''Tavis Smiley'' is an American

late-night talk show A late-night talk show is a genre of talk show popular in the United States, where the format originated. It is generally structured around humorous monologues about the day's news, guest interviews, comedy sketches and music performances. It i ...

hosted by journalist Tavis Smiley that aired weeknights on PBS. The show began airing in January 2004 and is filmed in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, making it the first ever west-coast talk show for PBS.

Broadcast history

The show was occasionally filmed in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, at the Lincoln Center studios of

WNET WNET (channel 13), branded on-air as "Thirteen" (stylized as "THIRTEEN"), is a primary PBS member television station licensed to Newark, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York City area. Owned by The WNET Group (formerly known as the ...

. The show features notable entertainers, athletes, politicians, authors, and other noteworthy individuals in a 30-minute interview that explores the lives of the guests and the

current events News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different media: word of mouth, printing, postal systems, broadcasting, electronic communication, or through the testimony of observers and witnesses to events. ...

. ''Tavis Smiley'' is a production of The Smiley Group, Inc and New York station WNET, with major funding from

Wal-Mart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

. During the first eight seasons, the show was taped at the studios of

KCET KCET (channel 28) is a secondary PBS member television station in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is owned by the Public Media Group of Southern California alongside the market's primary PBS member, Huntington Beach–licensed KOCE ...

which served as the flagship PBS station for the west coast until its separation from PBS in December 2010, moving the flagship name to KOCE-TV. From January 2011, New York station

took over production of the show with some episodes originating out of WNET's studio in Lincoln Center but the show remained at the KCET studios for the remainder of the eighth season. The ninth season began on January 19, 2012 and debuted a new studio at the Encompass Digital Media Studios, nearby downtown Los Angeles. The show continued to tape episodes in both New York and Los Angeles.

Cancelation

On December 13, 2017, PBS indefinitely suspended distribution of the show after an investigation discovered allegations of sexual misconduct. Smiley is accused of engaging in sexual relationships with multiple employees as well as "creating a verbally abusive and threatening environment." On December 19, 2017, the BBC and PBS announced that the show would be replaced by simulcasts of the

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadc ...

shows ''

Beyond 100 Days ''The Context'' is a live current affairs programme that airs Monday to Thursday on the BBC News Channel, BBC Parliament and BBC World News. Under the names ''100 Days'', ''100 Days+'', ''Beyond 100 Days'' and ''BBC News with Katty and Christ ...

'' and ''

World News Today ''World News Today'' is a current affairs news programme, produced by BBC News presented on Friday-Sundays with Philippa Thomas, Karin Giannone & Kasia Madera. Presenters alternate the weekend shifts. It was originally conceived as a morning ...

'', which would begin airing on PBS on January 2, 2018.

Production

(2004–2011) *

(2011–2017) * The Smiley Group, Inc (2004–2017)

References

External links

Tavis Smiley at PBS
{{Navboxes , title = Awards for ''Tavis Smiley'' , list = {{NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Talk Series {{NAACP Image Award for Outstanding News/Information – Series or Special 2004 American television series debuts 2017 American television series endings 2000s American late-night television series 2010s American late-night television series English-language television shows PBS original programming