. The series was developed in the fall of 1993, for a planned launch during the 1994–95 television season. The program was developed under the
working title Entertainment News Television; however due to claims that it too closely mirrored its own name, cable channel
E! filed a lawsuit against
Warner Bros. Television Studios and
Telepictures to bar them from using the title; although E! lost the lawsuit in a summary judgment hearing allowing Warner Bros. to continue to use the
ENT title for the series, Warner Bros. decided to rename the program to
Extra: The Entertainment Magazine in May 1994, four months before the series premiered, with Warner Bros. executives citing that the abbreviated
ENT title itself would be too similar to that used by
Entertainment Tonight, long shortened officially to simply
ET, possibly leading to viewer confusion and confusing
Nielsen Media Research ratings diary homes which would have seen their panelists writing down the wrong program they watched. The program was initially anchored by Dave Nemeth and
Arthel Neville. Neville joined the program after being anchor at
New Orleans ABC affiliate
WVUE-DT (now a
Fox affiliate) and a three-year run on
Extreme Close-Up, a one-on-one celebrity interview show that she co-produced for
E!.
Extra was initially distributed by Time-Telepictures Television, a joint venture between
Time Inc. and Telepictures, both of which were owned at the time by Time Warner (which would eventually spin off Time Inc. in 2014), that was absorbed by Telepictures in 2003. Nemeth and Neville were both replaced by Brad Goode and Libby Weaver on June 10, 1996, for the remainder of season 2, and season 3 (which premiered on September 9, 1996), before Weaver was replaced by
Maureen O'Boyle in July 1997, during season 3. O'Boyle became the main anchor of the program in September 1997, during season 4 premiere; following O'Boyle's departure in September 2000, former
Entertainment Tonight anchor/correspondent and talk show host
Leeza Gibbons became its main anchor starting in season 7. In September 2002, Telepictures debuted a spin-off series,
Celebrity Justice. The program, which was hosted and executive produced by
Harvey Levin, had originated as a segment featured on
Extra that focused on legal issues involving celebrities and high-profile court cases with little to no relation to the entertainment industry;
Celebrity Justice ran for three seasons before being cancelled in 2005. Levin would subsequently launch the celebrity news website
TMZ and two years later, partner with Telepictures and Warner Bros. Television Distribution on a more successful entertainment newsmagazine venture spun off from the site,
TMZ on TV. Following Gibbons's departure in 2004,
Extra switched to a two-anchor format for the weekday editions with
Sugar Ray lead singer/founder
Mark McGrath and correspondent
Dayna Devon (who was formerly a news anchor/reporter at ABC affiliates
KMID and
WATN-TV). In September 2007, the production staff of
Extra also began producing
CW Now, a weekly lifestyle newsmagazine that aired as part of
The CW's Sunday night lineup; that program was cancelled due to low ratings in February 2008, after 18 episodes, continuing to broadcast some CW interstitial segments for several more months after. On July 28, 2008, Telepictures announced that actor
Mario Lopez would join as solo host of the program; Dayna Devon returned to a correspondent role, while Mark McGrath chose to leave the show and return to his music career. On September 13, 2010,
Extra began broadcasting in
high definition. the program also abandoned its longtime soundstage at Victory Studios in
Glendale, California and moved its taping location to
The Grove at Farmers Market, a shopping and entertainment venue in
Los Angeles. On August 4, 2011, Telepictures announced that
Maria Menounos (who had previously served as a correspondent for rivals
Entertainment Tonight and
Access Hollywood) would join
Extra as Lopez's co-host, as part of an overall deal with Warner Bros./Telepictures that included a role as a contributor for the CW talk show ''
Drew Pinsky's
Lifechangers and development of television program projects. On September 9, 2013, at the beginning of its 20th season, Extra'' moved its taping location to
Universal Studios Hollywood and its
Universal CityWalk; at that time, following Menounos's decision to leave
Extra to become co-host of
E! News, actress/producer
Tracey Edmonds and former
SportsNation and
Fox Sports Live co-host
Charissa Thompson were added to replace her as co-hosts. Edmonds later left in June 2017. Thompson left at the end of the program's 23rd season. On August 7, 2017, Telepictures announced co-host changes in preparation for the program's 24th season: former host/correspondent
Tanika Ray would return to
Extra as weekday co-host, with correspondents
A. J. Calloway and then-weekend edition host
Renee Bargh also becoming weekday co-hosts; all joined fellow host Mario Lopez. British television personality
Mark Wright also joined as weekday correspondent.
Jerry Penacoli served as an off-air correspondent for the series and was rarely seen, voicing most of the show's segments and stories that were not done from CityWalk. On May 8, 2019, Telepictures announced a retool for the program's 26th season, which premiered on September 9, 2019; former
Access Hollywood host
Billy Bush joined as co-host, replacing Mario Lopez, who himself moved to rival
Access Hollywood. It also moved to
The Burbank Studios in
Burbank, California where
Access had previously filmed. In the months before, Telepictures had signed an agreement with
Fox Television Stations to move the series in a number of major top-10 to top-50 markets to syndication on
Fox stations, ending a long-term agreement with
NBC Owned Television Stations to syndicate the series to
NBC's owned and operated stations. On July 31, 2019, Calloway was terminated from
Extra after a number of sexual harassment and assault allegations not involving show staff surfaced (he had previously been suspended earlier in February). For season 26, the series was planned to be retitled
Extra Extra (the show's title theme had long had "Extra!...Extra!" as its main focal point and as a regular segment, supporting the possible change in branding); however the planned renaming was prevented by legal issues from
ExtraExtra Show Daily, an entertainment industry expo
trade magazine, as it had utilized the title since 1997 as a
registered trademark.
EESD owner Sandra Driggin notified Telepictures about possible confusion with her publication, a week before the show's premiere, and threatened legal action if the show aired as
Extra Extra. Telepictures ultimately decided to retain the
Extra name as-is, as the show's staff had not been used to the name change behind the scenes during off-air rehearsals with Bush. On April 11, 2023, it was announced that the series was renewed for a 30th season. On January 22, 2024, it was announced that the series was renewed for a 31st season. On March 17, 2025, the series was renewed for a 32nd season. Two months after, Bush announced his departure as host at conclusion of the 31st season. In August,
Derek Hough was announced as Bush's successor; he began hosting during the 32nd season premiere on September 8, 2025. ==On-air staff==