Sherri Shepherd’s daytime talk show, “Sherri,” is shaking up its executive ranks, setting a new senior producing team ahead of its second season.
The inaugural season of the top-rated freshman show carried over the production staff from “The Wendy Williams Show,” which was replaced in its time slot on the Fox stations by “Sherri” when Williams’ show ended in 2022. Now, Shepherd’s show has parted ways with some of Williams’ top producers, who helped launch “Sherri,” which has been renewed through 2025.
“Sherri” hails from Lionsgate’s Debmar-Mercury, the same company that was behind “The Wendy Williams Show” for its 13-year run.
Fernita Wynn has been promoted to showrunner and executive producer on “Sherri;” Joelle Dawson-Calia has been upped to executive producer; and Siobhan Schanda and Dan Fitzpatrick have been elevated to co-executive producers. All four producers were part of “Sherri’s” launch. They will all work alongside Shepherd, who is executive producer and host, as well as original executive producer Jawn Murray, Shepherd’s longtime producing partner who was handpicked by the host to help launch her talk show last year.
Dawson-Calia, Schanda and Fitzpatrick are all veterans from “The Wendy Williams Show.” Wynn has extensive daytime credentials, having worked at Oprah Winfrey’s OWN and on talk shows like “The Queen Latifah Show,” “Steve Harvey,” “Jenny Jones” and more.
In its first season, “Sherri” became the No .1 new nationally-syndicated daytime talk show. It won an NAACP Image Award for outstanding talk series, and received four daytime Emmy nominations, including outstanding daytime talk series host for Shepherd.
“I’m thrilled to have Fernita Wynn promoted to executive producer and showrunner and lead the production team at ‘Sherri’ for Season 2. I’m also happy to announce the elevation of Joelle Dawson, Siobhan Schanda and Dan Fitzpatrick, who will work alongside Jawn Murray and me as we continue to bring our ‘good time’ to daytime,” Shepherd said in a statement. “I’m grateful for this rockstar TV team that helped make the first season of ‘Sherri’ a success and the No. 1 new talk show in daytime. Expect the unexpected as we embark on our second season!”
Longtime “Wendy Williams” producers David Perler and Suzanne Bass have departed the show, and will not return for the second season. Perler was executive producer and showrunner of “The Wendy Williams Show” for 12 seasons and served as executive producer on “Sherri’s” first season. Bass was a mainstay on “Wendy,” not just as a producer, but also known by viewers for her frequent on-camera appearances.
“Executive producer David Perler and co-executive producer Suzanne Bass have been integral to Debmar-Mercury’s success in daytime syndication for many years and have helped launch‘Sherri,'” a spokesperson for Debmar-Mercury said in a statement to PvNew. “Debmar-Mercury wishes them all the best on future endeavors and hopes to work with them in the future.”
The first season of “Sherri” wraps this Friday, June 16. Season 2 will premiere on Monday, September 18.
