The Wendy Williams Show

The Wendy Williams Show (alternately known as Wendy, and stylized as Wendy: The Wendy Williams Show in its title logo) is an Emmy nominated American syndicated entertainment/infotainment talk show created and hosted by Wendy Williams. Produced by Debmar-Mercury and distributed by 20th Television, the show has aired since July 14, 2008 in select major U.S. markets and July 13, 2009 nationwide. It is one of the most watched daytime talk shows among women in the 18- to 49-year-old and 25- to 54-year-old demographics, as well as in households. It is primarily aired on Fox, CW and MyNetworkTV affiliates (along with several affiliates of other major networks), and is rebroadcast Monday through Friday late-nights on BET; it also airs in more than 50 international markets.

Wendy is broadcast live in front of a studio audience on Mondays through Thursdays. The Friday shows are either a first-run episode originally taped after the Thursday for broadcast the next day, or a repeat of the previous Monday's episode.

Format
The program is formatted as an entertainment-based talk show, focusing largely on celebrity news and gossip as well as lifestyle features.

Each episode begins with "Hot Topics," an opening segment — usually running 18 to 21 minutes (originally lasting 10 to 12 minutes until the third season), depending on the number of stories featured — in which Williams mainly discusses tabloid headlines and celebrity news, and provides her opinions — often addressing the celebrities directly and giving them advice to the camera. The segment incorporates a heavier emphasis on stories about reality stars and African-American entertainers (particularly hip-hop, rap and R&B artists) than are covered on traditional entertainment newsmagazine programs. Occasionally, the topics incorporated into the segment may involve current issues and offbeat news items not related to the entertainment industry; Williams periodically deviates from the topic to elaborate on a particular aspect of it that relates to her own life. The studio audience (who are affectionately termed by Williams as her "co-hosts") have some active participation in the segment, with Williams often surveying them through applause about a particular point of the story being discussed.

Periodic segments-within-a-segment are featured during "Hot Topics" including "Wendy's Got You Covered" (detailing cover stories from current issues of entertainment, fashion and lifestyle magazines), the "Hot Shot of the Day" (showcasing a particular celebrity photo), the "Clip of the Day" (usually featuring clips or promos from upcoming television programs) and "Celebrity Shout-Out" (detailing a celebrity-related story highlighting a particular milestone or accomplishment).

In addition to "Hot Topics", the program includes other in-depth topical segments incorporating guest contributors including the
 * "Hot Talk Panel" (regularly featured during the Thursday or Friday editions) in which Williams and a panel of four journalists discuss news items and current issues ranging from social and political issues to tabloid headlines;
 * "What's Trending Now", an occasional segment that showcases viral videos, and details the latest fashion and beauty trends and offbeat stories trending on social media; and
 * "Inside Scoop", featuring a contributor who rotates each week (most of whom are correspondents/hosts of entertainment-related newsmagazine programs or magazines) providing detailed analysis of a selection of celebrity-related stories.

The remainder of the program heavily incorporates feature segments (many of which are featured in the show's "B"-block) including "Ask Wendy" (a segment in which Williams gives audience members advice on how to deal with their work, family or relationship problems), "Celebrity Fan-Out" (featuring photographs submitted by viewers of their celebrity encounters), "Celebrity Lookalikes" (featuring photographs of viewers stating their resemblance to a particular celebrity, with Williams and the studio audience judging the closeness in their resemblance), "Hot Topics Sound-Off" (in which up to four audience members give their opinion to Williams about the stories discussed in "Hot Topics" or other topical segments mentioned in that day's episode) and "Street Talk" (a man-on-the-street segment in which viewers in public areas in U.S. cities provide their opinions of hypothetical celebrity-related questions, suffaced by humorous cutout animations).

On the Tuesday and Wednesday (and sometimes, the Thursday) editions, Williams interviews a single featured celebrity guest; musical performances are featured occasionally. The show regularly features product giveaways, usually as part of "Trendy@Wendy", a weekly segment showcasing fashion/beauty products and electronics that are given to studio audience members, with at-home viewers being able to purchase the featured items through the show's website at a discount from their estimated retail price.

Production and distribution
On April 21, 2008, Fox Television Stations ordered a test run of the show for the group's Fox owned-and-operated stations to air after their local weekday morning newscasts. The Wendy Williams Show premiered on July 14, 2008 as a six-week trial run on four Fox-owned outlets: WNYW/New York City, KTTV/Los Angeles, WJBK/Detroit and KDFW/Dallas-Fort Worth.

After the test run concluded, Debmar-Mercury picked up the program for a full nationwide launch, and through additional station group pickups (including stations owned by CBS Television Stations, NBC Owned Television Stations, Tribune Broadcasting, LIN TV Corporation, Cox Media Group, Local TV LLC, Raycom Media, New Vision Television and the Meredith Corporation), gained carriage on stations covering more than 95% of the country including all of the 20 largest media markets and 45 of the top 50 markets. On June 4, 2009, BET acquired the cable syndication rights to the show, airing it as part of the cable channel's late night schedule. The Wendy Williams Show entered into national syndication on broadcast stations and on BET on July 13, 2009.

The Wendy Williams Show went on a 17-city "Say It Like You Mean It" promotional tour across the United States in the summer of 2011, presenting mini-versions of the show at local malls.

On May 4, 2013, Fox Television Stations announced a deal with Debmar-Mercury to renew the show through the 2016–17 television season.

The show debuted outside the United States on BET International in July 2010 in markets like UK and Africa. In the UK, Wendy remains the most watched show on BET were it is shown a total of four times a day. Plus four additional repeats daily on BET +1.

Awards and recognition
The Wendy Williams Show received two Daytime Emmy Award nominations in 2015: the show was nominated for Outstanding Talk Show/Entertainment, with Williams receiving a nomination for Outstanding Entertainment Talk Show Host.