TMZ on TV is broadcast in two formats: the weekday edition is broadcast as a half-hour program; a one-hour weekend edition, composed of select stories featured in each of the weekday editions from the previous week, is also produced; during major holidays occurring on a weekday, that episode may feature a format similar to the weekend edition but featuring a compilation of stories from past editions centered around a particular theme. Unlike most entertainment news programs, TMZ on TV does not use a format of anchors in a studio delivering the stories and correspondents reporting on many of the stories in each edition; instead, most story packages are delivered via an announcer, and "in-studio" segments are taped during a morning staff pitch meeting at TMZ's Jefferson Boulevard headquarters, with some TMZ staffers delivering story pieces themselves. The series delivers most of its stories in a humorous manner, mainly about certain celebrities, and features tongue-in-cheek jokes and double entendres, though more serious entertainment stories – which appear on the program sparingly – often warrant a serious tone. Pieces often feature archived clips from television series and movies often for comedic effect, though they may sometimes be used to reference a project that an entertainer is known for performing in. Many pieces are shown in the "man on the street"-type question and answer format synonymous with paparazzi, though some celebrities do not answer certain questions asked to them by the videographer; a common recurring reference within the program is how certain TMZ videographers sometimes ask extremely trivial or bad questions to their subject. In lieu of regular daily segments such as a rumor mill segment, the program often shows recurring segments that appear over several episodes that feature a humorous or satirical introduction ; however for the first few weeks of the show's run, the series carried a daily segment called "Full Frontal Fashion", featuring celebrity fashion blunders, but it was dropped after roughly one month.
Ben Mankiewicz – former co-host of the Air America/XM radio show The Young Turks; currently hosts weekend daytime film presentations on Turner Classic Movies
Deborah D Greene from Tampa FL currently works in life insurance and hosts a YouTube channel about cats
TMZ was criticized for purchasing stolen items pertaining to the fourth Indiana Jones film. On October 2, 2007, IESB reported that a number of production photos and sensitive documents pertaining to the production budget had been stolen from Steven Spielberg's production office. According to IESB, TMZ.com obtained some of the stolen property and was on the verge of running the story on the TV show until Paramount lawyers stepped in. After IESB broke the story, TMZ on TV broadcast details about the Indiana Jones production budget on the October 3, 2007, program.
Originating in 2009 on the short-lived NBC primetime talk show The Jay Leno Show and used from 2010–2014 on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, comedian Mikey Day performs a sketch called "JMZ"; in it, Day and his "camera crew" track down celebrities, which end up with Day involved in strange situations.
"Weird Al" Yankovic wrote a song in 2011, "TMZ", about the website and TV show on his album Alpocalypse.
A 2016 episode of Inside Amy Schumer titled "Madame President" opens with a parody of TMZ called "AMZ".
A Progressive Insurance commercial did a parody of the show called "Look! Famous People!" in which the photographers all take pictures of spokeswoman Flo doing her grocery shopping, then catch her in a car with a man whom they assume to be her new boyfriend; he is instead a potential customer.
In Canada, TMZ is shown on E!. In Australia it was broadcast on cable/satellite channel Arena until October 2008. It began broadcasting on the digital-only free-to-air channel GO! on August 9, 2009. The show was taken off the airin September 2015 to make way for expansions for children's content. In the Philippines, Jack TV aired the show until the network's closure in April 2020.