‘The Kelly Clarkson Show’ to start filming Season 2 with virtual audience

EXCLUSIVE: Kelly Clarkson spent part of the COVID-19 lockdown on her ranch in Montana, where she was filming weekly remote episodes of her daytime talkshow. However, the pop star and host is now back in Los Angeles and stepping in for Simon Cowell on “America’s Got Talent.” She is also gearing up to return to …

EXCLUSIVE: Kelly Clarkson spent part of the COVID-19 lockdown on her ranch in Montana, where she was filming weekly remote episodes of her daytime talkshow.

However, the pop star and host is now back in Los Angeles and stepping in for Simon Cowell on “America’s Got Talent.”

She is also gearing up to return to the studio for the second season of “The Kelly Clarkson Show.” The syndicated series is heading back to the Universal Studios lot to start filming episodes for Season 2 at the beginning of September. The second season will premiere on Sept. 21, while the show will also air five additional original episodes the week of Sept. 14 as a countdown to the sophomore season.

Deadline understands that the show will be taped in front of a live, virtual studio audience.

The move will allow Clarkson and her celebrity guests to interact with the audience, despite the challenges faced by COVID-19. It is the latest series to bring in fans in a different way due to the pandemic – “The Masked Singer” is bringing in fan voting for the first time with its return to the studio.

“The Kelly Clarkson Show” is produced and distributed by NBCUniversal Television Distribution, airs in 100% of the country on more than 200 stations, with the NBC O&Os as the core station group.

As you can imagine, all of the rigorous health and safety protocols will be in place for Clarkson and her crew’s return to the studio in September. The production will comply with NBCUniversal’s safety guidelines, CDC guidance and state and local orders.

NBCU handed Clarkson, who exec produces alongside showrunner Alex Duda and Brandon Blackstock, a second season last November after the show brought in strong ratings and became the most-watched new talk show in seven years, averaging 1.6M viewers.

From April, the “Since U Been Gone” singer produced one episode per week from Montana as well as introducing Messages from Montana video interstitials into already produced episodes.

During the production shutdown, “The Kelly Clarkson Show” was able to continue airing fresh episodes, having had a stack of episodes in the can and a number of episodes that had been previously scheduled but pre-empted for current event coverage.

The show also took the rare step of staying in originals over the summer with episodes filmed in Montana and from Clarkson’s home in LA.