Early years (2008–16) 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 from July 13, 2009. The show debuted outside the United States on
BET International in July 2010 in Africa and the United Kingdom.
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.
Health struggles (2017–19) On October 31, 2017, Williams, dressed in a
Statue of Liberty costume on the
Halloween episode, unexpectedly fainted during the live telecast when she was about to announce the winners of the show's Halloween contest. The episode then went into an extended commercial break. Williams resumed stating, "That was not a stunt. I overheated and did pass out, but I'm a champ and I'm back." Williams and her spokesperson cited heat exhaustion from her costume as the cause. In February 2018, Williams canceled three shows due to illness. On February 21, Williams announced that she was taking a three-week hiatus, due to health issues. In March, actor
Jerry O'Connell served as
guest host for a week during her absence, despite Williams insisting in previous years her show would never utilize a guest host. Williams returned on March 19, 2018. That summer, Williams went on a 10-city tour to celebrate the tenth season of the show. Following further speculation on her health in late 2018, Williams went on an indefinite hiatus in January and February 2019 after a shoulder injury and worsening complications from
Graves' disease and other personal issues. This time around, several guest hosts such as
Jerry O'Connell,
Nick Cannon,
Keke Palmer,
Michael Rapaport,
Sherri Shepherd, and
Jason Biggs filled the slot until Williams returned on March 4, 2019. Williams noted on the March 19 episode of her show that she had also begun treatment for a decades-old
cocaine addiction and was living in a sober house when not hosting her show. In April 2019, Debmar-Mercury began distributing with CBS Television Studios, following
20th Century Fox being bought by Disney. On September 16, 2019, Williams announced on the eleventh-season premiere that the series had been renewed through 2022, bringing the series to its thirteenth season.
Final years (2020–22) In March 2020, production on the series was halted due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. From April to May 2020, the series returned virtually as "Wendy @ Home", with Williams filming the Hot Topics segment from her apartment and a short virtual interview. In July, it was announced that the show would return live for its twelfth season on September 21, 2020, with show staffers as studio audience members wearing masks and physically distancing. In June 2021, the show began using studio audience members again for the final six weeks of the season. Her final episode of her show was July 16, 2021. The September 20, 2021 premiere of the thirteenth and final season of
The Wendy Williams Show was delayed by several weeks due to Williams contracting a
breakthrough case of
COVID-19 and ongoing complications from her
Graves' disease and thyroid condition. It was later announced that the season would premiere on October 18, 2021, with guest hosts such as
Leah Remini,
Michelle Visage,
Whitney Cummings,
Michelle Buteau,
Sherri Shepherd,
Michael Rapaport,
Kym Whitley,
Finesse Mitchell,
Jerry Springer,
Steve Wilkos,
Remy Ma,
Fat Joe,
Michael Yo,
Devyn Simone,
Bevy Smith,
Terrence J,
Carson Kressley,
Vivica A. Fox,
Bill Bellamy, and other panelists filling in for Williams until she was able to return to the show. On February 8, 2022, it was reported that Williams would miss the remainder of the season, and that Shepherd—whom Williams had endorsed as an interim host On February 22, 2022, Debmar-Mercury announced that
The Wendy Williams Show would be replaced in the 2022–23 television season by the Sherri Shepherd-hosted
Sherri, with Fox Television Stations signing on to remain its core affiliate group. The show will retain its showrunner, executive producer, and segments such as "Hot Topics". Debmar-Mercury stated that "we believe it is best for our fans, stations and advertising partners to start making this transition now", and that "we hope to be able to work with Wendy again in the future, and continue to wish her a speedy and full recovery." The final episode aired on June 17, with Williams unable to appear. The show's YouTube channel and all the other social media accounts were deleted and related website domains were relinquished by early July. The show itself continued in reruns until September 9, 2022, with
Sherri debuting three days later on September 12. ==Controversies==