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Tamron Hall is returning to daytime TV.
Last February, just a few minutes before going on air at MSNBC, Hall learned that she and Al Roker would be replaced by anchor Megyn Kelly in the 9am time slot. Always professional, she continued the show that morning, but left the network. Hall, the first black woman anchor in the show’s history, reportedly turned down a significant offer to stay with NBC. “She was offered a lot of money to stay … and she turned it down,” a source told PEOPLE. She had been with MSNBC and NBC since 2007, joining the “Today” cast in 2014.
After leaving, friends knew she wouldn’t be content to sit on the sidelines. “Tamron’s a woman of integrity,” said TV writer-producer Mara Brock Akil, who used Hall as the inspiration for Gabrielle Union’s character on the hit BET show Being Mary Jane. “And she’s writing her own story.”
Now, the talented host is returning to broadcast television with a show of her own, in association with Weinstein Television. The currently untitled daytime show will feature Hall as host and executive producer and focus on current events, human-interest stories and celebrity interviews. Taped in front of a live studio audience, Harvey Weinstein, co-chairman of The Weinstein Company, said the new show “will fill the current void in daytime for viewers looking for a blend of heart, humor and information.”
Hall’s upcoming project is Weinstein Television’s first attempt at daytime television. The company is known for its work on the Project Runway series, as well as the recent documentary Time: The Kalief Browder Story, executive produced by Jay Z. Hall is also in talks with Weinstein Television to develop a other non-scripted programs that will showcase her journalism skills, says The Hollywood Reporter.
“I’ve been working towards developing a talk show for a long time, but needed to make sure I did it the right way and with the right person to take the lead,” Weinstein said in a statement. “Tamron is far and away that person. She’s an exceptionally talented journalist whose interviews masterfully walk the line between entertainment and hard hitting. We couldn’t be more thrilled to begin this new venture with her.”
