing to broadcast some CW interstitial segments for several more months after.
On July 28, 2008, Telepictures announced that actor Mario Lopez would take over as solo host of the program; Dayna Devon was moved to a correspondent role, while Mark McGrath chose to leave the show and return to his music career.
On September 13, 2010, the date of the program's 17th-season premiere, Extra became the fourth American syndicated newsmagazine to begin broadcasting in high definition, after Entertainment Tonight, The Insider and Access Hollywood; the program also abandoned its longtime soundstage at Victory Studios in Glendale, California and moved its taping location to The Grove at Farmers Market, a well-known shopping and entertainment venue in Los Angeles.[3]
On August 4, 2011, Telepictures announced that Maria Menounos (who had previously served as a correspondent for rivals Entertainment Tonight and Access Hollywood) would join Extra as Lopez's co-host, as part of an overall deal with Warner Bros./Telepictures that included a role as a contributor for the CW talk show Dr. Drew's Lifechangers and development of television program projects.[4] On September 9, 2013, at the beginning of its 20th season, Extra moved its taping location to Universal Studios Hollywood and its CityWalk; at that time, following Menounos's decision to leave Extra to become co-host of E! News, actress/producer Tracey Edmonds and SportsNation-turned-Fox Sports Live co-host Charissa Thompson were added to replace her as co-hosts. Edmonds later left in June 2017. Thompson left at the end of the program's 23rd season.
On August 7, 2017, Telepictures announced co-host changes in preparation for the program's 24th season: former host/correspondent Tanika Ray would return to Extra as weekday co-host, with correspondents A.J. Calloway and current weekend edition host Renee Bargh also becoming weekday co-hosts. All join fellow host Mario Lopez. British TV personality Mark Wright will also join as weekday correspondent.[5] Jerry Penacoli serves as an off-air correspondent for the series and is rarely seen, voicing most of the show's segments and stories that are not done from CityWalk.
On May 8, 2019, Telepictures announced a revamp for the program's 26th season, starting September 9, 2019; former Access Hollywood host Billy Bush will join as co-host, replacing Mario Lopez—who himself will move to rival Access Hollywood. It will also move to the former NBC lot in Burbank where Access had previously been based. In the months before, Telepictures had signed an agreement with Fox Television Stations to move the series in a number of major top-10 to top-50 markets to syndication on Fox stations, ending a long-term agreement with NBC Owned Television Stations to syndicate the series to NBC's owned and operated stations.[6]
On July 31, 2019, Calloway was terminated from Extra after a number of sexual harassment and assault allegations not involving show staff surfaced (he had previously been suspended earlier in February).[7]
With Bush's arrival, the series was expected to be retitled Extra Extra for the new season (the show's title theme had long had "Extra!...Extra!" as its main focal point, supporting the possible change in branding); however like the same issues the series ran into in 1994, it ran into legal issues preventing the change. ExtraExtra Show Daily, an entertainment industry expo trade publication, had utilized the title since 1997 under a registered trademark. EESD owner Sandra Driggin notified Telepictures about possible confusion with her publication, a week before the show's premiere, and threatened legal action if the show aired as Extra Extra. Telepictures ultimately decided to retain the Extra name as-is, as the show's staff had not really taken up the new name behind the scenes during off-air rehearsals with Bush.[8]
On-air staff
Current on-air staff
Anchor
- Billy Bush – anchor (2019–present)
Correspondents
- Renee Bargh – weekend anchor/correspondent (2010–present; previously served as weekday co-anchor from 2017 to 2019)
- Nate Burleson — New York correspondent (2019–present)
- Michael Corbett – special, lifestyle, home and real estate correspondent (2000–present)
- Adam Glassman — special correspondent (2019—present)
- Samantha Harris – correspondent (2020–present; previously served as weekend anchor/correspondent 2003–2004)
- Jana Kramer — Nashville correspondent (2019–present)
- Cheslie Kryst – New York correspondent (2019–present)
- Jennifer Lahmers — weekend anchor/correspondent/fill-in anchor (2019–present)
- Terri Seymour – special correspondent (2004–present)
- Charissa Thompson – Las Vegas correspondent (2019–present; previously served as a co-host from 2014–present)
- Mark Wright – correspondent (2017–present)
Former on-air staff
- Dana Adams – correspondent (1994–1997)
- Hilaria Baldwin – lifestyle correspondent (2012–2019)
- Doug Bruckner – correspondent (1999–2004)
- Michael Bryant – correspondent (2000–2005)
- A.J. Calloway – New York correspondent (2006–2019)
- Jamie Colby – correspondent (1999; now at Fox News Channel)
- Adrianna Costa – correspondent (2010–2013)
- Olivia Culpo – correspondent (2013)
- Idalis DeLeon – correspondent (2003)
- Dayna Devon – anchor/correspondent (1999–2009; now at KTLA in Los Angeles)
- Carlos Diaz – correspondent (2005–2010; later at HLN, now at WTHR-TV in Indianapolis)
- Tracey Edmonds – co-host (2014–2017)
- Leeza Gibbons – anchor/correspondent (2000–2003, later co-host of America Now)
- Bo Griffin – correspondent (2001; deceased)
- David Jackson – correspondent (1995–1999)
- Ben Patrick Johnson – senior correspondent (1994–1995)
- Jon Kelley – weekend anchor/correspondent (2000–2006, later at WFLD-TV in Chicago; now host of Funny You Should Ask)
- Sean Kenniff – medical correspondent (2000–2001, later at WFOR-TV in Miami)
- Kurt Knutsson – correspondent (2000)
- Elaine Lipworth – correspondent (1994–1999)
- Mario Lopez – weekday/weekend anchor (2008–2019; now co-host of Access Hollywood)
- Ben Lyons – correspondent (2012; now at ESPN)
- Holly Madison – Las Vegas insider (2011)
- Charlie Maher – correspondent (2003–2004)
- Jeannie Mai – weekend anchor/correspondent (2009–2010; now co-host of The Real)
- Mark McGrath – anchor/correspondent (2004–2008; later host of Don't Forget the Lyrics)
- Maria Menounos – weekday co-anchor (2011–2014; later at E! News)
- Terry Murphy – correspondent (2003–2004)
- Dave Nemeth – weekday anchor/correspondent (1994-1996; now at Fox 13 in Utah)
- Arthel Neville – weekday anchor/correspondent (1994–1996; now at Fox News Channel)
- Barry Nolan – correspondent (2000–2004)
- Maureen O'Boyle – anchor/correspondent (1997–2000; now at WBTV-TV in Charlotte)
- Christina Olivares – correspondent (2004)
- Jerry Penacoli – correspondent/announcer (2000–2019)
- Scott Rapoport – correspondent (1998–2000)
- Tanika Ray – weekday co-anchor (2017–2019; previously served as weekend anchor/correspondent from 2004 to 2009)
- Lauren Sánchez – weekend anchor/correspondent (1997–2000, 2009–2010)
- Rick Schwartz – correspondent (1996–2000)
- Phil Shuman – correspondent (1996–2003; now at KTTV-TV in Los Angeles)
- Gina Silva – correspondent (1997–2000; now at KTTV-TV in Los Angeles)
- Tava Smiley – correspondent (2003–2004)
- Larry Stern – correspondent (2003–2004)
- Les Trent – correspondent (1998–2000; now at Inside Edition)
- Alison Waite – Las Vegas insider (2010)
- Libby Weaver – anchor/correspondent (1996–1997; now at KDVR-TV in Denver)
Production
Extra employs a staff of about 150 people, consisting of hosts and correspondents presenting story packages, and editors, producers, library staff and film crews who produce and compile the program. The program is taped at Universal Studios Hollywood each Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Pacific Time, and is taped before a live audience, allowing fans to interact with the show's hosts and see live appearances from actors, musicians, athletes and newsmakers interviewed at the theme park for the program.[9]Extra also takes a unique approach in keeping its viewers in the loop by taking them on coast-to-coast trips each edition, from Hollywood to Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas to its studio at the H&M Times Square store in New York City.[9] The program won its first Emmy Award in 2014, tying with Entertainment Tonight for "Best Entertainment News Program".
International carriage
Only the weekday editions of the program are broadcast outside the U.S.; the 44-minute weekend edition is only distributed domestically.
- In Canada, the weekday editions of the program airs on a day-behind basis on Omni Television after 1:00 a.m., with a rebroadcast after 5:00 a.m.
- In Australia, the weekday editions of Extra began airing on the Nine Network on July 2, 2012, replacing Entertainment Tonight after Nine declined to renew its contract. Extra currently airs at 1pm weekdays.
References
- (as of August 1, 2020; 6,740 weekdays; 1,348 weekend)
- "'Extra': Warner Bros. Renames TV Magazine". Chicago Sun-Times. Hollinger International. May 16, 1994. Archived from the original on November 5, 2012. Retrieved March 16, 2011 – via HighBeam Research.
- "About Extra". Extra. Warner Bros. Television.
- Paige Albaniak (August 4, 2011). "Menounos to Co-Host 'Extra'". Broadcasting & Cable. NewBay Media.
- Denise Petski (August 7, 2017). "'Extra': Tanika Ray, Renee Bargh & AJ Calloway Named New Co-Hosts; Mark Wright Joins As Correspondent". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Media Corporation.
- "Billy Bush to Anchor New Version of 'Extra' in Fall" from The Hollywood Reporter (May 8, 2019)
- Masters, Kim (31 July 2019). "Warner Bros. Severs Ties With 'Extra' Host A.J. Calloway After Investigation Over Assault Claims". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 7 August 2019.
- Porter, Rick (6 September 2019). "Billy Bush's 'Extra Extra' Renamed After Legal Threat". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 7 September 2019.
- "About". Extra. Warner Bros. Television.