This reporting appears as one of several scoops featured in this week’s edition of Confider, the newsletter pulling back the curtain on the media. Subscribe here and send your questions, tips, and complaints here.
Could one of the longest-running entertainment TV programs be the latest casualty of the Warner Bros. Discovery merger?
Multiple sources confirmed to Confider that roughly 15 people were recently laid off from Extra, and staffers are concerned this could be the final year of the Hollywood tabloid show’s existence.
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A broadcast fixture since 1994, Extra has been roiled by some recent drama: Longtime executive producer Lisa Gregorisch-Dempsey called it quits this summer, just months after The Daily Beast reported about a “toxic” workplace culture at the show, which staffers said she ran like the “mafia.”
While employees told Confider that the staff is “hopeful” under current executive producers Theresa Coffino and Jeremy Spiegel, they also fear the show’s fate may have already been decided.
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“It’s no big secret this could be the final renewal year,” one current staffer said. “It’s the fact they put Theresa and Jeremy just to replace [Gregorisch-Dempsey]. There’s no new leadership.”
This source added that the layoffs, which cut about 10 percent of the show’s workforce, has “less to do with Lisa” and “more to do with the merger”—which has featured a bevy of high-profile cost-cutting measures as Warner Bros. Discovery higher-ups look to find $3 billion in savings.
Budget restrictions were the official explanation for the layoffs, another source familiar with the cuts noted before adding: “There is a belief the show will not be renewed.” Additionally, staffers told Confider the show’s energy is now “flat” and full of “melancholy.”
A Warner Bros. spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment but a WB source insisted the cuts were not related to Lisa G’s retirement and Warner Bros. Television Group fully expects to pick up Extra for more seasons.
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