News broke earlier this month that CBS Sports will debut the first all-female sports talk show in national TV history. Now the broadcast company has released more details about its historic offering, including the show’s name: We Need to Talk.
The show will have an all-female cast, and will be produced and directed exclusively by women.
“This is a very proud moment for all of us at CBS Sports,” chairman Sean McManus said Tuesday in a press release. “A sports show featuring all women is long overdue, and we are thrilled to be able to make television history this fall with the national launch of We Need to Talk.”
The weekly show will air on Tuesday nights from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET, beginning Sept. 30. The core of its rotating cast of hosts will include veteran sportscaster Lesley Visser, former Oakland Raiders CEO Amy Trask, NFL and college-basketball reporter Tracy Wolfson, radio host Dana Jacobson and college-football reporter Allie LaForce.
Former WNBA star Lisa Leslie, 12-time Olympic medalist Dara Torres and former boxing champion Laila Ali will also be involved, among others. “High-profile” figures — male and female — from the sports world will also appear as guests.
CBS executives said that, while staffed solely by women, We Need to Talk will not be focused on women’s issues in particular; rather, it will be a relatively standard sports talk show that covers a range of subjects and stories.
Coming at a time when the sports world’s treatment of women is coming under intensified scrutiny, We Need to Talk does represent some smart PR for CBS Sports, as well as a history-making bit of programming.
The We Need to Talk moniker may strike some as having a bit of a girl-time vibe — but it is many steps ahead of a sports show hosted by two women the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation launched ahead of the 2012 Stanley Cup Final. That program’s name? While the Men Watch.
