'The Dr. Oz Show' Coming To An End After Hitting 'New Low' In Ratings Amid Titular Host's Senate Run
Dec. 13 2021, Published 2:11 p.m. ET
The Dr. Oz Show is coming to an end after 13 seasons on the air.
The long-running daytime television series centering on health and wellness will formally conclude on Jan. 14, per distributor Sony Pictures Television, despite having previously been renewed until mid-2023.
The fate of the program reportedly became uncertain after titular host Dr. Mehmet Oz announced that he would be running for Senate; however, his series had not been doing well in the viewership department since before that.
Earlier this month, in fact, The Wrap reported that The Dr. Oz Show had "hit a new low this season in syndicated TV ratings, averaging a 0.5 for the week ending Nov. 21, 2021."
The low numbers predated Oz's announcement about entering the political arena in the Pennsylvania Republican primary, which he made on Nov. 30.
Oz said he was motivated to run for the position by the government's response to the coronavirus pandemic, saying it has shown that "the system is broken."
"We lost too many lives, too many jobs and too many opportunities because Washington got it wrong," he explained last month. "They took away our freedom without making us safer and tried to kill our spirit and our dignity."
The 61-year-old celebrity physician – who began his career as a cardiothoracic surgeon – became a household name by appearing as a health expert on The Oprah Winfrey Show for five seasons. Then in 2009, Oprah Winfrey helped launch Oz's series, which went on to win nine Daytime Emmy Awards.
The Dr. Oz Show will be replaced by a spinoff program titled The Good Dish, which will be hosted by his daughter, Daphne Oz, along with Top Chef judge Gail Simmons and Next Food Star winner Jamika Pessoa.
The Good Dish will premiere on Jan. 17, two days after The Dr. Oz Show concludes, and is billed as "an opportunity for viewers to take a seat at the table and enjoy delicious, family friendly recipes served up by the best of the best who bring professional insight, real-life wisdom and dish on the topics of the day while making delectable dishes."
According to Sony's Zack Hernandez, "Audiences have been loving what Daphne, Gail and Jamika have been serving up during their weekly segments on The Dr. Oz Show for years. We have long believed The Good Dish would make an excellent stand-alone series and are delighted to be able to deliver this fresh take on the cooking genre to our station partners and their viewers across the country."
