‘Access Hollywood’ Is Canceled After 30-Year Run

Access Hollywood and Access Daily were canceled on Friday (March 13) as part of NBCUniversal’s decision to end all first-run syndication programs produced by the network. The programs will continue to produce new episodes until September. Access Hollywood was launched by NBC in 1996 as a competitor to CBS Media Ventures’ Entertainment Tonight , which debuted in 1981. Access Hollywood was created by former ET executive producer Jim Van Messel.

Access Hollywood gained infamy in the 2016 election cycle. On Oct. 7, 2016, one month before that year’s presidential election, The Washington Post published a video and article about then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and TV host Billy Bush having a lewd conversation about women. In the video, which was recorded in September 2015, Trump and Bush were on a bus on their way to film an episode of Access Hollywood .

News of the recording broke two days before the second presidential debate between Trump, the Republican nominee, and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton . For his part in the conversation, Bush was fired from his position as a host on...