Rare Details From 'The Chew' That Producers Kept Under Wraps
"I am so grateful for all the good times and incredible friends I have made over the past seven years," renowned chef and cohost Carla Hall said when The Chew was canceled in 2018. "It has truly been an amazing ride." She echoed the thoughts of millions of viewers, who tuned in to watch her, Michael Symon, Clinton Kelly, and Daphne Oz on the daytime talk show that had replaced All My Children. Of course, that exhilarating ride also had terrifying lows that threatened to scrape the whole show right into the garbage bin.
It hit the ground running
"I was shocked that we got to 1,000 episodes because I don't know if anybody thought we would," Clinton Kelly said on the 1,000th episode of The Chew, which aired in 2016. "In fact, a lot of people told us we surely wouldn't, so I'd like to say, 'Here we are!'" There were plenty of reasons to doubt the show.
Rocky start
Despite the show going on to have major success, it had a hard time in the press upon first launching. Critics said the hosts were hyperactive and doing too much, with The New York Daily News writing that the show "often felt overstuffed, as if its celebrity crew were engaged in a speed-talking contest."
People didn’t believe
When the show started, there was a lot working against it. For one, the time slot was once held by the highly acclaimed soap opera, All My Children. Winning over that audience was going to be a challenge no matter what; additionally, its place after Eyewitness News didn't always have viewers who were ready to laugh.
They got along
The audience doubted the show, and so did the hosts! As former-host Mario Batalli said, he was never sure everyone would get along. "I think we're still here because," he said, "even though when we met each other we weren't sure if we were gonna be able to live together, now that we've been living together for five years.”
