Say it ain't so! The Martha Stewart Show will go off the air following broadcasting season in April, after suffering from bad ratings on the Hallmark Channel. According to the NY Post, the channel has informed Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia that it no longer makes financial sense to produce the show in its current form.
The production—perhaps unsurprisingly, due to Martha's perfectionist attitude—has "sky high" costs. President of MSLO, Lisa Gersh, noted the high costs last year, saying, “Our expensive studio lease is expiring next year, and we will either bring television in-house or find lower cost space, which will significantly reduce our TV operating margins." Speaking of budget, when the show ends, it's going out Oprah-style, so someone's going to have to loosen the pursestrings for that one.
A spokeswoman at the company told The Post that the show, along with the entire programming block (also featuring Emeril’s Table) will continue through September, at the very least. They seem to be having an ongoing conversation with Hallmark, to keep the Martha brand as a part of their lifestyle lineup, in some capacity.
And if not... hopefully this just means Martha will become more of a fixture at Brooklyn bars.
