On Wednesday, ABC canceled The Chew to make room for a third hour of Good Morning America, which will air in the afternoon.
The new Good Morning America program will take over The Chew's time slot in September. Staffers were notified Wednesday and "completely blindsided," one person with knowledge of the situation told Us Weekly. "They were under the impression that the show was still strong and would continue." New episodes of The Chew, now in its seventh season, will start taping in June, to air through the summer.
Former co-host Mario Batali was fired from the show in December after allegations of sexual misconduct were made against him. Earlier this week, it was reported that the celebrity chef is under investigation by the NYPD for alleged sex-related crimes, but a representative for ABC told AOL the cancelation was "a business decision" and Batali "did not factor into this." Last week, co-host Carla Hall revealed that there were no plans to replace Batali on the show.