Photo: The Associated Press

“Sherri,” hosted by Sherri Shepherd, is set to replace “The Wendy Williams Show” this fall following Williams’ prolonged health-related absence, Shepherd confirmed Tuesday. Shepherd is the producer of both TV programs.

Producer and distributor Debmar-Mercury said that the new daytime show “Sherri” will take over “The Wendy Williams Show” on Fox owned-and-operated stations that have aired Williams’ talk show since 2008.

“Since Wendy is still not available to host the show as she continues on her road to recovery, we believe it is best for our fans, stations and advertising partners to start making this transition now,” Mort Marcus and Ira Bernstein, the company’s co-presidents, said in a statement.

“We hope to be able to work with Wendy again in the future, and continue to wish her a speedy and full recovery,” the two executives said. They added that they have “great love and affinity for Wendy” and admire her success.

There was no further comment on Williams’ recent health issues, a topic that Williams herself has not discussed outside of general information.

Williams’ spokesman Howard Bragman explained in a statement that it has been a “challenging time” for the media personality as she deals with her health. Bragman also stated that Williams is grateful to Debmar-Mercury, Shepherd, and other supporters of her show.

Bragman continued that Williams knows “the reality of syndicated television — you can’t go to the marketplace and sell a show that’s the ‘Maybe Wendy Show.” He added that he understands the decision from a “business point of view.”

As in the company’s statement, Bragman said that Williams has been assured to be “back on TV” if her health rebounds. 

The stability represented by Shepherd as she takes over Williams’ time slot is essential as changes in daytime TV near, according to Debmar-Mercury. “The Ellen Degeneres Talk Show” is also set to end this season, which leaves its viewers to search for alternatives over the fall, including Drew Barrymore and Kelly Clarkson-hosted shows and another one led by Jennifer Hudson.

In a statement, Shepherd, an actor-comedian and a former co-host of “The View,” said she is excited to “have my dream come true” and to debut her very own talk show. She said that “Sherri” will be a blend of her love for “pop culture, talk, entertainment and comedy.”

Shepherd had also been one of the guest hosts on “The Wendy Williams Show” when the talk show began to rely on a string of guest hosts at the start of its 13th year last fall. It was built on Williams’ popularity as a bold radio host, and it has been a success for Lionsgate-owned Debmar-Mercury.

The show’s ratings held up during Shepherd’s appearances, and Debmar-Mercury deemed her fit to take over Williams as she proved to be the most popular sub on the show. Production of “The Wendy Williams Show” will continue through the current season. It will feature Shepherd and other rotating fill-in hosts.

Frank Cicha, an executive vice president of Fox Television stations, said that Shepherd is the “perfect choice” to have a show of her own. He added that she has already proven her appeal to the Fox audience, and he also thanked Debmar-Mercury for going through “an extremely trying situation.”

Shepherd will remain as a co-host on Fox TV stations’ “Dish Nation.” She previously appeared on “The View” before becoming a co-host from 2007-2014. From the start of her entertainment career, Shepherd has acted in various TV programs, including “The Jamie Foxx Show,” “Everybody Loves Raymond,” “30 Rock,” and, recently, “The Sex Lives of College Girls.” Shepherd has also made a mark in movies with “Beauty Shop” and “Who’s Your Caddy?”

She will co-produce “Sherri” alongside producing partner Jawn Murray and David Perler. Perler has also previously worked in all but one season of “The Wendy Williams Show.”

Williams’ ‘break from New York’

Williams last taped her show with the wrap of season 12 in July 2021. The show explained that production on the current season saw some delays last September because of Williams’ “breakthrough” case of COVID-19. However, her continuing absence afterward was not explained.

It wasn’t until 2017 that Williams’ health intruded on her TV work. She fainted during the show and took leave for three weeks. In 2018, Williams said that she had previously been diagnosed with Graves’ disease, an autoimmune condition affecting the thyroid.

Not one to shy away from being blunt, Williams also said that her longtime cocaine use that began in college turned her into a “functioning addict” before she managed to stop. However, on a March 2019 episode of “The Wendy Williams Show,” Williams tearfully explained that she was living “in a sober house” and had a 24/7 sobriety coach. She no longer specified why.

In a video posted last week, Williams is spotted strolling on a beach in Florida. An off-screen interviewer, whom she identifies as her son, Kevin Hunter Jr., asks how she’s doing and what her activities are, including plans to go to the gym.

William replies in the video that while she’s taking “a break from New York” – the filming site for the show – she will be coming back “stronger.” She also vaguely referred to “things that happen to you” at around the age of 40 and that “they go on from there.”

Questions arose regarding some of Williams’ references in the clip, such as stating that she is 56 when she is 57. Williams’ spokeswoman clarified that she merely misspoke.

Photo: Them

RuPaul’s Drag Race star Bosco has revealed herself as Seattle’s “demon queen.” In coming out on an Instagram post on February 11, the drag performer placed herself with Kerri Colby and Kornbread’ The Snack’ Jeté, one of season 14’s trio pioneering for transgender rights. The three continue to represent how much work needs to be done in establishing queer equality. 

Bosco talked about how her companionship with Kerri and Kornbread helped strengthen her confidence in revealing herself to be trans in an interview. In addition, she spoke out about the struggles that trans people continue to undergo. 

When asked about how her life has been affected by her recent announcement – coming out – she replied, “It’s been lovely. Somebody described it as “taking the plunge,” which felt accurate. I’ve been fortunate; I’ve been out since the summer in Seattle, which lives in its own bubble. It never came up nationally. It would feel weird to not talk about it at this point, so I was grateful for the reaction.”

When asked about her identity, she said that it was apparent that she was always “gender-fluid” at a young age. “I was afraid of my family’s reaction if I wanted to pursue things further,” she continued. 

She had to think things through before deciding on her next step. However, right now, with the support she’s receiving, she told herself, “I can do this.” 

Talking about financial instability and anxiety over acceptance, she says, “It felt important to me to highlight that being a trans person, even in this time of extreme visibility, is really f——ing hard. I’m crazy privileged to have this queer platform and be known to the queer community in a way that allows me to feel safe, but I have so many trans women and trans men as friends who don’t get to navigate their life with the power that’s RuPaul’s Drag Race helping them. It felt necessary to talk about that. It’s fun for pop culture to look at it as this beautiful swan tale, but for a lot of people, it’s bumpy, scary, and financially perilous.”

Though Kornbread and Bosco didn’t come out during this season, they have planned to reveal their identity within the year of concluding the show. She then added, “Kerri and Kornbread’s presence helped center me. They’re really cool people.”

Photo: YouTube

Adam Scott has been patiently waiting for almost four years to get a lead role in “Severance.” He never thought that he would ever be given the opportunity, but it looks like his time has come.

“I just figured, somewhere along the line, someone else is going to want to do this, and this is going to slip away from me,” the comedian said in an interview. “All along, I was hoping that I would get to be part of it. It sounds corny, but it really is the kind of role I’ve been waiting my whole career for.” 

“Severance” premieres on Friday on Apple TV+, where Scott plays a rare and chunky, leading-man role, portraying a sorrowful and office-drone protagonist, Mark. 

“I couldn’t stop thinking about it,” Scott says, recounting the moment he first heard about the project. “It’s just a fun, hooky idea, but then there are all of the possible implications of it, which is what made me continue to come back to the idea.”

“Severance” is a movie about an office where employees are set apart by their work life and personal lives. The characters have 8 hour periods without knowing what goes on outside that period. While their “innies” – what the employees inside work are called – continue to complete their tasks, the “outies” – the one from outside the company – does not know what’s going on in the job; therefore, there are no risks of taking their work home with them. 

While it indeed sounds ideal, the implications are pretty alarming and stimulating. In Mark’s case, he underwent this process following his wife’s death in an automobile accident, striking his family as an unhealthy way to cope with his grief. 

“Mark has made a conscious decision to not move on from it,” Scott revealed. “He doesn’t want to heal because I think healing would mean saying goodbye forever, right? So rather than sit in it and feel it, he’d rather just switch off for eight to ten hours a day.” 

In 2017 (January), Scott recounts that he was initially attached to “Severance.” Then, at the Sundance Film Festival in the middle of “standing in the snow,” he got a call from Ben Stiller, who had read the pilot script by Dan Erickson. 

When he read the script, Stiller knew that Scott was just what they needed to make their show a success. So, Scott’s doubt was not necessary.