Rumor: Ellen DeGeneres is on Her Way Out, Kelly Clarkson Will Get Her Timeslot

Ellen DeGeneres might just be at the end of her reign as the queen of daytime TV. Ellen’s show, which she all but inherited from Rosie O’Donnell mixed the celebrity interviews and monologue format of late-night talk shows with the prizes and giveaways of daytime shows like Oprah and Live with Regis and Kathy Lee. Even though I think Ellen was a fantastic stand-up comic, her daytime show brought her the kind of fame and adoration she never really got from stand-up or prime time sitcoms.

That has all come crashing down around her with reports that she’s not as nice backstage as her public image lead people to believe.

Ellen thought she could weather the storm by passing the buck and throwing some producers under the bus, but since her return to daytime TV her ratings are down and her contract is almost at an end.

Page Six reports that her replacement has become obvious as she enters negotiations next month about the future of her show, and it’s The Kelly Clarkson Show that airs right after Ellen in most markets.

We’re told that NBC chiefs wooed pop star Clarkson, 38, for years before she launched her eponymous show — produced and distributed by NBCUniversal Domestic Television Distribution — in September 2019.

It became the most-watched new daytime talk show in seven years, winning three Daytime Emmys last year, including one for Clarkson as best entertainment talk show host.

Last month, “The Kelly Clarkson Show” hit a season high — and matched DeGeneres’ numbers for the first time.

Of course, Telepictures, the production company behind The Ellen DeGeneres Show and not The Kelly Clarkson Show, is likely to look to replace Ellen the way that she replaced Rosie O’Donnell after she ended her similarly-formatted TV show in 2002 and hold onto the 3 PM timeslot.

We could be looking at a daytime talk show war of the kind that’s usually reserved for late-night shuffles involving Jay Leno.