Ellen DeGeneres had a long talk with the staff of her show yesterday, and she revealed to them that next season will be her last one. She told The Hollywood Reporter that this decision was years in the making and not related to all of the rumors about her being abusive that came out last year.
“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. 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,” Ellen told THR. “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. [Laughs]”
Ellen went on to say that she is a creative person, and she needs a new outlet to be creative because the show is not challenging her anymore. However, she does not share with them what she wants to do next.
The Daytime Talk Show host also talked about how the rumors of her being mean affected her but not the show. “It almost impacted the show. It was very hurtful to me. I mean, very. But if I was quitting the show because of that, I wouldn’t have come back this season,” she said to them. “So, it’s not why I’m stopping but it was hard because I was sitting at home, it was summer, and I see a story that people have to chew gum before they talk to me and I’m like, ]’Okay, this is hilarious.’ Then I see another story of some other ridiculous thing and then it just didn’t stop. And I wasn’t working, so I had no platform, and I didn’t want to address it on [Twitter] and I thought if I just don’t address it, it’s going to go away because it was all so stupid.”
I think we all knew this was coming. She has been only been working four days on the show, and the fifth day is being helmed by a guest host. That is what Johnny Carson did at the end of the tenor, so it felt like something was coming. And it happened.
When it comes to the guest hosts, I wonder if that is NBC and Warner Bros’ way of auditioning people to be her replacement. That is if NBC wants to continue doing a talk show. They might decide to do an hour of news or possibly add a game show to their schedule.
What do you want to replace Ellen? Are you going to miss her?
