The Real is saying goodbye as the women of the syndicated daytime talk show bid viewers farewell after 8 seasons and over 1,300 episodes.
Adrienne Houghton, Loni Love, Jeannie Mai Jenkins, and Garcelle Beauvais took time to reflect on their experience in an emotional moment recognizing the show’s impact and historic footprint. The show’s wrap follows another recent daytime loss with the Ellen DeGeneres Show.
Understandably, the women let a couple of tears shed during the occasion which was limited to just them as no audience took part in the pre-taped installment that was shot on April 27. Since Season 8 began, there hasn’t been an audience since it began due to the pandemic.
As seen in the clip, above, Love opted to appear remotely while Houghton, Mai Jenkins, and Beauvais were in-person for the finale. And it was an episode without guests as the spotlight shined on the women at the helm of the onscreen ship.
“We have made our mark,” said Houghton of the show’s impact. “I was talking to my mom earlier this morning. She knows this is the farewell show. And she was just telling me like, ‘you guys really did break the mold of daytime television.’ It’s so crazy when you think of it that way. There was never a show that looked like us. And I am so grateful and I hope that we are not the last.”
Love followed up Houghton’s remarks by acknowledging, “The whole purpose of this show was that we would put on people who normally wouldn’t get on daytime talk.” Among those, she mentions, “All the Tyler Perry movie people. We’ve had the Oprah people. We had Laurence Fishburne! We were able to talk about things that some people just ignore. When you look back at eight seasons, over 1,300 episodes, it’s phenomenal. It’s historic…”
During the daytime program’s run, The Real earned several awards including two NAACP Image Awards and Daytime Emmys for Outstanding Entertainment Talk Show Hosts among others.