Entertainment Tonight Canada (ET), a household name in entertainment television since 2005, has been cancelled after 18 seasons.
“The cost of producing a daily entertainment news-magazine show in a challenging advertising environment has led to this decision,” Corus Entertainment said in an official post made to ET’s Instagram handle.
The statement released by Corus Entertainment through ET Canada about the cancellation of the television series. Photo credit: Entertainment Tonight Canada & Corus Entertainment
ET released the statement on Sept. 27 which explained the reasoning behind the cancellation of the entertainment series.
This shutdown follows the March layoff of about 70 journalists working at Global TV, including the only sports news team in Edmonton. The company said it was also restructuring.
“It is becoming impossibly difficult for media workers to face the news of restructuring and layoffs on a regular basis,” said Lana Payne, Unifor national president. The union represents the journalists who were laid off from Global.
“Journalists are the backbone of our democracy. We need to save local news by investing in newsrooms, not cutting them,” she said.
There had been no public hint of ET’s demise even though Corus Entertainment has outwardly expressed its gratitude to ET’s team since the statement.
Alyssa Croezen, a former online producer at ET, took to her social media and shared her sadness after learning about the announcement.
“I will cherish the people, the memories, the experiences and so much more from my five-plus years as an online producer,” she said in the Instagram post.
“The things I’ve learned from this team are invaluable. They’re not just coworkers, they’re family,” Croezan said.
Cheryl Hickey, a host on ET since 2005, said this news got “real” when it was time to announce it live on the final episode of the show.
Hickey was joined by her co-host, Sangita Patel. Both women can be seen with their arms linked together, tears rolling down their cheeks as they share their words of gratitude towards the network.
“We wanna thank our viewers,” Patel said and shared appreciation to the people who have watched the ET episodes. “You are like family to us.”
Hickey stated on her Instagram she has never taken the viewers at ET for granted and even went to share her greatest memories while working on the show.
“Your care and dedication was felt. You are family and you have watched our families personally and professionally grow and change,” reads Hickey’s Instagram caption.
Many other past employees expressed their gratitude on their social media and have been actively interacting with their fans.
Jed Tavernier, who has been a host since 2022, wrote about how ET took a chance on him being one of their new television reporters despite not having any experience on TV or a journalism degree.
He was able to learn from his time there, evolving as a person as a whole and felt supported throughout his employment.
“Thank you to my producers, editors, writers, stylists, make-up artists, directors, cameramen, publicists, media librarians, and unit managers,” he said in an Instagram post. “The work you put in daily is astounding.”
Tavernier even posted small thank-you notes to each host at ET, thanking them for various reasons during their time spent together.
Carlos Bustamante, who has been a host on ET since 2017 and has worked with Corus Entertainment for 21 years, noted his surprise yet gratefulness for the amount of time he has spent with the company.
“The phrase ‘best in the biz’ is used a lot and though I truly believe that about our ET Canada team,” Bustamante said. “For me, this biz has been the best.”
ET Canada continues to put out their episodes until their last official day on air which Hickey announced in the social media video.
“So, we will say our final goodbye on October 6th,” she said. “But until then, we have to get on with bringing you the top stories.”