''Hollywood Today Live'' is a daily
syndicated entertainment news program distributed by
Media General
Media General was an American media company based in Richmond, Virginia. The company's origins can be traced back to 1887 when Richmond attorney Joseph Bryan acquired ''The Richmond Daily Times'', which later became ''The Richmond Times-Dispatch ...
stations along with
Fox Television Stations
Fox Television Stations, LLC (FTS; alternately Fox Television Stations Group, LLC), is a group of television stations located within the United States, which are owned-and-operated by the Fox Broadcasting Company, a subsidiary of the Fox Co ...
under a traditional syndication arrangement, and was produced by Media General's Bitesize division from a studio based in the
Hollywood and Vine
Hollywood and Vine, the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street in Hollywood, a district of Los Angeles, became known in the 1920s for its concentration of radio and movie-related businesses. The Hollywood Walk of Fame is centered ...
area of
Hollywood. The show was hosted by
Ross Mathews
Ross Mathews (born September 24, 1979) is an American television host and personality. He first rose to fame as an intern and a correspondent for ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno''; he was known as "Ross the Intern" on air.
Mathews has appeared ...
, Kristen Brockman, Tanner Thomason,
Garcelle Beauvais
Garcelle Beauvais (, formerly Beauvais-Nilon; born November 26, 1966) is a Haitian-American actress and television personality. She is best known for her starring roles in the sitcom ''The Jamie Foxx Show'' and the crime drama series '' NYPD Blue ...
, red carpet correspondent Amanda Salas, and various guest co-hosts.
The series launched in 2014, and was cancelled in April 2017, shortly after
Nexstar completed its purchase of Media General; the lean-run and local-centric Nexstar had no interest in producing a syndicated infotainment program which came with an expensive leased Hollywood studio. In addition, the affiliate base of the program never expanded outside of that of Media General or FTS before its cancellation.
Finally, many stations with strength from other programs in the timeslot where ''HTL'' was carried live often refused to carry it in the intended live timeslot, had no interest in promoting a program forced upon them by corporate mandate without local feedback, or had more successful programming such as ''
Entertainment Tonight'' in the format; for instance,
WBAY-TV
WBAY-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Green Bay, Wisconsin, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by Gray Television. The station's studios are located on South Jefferson Street in downtown Green Bay (across from the historic ...
in
Green Bay, an ''ET''-carrying station, aired ''HTL'' as a late night offering and offered all but the most minimal promotion on-air and its website required by Media General, never carried promotional tie-in material for the show on its newscasts, and immediately removed the series from their schedule after their sale to
Gray Television closed without as much as a viewer notice. WBAY was sold in order to address antitrust concerns in the Media General/Nexstar merger.
Porscha Coleman was one of the show's hosts before being fired. She sued alleging discrimination.
References
{{Reflist
2014 American television series debuts
2017 American television series endings
2010s American television news shows
First-run syndicated television programs in the United States