Martha Stewart's Show Ending After This Season
After seven seasons, Hallmark Channel is cancelling The Martha Stewart Show, wrapping up taping this spring. Reruns will play until the end of summer; afterwards the show will stop airing.
Reuters says the show is ending due to falling ratings; the folding was first reported by the New York Post, which reported that Hallmark Channel feels "the economics of the show in its current form just don't work anymore, given the sparse audience."
The programming block also includes Emeril's Table, Mad Hungry with Lucinda Scala Quinn, and Martha Bakes.
Luckily, for all you Martha Stewart devotees, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (MSLO) is looking for other ways to continue the show. "We are currently exploring programming concepts for Martha Stewart and other MSLO brands beyond this fall," president and chief operating officer Lisa Gersh wrote to MSLO staffers.
In Gersh's memo to the staff, she claims that the brand is not suffering. "In fact, MSLO has never had a more vibrant, more diversified umbrella of strong, popular brands and loyal, enthusiastic audiences across TV, digital, print, and radio," she wrote.
Gersh also emphasizes that Martha Stewart's reputation isn't threatened, with a recent study showing that 53 percent of women named Martha Stewart as "the first person who comes to mind for providing lifestyle ideas and information on the home. The next-closest competitor is mentioned by only 6 percent of women, and that's Rachael Ray," she wrote.
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