Television personality
Shepherd has appeared as a guest host and contestant on several television shows such as Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, Rachael Ray, and To Tell the Truth. She co-hosted the 35th Daytime Emmy Awards on June 20, 2008. She became host of the Game Show Network version of The Newlywed Game in 2010, replacing Carnie Wilson, and would host that show until it ended in 2013. Shepherd also hosted Nickelodeon's NickMom Night Out special from 2013 to 2014, Shepherd hosted Best Ever Trivia Show on Game Show Network for 65 episodes, beginning on June 10, 2019. She has appeared regularly as a panelist on Funny You Should Ask since 2017.
In 2006, Shepherd became a frequent guest co-host on ABC's daytime talk show The View. She became a permanent co-host in 2007, debuting in September, when she replaced Star Jones. After leaving The View in 2014, Shepherd continued to make several appearances on the show as a contributor throughout 2015 and 2016.
Shepherd encountered public criticism after a September 2007 broadcast of The View when she stated she did not "believe in evolution. Period." Co-host Whoopi Goldberg asked her, "Is the world flat?" Shepherd responded, "I don't know," and expanded that she "never thought about it". Shepherd later referred to her statement as a "brain fart" brought on by nerves. Barbara Walters and Shepherd talked after that episode: Walters said, "Dear, the Earth is round", and Shepherd responded with: "Barbara, I know that!"
The View was often filmed "live", with little or no editing, so more criticism erupted after the December 4, 2007, broadcast when, during a discussion initiated by Joy Behar about Epicurus, Shepherd attempted to assert that Christians existed in classical Greece, and that the Greeks threw them to the lions. When confronted on this point, she further claimed that "Jesus came first" (before Greeks and Romans) and stated, "I don't think anything predated Christians", to which Behar responded: "The Jews."
Shepherd garnered further criticism after admitting to never voting partly due to her upbringing as a strict Jehovah's Witness. She was quoted as saying that she just "never knew the dates or anything"; she stated, "I've never voted for anything in my life." In January 2008, Sherri referred to Gospel singer Shirley Caesar as "the black Patti LaBelle." LaBelle, like Caesar, is black.
In 2008, she created more controversy on The View due to "flippant" remarks regarding abortion. She later clarified her position, saying her remarks weren't meant to be "flippant" but rather to inspire other women who may be dealing with guilt after abortions. She cited having multiple abortions herself in her 20s, which caused her to suffer from shame and guilt due to those experiences. She also revealed she later converted to Evangelical Christianity. In 2009, Shepherd won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show Host alongside Behar, Goldberg, Walters, and Elisabeth Hasselbeck.
In March 2012, Shepherd participated as a celebrity contestant on the fourteenth season of ABC's Dancing with the Stars finishing tenth; her dance partner was Val Chmerkovskiy.
In 2019, Shepherd participated in the second season of Fox's The Masked Singer as "Penguin".
From October 2021 to June 2022, Shepherd was among the recurring guest hosts of the syndicated daytime talk show The Wendy Williams Show, as its namesake Wendy Williams had been on an indefinite absence from the program due to her medical issues. On February 22, 2022, the show's distributor Debmar-Mercury announced that Shepherd had been signed on to host a new talk show, Sherri, which premiered in the 2022–23 television season as a replacement for Wendy. The series premiered on September 12. In January 2023, the series was renewed for its second and third seasons through 2025.
