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CBS Daytime is about to get an overhaul of some kind. Things are not working out as planned.

The biggest problem isnt even The Talk, which has dropped in the ratings to 1.5 million viewers per day. The larger issue is whats happening at 9am, when the CBS-owned Drew Barrymore Show is dying against Live with Kelly and Ryan.

Barrymores show kicked out the Judge Judy spin off Hot Bench, which currently has no station in New York. Even so, Hot Bench is a ratings hit with 1.7 million viewers. It held its own against Ripa and Seacrest at 9am. Theres no doubt WCBS wants it back at 9am.

That would move Barrymore now suffering with just 600,000 viewers per morning to 2pm with other talk shows like Ellen DeGeneres and Kelly Clarkson. If Barrymore were in that slot, at least it could find a personality. Right now, the former movie actress is trying unsuccessfully to do topical shows for 9am and they dont work.

So what about The Talk? Without the originator, Sarah Gilbert, The Talk is not a pedestrian mix. Sharon Osbourne rules the roost. But its doing half the numbers of The View on ABC and has no news value like that show. It may indeed be time to let The Talk go.

Lets not forget it was invented to accommodate Julie Chen because she was married to network chief Les Moonves. But theyre gone. And if The Talk isnt getting the numbers of the beloved soap opera it killed, As the World Turns which left the air with around 2.6 million why keep it at all? At this point, Osbourne if she wanted to could start her own syndicated series and make more money.

Stay tuned

Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. He wrote the Intelligencer column for NY Magazine in the mid 90s, reporting on the OJ Simpson trial, as well as for the real Parade magazine (when it was owned by Conde Nast), and has written for the New York Observer, Details, Vogue, Spin, the New York Times, NY Post, Washington Post, and NY Daily News among many publications. He is the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.

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CBS May Have to Cancel or Move The Talk in Ratings Chess Game to Keep Drew Barrymore Alive in the Afternoon - Showbiz411