Kelly Clarkson's talk show signs off as NBC exits syndicated daytime TV

Kelly Clarkson taped her last "Kellyoke" cold open, thanked her band and crew one final time, and brought her two children onstage to close out The Kelly Clarkson Show on Monday, ending a seven-season run that made her one of daytime television's most decorated hosts. The episode, titled "Kelly Clarkson by Request," aired on NBC-affiliated stations nationwide on Aug. 31 and closed a chapter that began in September 2019.

The finale was not just the end of one host's run. It was the last new episode NBCUniversal Syndication Studios will produce under its own name, as the company completes its exit from the first-run syndication business that once made it the dominant force in American daytime television.

A send-off built around the fans

The finale leaned entirely on the show's signature bit, with Clarkson performing a run of her most-requested "Kellyoke" covers, including "Since U Been Gone," "Sober," "Stronger," "Piece by Piece" and "Didn't I," before debuting her new single "I'd Be Lyin'." She closed with a cover of "Golden," from the animated film "KPop Demon Hunters," a performance Deadline reported had become the most-requested Kellyoke cover in the show's history after clips circulated online.

Her children, 12-year-old River Rose and 10-year-old Remington "Remy" Alexander Blackstock, joined her onstage near the close of the broadcast. Asked for their favorite memories, Remy said he liked "talking to Jason Momoa and singing with the band," while River told her mother, "I liked watching you shine every single day" — a line that visibly moved Clarkson, who told the audience, "OK, you got me. You just opened me on my own show."

"For seven years, I've ended each episode by saying, 'Have a great day, and if it's not, change it.' I say that because while we have to accept that life is totally out of our control, each moment, though, truly depends on how we choose to respond or react to it. You don't have to attend the negative party you were invited to."

Clarkson closed the show with the same line she has used to sign off since the series began, telling viewers, "Before we turn the page, have a great day, and if it's not, change it."

Seven seasons, more than 20 Emmys

"The Kelly Clarkson Show" premiered on Sept. 9, 2019, produced first at Universal City in California before production moved to NBC Studios at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York for its fifth through seventh seasons. Across seven seasons and roughly 1,260 episodes, the series and its host collected more than 20 Daytime Emmy Awards, including four consecutive wins for outstanding talk series between 2021 and 2024, cementing it as the most consistently honored entertainment talk show of its era. Clarkson executive produced the series alongside Alex Duda.

Clarkson first announced the show would end in a statement posted in early February, which NBC's own editorial site published in full. "Stepping away from the daily schedule will allow me to prioritize my kids, which feels necessary and right for this next chapter of our lives," she wrote, adding that the decision was "not an easy" one. She said at the time that ending the show did not mean stepping away from television entirely: "This isn't goodbye. I'll still be making music, playing shows here and there and you may catch me on The Voice from time to time."

The end of a syndication era

The timing of Clarkson's exit lines up with a far larger retreat inside NBCUniversal. In March, the studio announced it was shutting down its first-run syndication division entirely, canceling "Access Hollywood" after roughly 30 years on the air along with its companion program "Access Live," "The Steve Wilkos Show" and "Karamo." All four wound down production over the summer, meaning Clarkson's Aug. 31 finale effectively closed out NBCUniversal's first-run syndication business as a whole — the studio said it would remain in the business of distributing library titles such as "Dateline," "Law & Order," "Chicago P.D.," "Maury" and "Jerry Springer," but would stop producing new first-run shows of its own.

The retreat reflects a marketplace that has been shrinking for years. Once a lucrative engine that produced hits such as "The Oprah Winfrey Show," first-run syndication has struggled through a decade of falling linear viewership as local stations increasingly devote their schedules to news and community programming rather than paying license fees for syndicated talk and newsmagazine shows, many of which now air on a no-cost barter basis if they air at all. Audiences that once tuned into daily entertainment newsmagazines like "Access Hollywood" have largely migrated to phones and social media, a shift that also led NBCUniversal-owned E! to cancel its own nightly "E! News" program in 2025.

Who is affected

The closures touch production staff in both Los Angeles and New York, where "The Kelly Clarkson Show" employed writers, band members and crew across two studios, as well as the hundreds of local NBC affiliate and independent stations that carried the four canceled programs in daytime and early-evening slots. NBCUniversal has not announced replacement first-run programming for any of the vacated time periods; stations are expected to fill the hours with local news, syndicated reruns or other acquired programming at their own discretion.

• "The Kelly Clarkson Show" — final new episode aired Aug. 31, after seven seasons
• "Access Hollywood" and "Access Live" — production wound down over the summer after roughly three decades on air
• "The Steve Wilkos Show" and "Karamo" — completed production on their current seasons

What happens next

Clarkson is not leaving NBC. She is returning to "The Voice" as a coach for its 30th season, joining Adam Levine alongside newcomers Riley Green and Queen Latifah when the singing competition premieres Monday, Sept. 21, on NBC. It will be her first regular coaching season on the show in three years, after she appeared on the one-off "Battle of Champions" edition. She has also continued touring and released new music, including "I'd Be Lyin'," the single she debuted on her final "Kelly Clarkson Show" broadcast.

For NBCUniversal, the bigger question is what, if anything, replaces first-run syndication in its business going forward. Executives have signaled the company intends to lean further into streaming and library licensing rather than commissioning new daily talk or newsmagazine programming, a strategy that mirrors moves other studios are expected to make as the economics of daily syndicated television continue to erode. Industry analysts who track the syndication marketplace have said NBCUniversal is unlikely to be the last major studio to make that calculation.