The program serves as a straight rundown of news headlines and gossip throughout the entertainment industry, providing coverage of events and celebrities; however, since 2013, it has also placed an even greater emphasis on interviews and insider previews of upcoming film and television projects.

As of 2024[update], the program's weekday broadcasts are anchored by Billy Bush, with the weekend editions co-anchored by Melvin Robert and Mona Kosar Abdi.

The program was developed under the working title Entertainment News Television; however due to claims that it too closely mirrored its own name, cable channel E!

lost the lawsuit in a summary judgment hearing allowing Warner Bros. to continue to use the ENT title for the series, Warner Bros. decided to change the name of the program to Extra: The Entertainment Magazine in May 1994, four months before the series made its debut, with Warner Bros. executives citing that the abbreviated ENT title itself would be too similar to that used by Entertainment Tonight, long shortened officially to just ET, possibly leading to viewer confusion and confusing Nielsen Media Research ratings diary homes which would have seen their panelists writing down the wrong program they watched.

Following Gibbons's departure in 2004, Extra switched to a two-anchor format for the weekday editions with Sugar Ray lead singer/founder Mark McGrath and correspondent Dayna Devon (who was formerly a news anchor/reporter at ABC affiliates KMID and WATN-TV) taking over as presenters.

On July 28, 2008, Telepictures announced that actor Mario Lopez would take over as solo host of the program; Dayna Devon was moved to a correspondent role, while Mark McGrath chose to leave the show and return to his music career.

the program also abandoned its longtime soundstage at Victory Studios in Glendale, California and moved its taping location to The Grove at Farmers Market, a well-known shopping and entertainment venue in Los Angeles.

[3] On August 4, 2011, Telepictures announced that Maria Menounos (who had previously served as a correspondent for rivals Entertainment Tonight and Access Hollywood) would join Extra as Lopez's co-host, as part of an overall deal with Warner Bros./Telepictures that included a role as a contributor for the CW talk show Drew Pinsky's Lifechangers and development of television program projects.

[6] On July 31, 2019, Calloway was terminated from Extra after a number of sexual harassment and assault allegations not involving show staff surfaced (he had previously been suspended earlier in February).