{"id":49810,"date":"2026-03-18T16:45:02","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T20:45:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?p=49810"},"modified":"2026-03-18T16:45:02","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T20:45:02","slug":"access-hollywood-canceled-after-nearly-30-years-on-air","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2026\/03\/access-hollywood-canceled-after-nearly-30-years-on-air.html","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Access Hollywood\u2019 Canceled After Nearly 30 Years on Air"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Access Hollywood\/ YouTube<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After nearly three decades of delivering celebrity news, red carpet moments, and headline-making interviews, Access Hollywood<\/em> is officially coming to an end. NBCUniversal has announced it is canceling the long-running entertainment news program as part of a broader shift in its programming strategy.<\/p>\n

The show, which first launched in 1996, became a staple in entertainment journalism, offering viewers a daily glimpse into Hollywood\u2019s biggest stars and stories. Over the years, it built a loyal audience and featured a rotating lineup of well-known hosts, including Mario Lopez, Kit Hoover, Scott Evans, and Zuri Hall.<\/p>\n

In a statement explaining the decision, NBCUniversal executive Frances Berwick said the move reflects changing viewer habits and station needs. \u201cNBCUniversal is making changes to our first-run syndication division to better align with the programming preferences of local stations,\u201d she said. While the company is stepping away from producing new syndicated shows, Berwick emphasized that NBCUniversal will \u201cremain active in the distribution of our existing program library and other off-network titles.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also took a moment to honor the legacy of the show, adding, \u201cThese shows have provided audiences with great talk and entertainment content for many years, and we\u2019re very proud of the teams behind them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Throughout its run, Access Hollywood<\/em> featured a notable roster of anchors and correspondents, including Pat O\u2019Brien, Nancy O\u2019Dell, Billy Bush, Jeff Probst, Maria Menounos, and Natalie Morales. The program became known for its mix of celebrity interviews, entertainment headlines, and behind-the-scenes coverage of major Hollywood events.<\/p>\n

But beyond the glitz and glamour, the show also found itself at the center of one of the most talked-about political moments in recent history. In 2016, The Washington Post<\/em> released the now-infamous \u201c\u2018Access Hollywood\u2019 tape\u201d from 2006, capturing a hot mic conversation between then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and host Billy Bush. On the recording, Trump made controversial remarks about women, saying, \u201cWhen you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

The tape quickly became a major issue during the presidential election, drawing criticism from both political parties and leading to widespread calls for Trump to withdraw from the race. Trump later described the comments as \u201clocker room talk\u201d and issued an apology. Despite the backlash, he went on to win the election. The fallout also impacted the show directly, as Bush was ultimately dismissed from his role on NBC\u2019s Today<\/em> show.<\/p>\n

The cancellation of Access Hollywood<\/em> comes amid a wave of changes at NBCUniversal. Other syndicated programs, including Karamo<\/em> and The Steve Wilkos Show<\/em>, are also being discontinued. Additionally, The Kelly Clarkson Show<\/em> is set to end later this year, signaling a broader shift in the network\u2019s approach to daytime and syndicated content.<\/p>\n

While Access Hollywood<\/em> may be signing off, its impact on entertainment journalism is undeniable. For nearly 30 years, it captured the moments, milestones, and even controversies that shaped Hollywood\u2014and occasionally, the world beyond it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After nearly three decades of delivering celebrity news, red carpet moments, and headline-making interviews, Access Hollywood is officially coming to an end. NBCUniversal has announced it is canceling the long-running entertainment news program as part of a broader shift in its programming strategy. The show, which first launched in 1996, became a staple in entertainment…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":462,"featured_media":49813,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-television"],"yoast_head":"\n\u2018Access Hollywood\u2019 Canceled After Nearly 30 Years on Air<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"NBC cancels Access Hollywood after nearly 30 years as part of major programming shift, ending a longtime staple in entertainment news.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2026\/03\/access-hollywood-canceled-after-nearly-30-years-on-air.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018Access Hollywood\u2019 Canceled After Nearly 30 Years on Air\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"NBC cancels Access Hollywood after nearly 30 years as part of major programming shift, ending a longtime staple in entertainment news.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2026\/03\/access-hollywood-canceled-after-nearly-30-years-on-air.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Idol Chatter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-18T20:45:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2026\/03\/Access-Hollywood_credit-Access-Hollywood-YouTube.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Beliefnet Contributors\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\u2018Access Hollywood\u2019 Canceled After Nearly 30 Years on Air","description":"NBC cancels Access Hollywood after nearly 30 years as part of major programming shift, ending a longtime staple in entertainment news.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2026\/03\/access-hollywood-canceled-after-nearly-30-years-on-air.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\u2018Access Hollywood\u2019 Canceled After Nearly 30 Years on Air","og_description":"NBC cancels Access Hollywood after nearly 30 years as part of major programming shift, ending a longtime staple in entertainment news.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2026\/03\/access-hollywood-canceled-after-nearly-30-years-on-air.html","og_site_name":"Idol Chatter","article_published_time":"2026-03-18T20:45:02+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":900,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2026\/03\/Access-Hollywood_credit-Access-Hollywood-YouTube.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Beliefnet Contributors","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2026\/03\/access-hollywood-canceled-after-nearly-30-years-on-air.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2026\/03\/access-hollywood-canceled-after-nearly-30-years-on-air.html","name":"\u2018Access Hollywood\u2019 Canceled After Nearly 30 Years on Air","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2026\/03\/access-hollywood-canceled-after-nearly-30-years-on-air.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2026\/03\/access-hollywood-canceled-after-nearly-30-years-on-air.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2026\/03\/Access-Hollywood_credit-Access-Hollywood-YouTube.jpg","datePublished":"2026-03-18T20:45:02+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-18T20:45:02+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/#\/schema\/person\/aea408b5be59bf6e05556b03859b6b79"},"description":"NBC cancels Access Hollywood after nearly 30 years as part of major programming shift, ending a longtime staple in entertainment news.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2026\/03\/access-hollywood-canceled-after-nearly-30-years-on-air.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2026\/03\/access-hollywood-canceled-after-nearly-30-years-on-air.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2026\/03\/access-hollywood-canceled-after-nearly-30-years-on-air.html#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2026\/03\/Access-Hollywood_credit-Access-Hollywood-YouTube.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2026\/03\/Access-Hollywood_credit-Access-Hollywood-YouTube.jpg","width":1200,"height":900,"caption":"Access Hollywood\/ YouTube"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2026\/03\/access-hollywood-canceled-after-nearly-30-years-on-air.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"\u2018Access Hollywood\u2019 Canceled After Nearly 30 Years on Air"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/","name":"Idol Chatter","description":"Beliefnet Entertainment blog, TV blog, Movie blog, Religion in entertainment blog","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/#\/schema\/person\/aea408b5be59bf6e05556b03859b6b79","name":"Beliefnet Staff","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/6f7\/6f77b66a3e683e8aeba5be93e4ae3e04x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/6f7\/6f77b66a3e683e8aeba5be93e4ae3e04x96.jpg","caption":"Beliefnet Staff"},"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/author\/skirk"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/462"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49810"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49810\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49816,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49810\/revisions\/49816"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}