bpatrick

Really nothing new. Jack Paar didn't do a show on Friday nights; that time was filled with a "Best of Paar" rerun. At one time Carson was on only three nights a week; Monday was a guest host and Tuesday a "Best of Carson." He agreed to come back on Tuesday when NBC cut the "Tonight" show to an hour in 1980. It is something of a grind to put a show like "Tonight" together, even more so when it was 90 or even 105 minutes. Carson once explained that doing his nightclub act was like a vacation because he knew exactly what he was going to do. But with a talk show, he said, you never knew if you might have to go out there and fight to "get it moving, get it cooking." Carson also took a day off when he hosted "Who Do You Trust?" and for the same reason. That show aired live Tuesday-Friday at 3:30 PM; Monday's show was taped on Friday night. The show was a talk show disguised as a game show (much like "You Bet Your Life") and here, too, Carson never knew exactly how the show was going to go. Steve Allen, the original "Tonight Show" host, cut back from five nights to three after he began his Sunday-night show that was on against Ed Sullivan. NBC wanted him to concentrate on the Sunday show; Ernie Kovacs hosted two nights a week to probably the biggest audiences he ever had. Ironically, his announcer was Bill Wendell, who announced Letterman's show until his death. Allen gave up the "Tonight Show" altogether in January 1957 and was replaced by what was essentially a nighttime version of the "Today Show" called "Tonight! America After Dark" with host Jack Lescoulie. That show bombed, opening the door for Paar. Sounds like what KABC and KGO do with World News Tonight. They carry the Eastern feed at 3:30 (PT) then the Pacific feed at 6:30. And I believe KNBC does the same thing with NBC Nightly News.

So otherwise nothing changes. Let's Make a Deal airs at either 10 AM or 3 PM (ET), The Price Is Right stays at 11, Y&R is still at 12:30 (ET), 11 or 11:30 everywhere else, B&B at 1:30 (ET). At least that's how it looks. And it seems for now that CBS News' third hour is not going on the full network but rather a few o&os and then also subchannels (like 2-2 where I live). Even WCBS isn't carrying it on its main channel. Things can change, but it looks to me like this is what CBS has in mind.

Here's a problem. GMA3 airs at 1 PM (ET) on ABC and most NBC affiliates air the four hours of the Today show from 7-11 AM (local time) and NBC News Daily at 1 PM But neither ABC nor NBC has The Young and the Restless, which CBS is not going to move out of its midday slot. Furthermore, CBS's new soap The Gates seems to be headed for a 2 PM (ET) slot. So affiliates could air their 9 AM newscasts, run the CBS Morning 3rd Hour at 10, and move Let's Make a Deal to 3, which I don't see happening. And in the Central time zone it's common to have a 9 AM newscast followed by The Price Is Right at 10 and Let's Make a Deal at 2. Where do you put CBS Mornings 3rd Hour? This is never going to go on most affiliates; I remember that, before CBS forced WFMY to carry CBS's Saturday-morning newscast, they handed it off to their subchannel and will do it again with the new daily third hour. CBS's third hour in the morning is intended for the o&os and the subchannels so most of you will not see a change on your CBS affiliate's main channel. To use one of my two local CBS stations, WFMY, as an example: the lineup will still be: 4:30 AM The Good Morning Show (local) 7 AM CBS Mornings 9 AM The Good Morning Show (another hour) 10 AM Let's Make a Deal 11 AM The Price Is Right 12 N News 2 At Noon 12:30 The Young And The Restless 1:30 The Bold And The Beautiful 2 PM The Gates (I'm assuming this will be its timeslot) 3 PM The Good Afternoon Show (local, replaces DBL) 3:30 Daytime Jeopardy!

WFAA is doing a major overhaul of its 2-4 PM lineup come Sept. 9. Good Morning Texas Extra is being replaced by Judge Mathis at 2; Entertainment Tonight and Inside Edition will replace DBL from 3-4. I'm not so sure WFAA is what it was when I lived in Dallas in the '70s; in 1978 the Columbia Journalism Review ranked it and WCCO as the two best local news operations in the country. If that's still true, I'm a monkey's uncle.

WRAL and WISH dropped CBS because the network wanted those stations to pay to carry CBS's programs. WISH went to the CW, but WRAL went back to its original network, NBC, and WNCN became the new CBS affiliate. The CW affiliate in the Triangle is WLFL, owned by Sinclair.

Not so much that people feel that the answer to all television's problems is more news; I'm sure there are people who would like less of it. And all this news does work a strain on a station's news staff, as well as their thinking they should be paid more since they're working longer hours. However, that seems to be management's first impulse when a time slot opens up (Gray, for one, would be happy if its stations junked all syndicated programs and devoted the non-network slots to local news and/or public affairs). And frankly, I don't know where or when it ends. And that's why I think that if NBC gives back 10/9 you'll see its affiliates take the easy way out and move their news from 11/10 to 10/9...where a bunch will get clobbered by established Fox stations' newscasts. But stations can control the costs and are not at the mercy of a syndicator. There is one plus to this, and if you live in the Central or Mountain time zones you've known about it for decades. It's that the 10 PM news is the showpiece newscast, as opposed to the 6 PM one in the Eastern and Pacific time zones. People do like to get the weather at least before they turn in, which they can do an hour sooner than they would on the two coasts. That has been one of the appeals of 10 PM newscasts on Fox stations in the Eastern and Pacific time zones, and there's one Fox station in the Central time zone (Birmingham) that has no problem pulling 60 shares at 9 PM. I'm not any more crazy about more news than any of the rest of you but I know that's every station manager's automatic solution.

Not necessarily, but I suspect that a newscast would be what most stations would opt for. I don't have a Gray station where I live so I can't answer your second question.

Kansas City wouldn't be the only place where the NBC affiliate would have tough sledding against an established Fox station's newscast at 10/9. In my neck of the woods WXII would find it rough going against WGHP; in Atlanta WAGA would crucify WXIA, which can't beat WAGA anytime it seems like; Birmimgham: WBRC would easily beat WVTM, what with its shares consistently hovering around 60; Tampa: WFLA does well against WTVT but that's on an equal footing like 5 and 6 PM; WTVT has an established 10 PM newscast. And I don't feel confident about some of the o&o cities: WNBC would go in as an underdog against WNYW, just as WRC would against WTTG. New York and Washington are two cities where the Fox (formerly Metromedia) stations have had 10 PM newscasts for decades. In short, this is risky business because if the NBC stations do get the time back they are going to start 10 PM newscasts and the odds are not good in a number of markets.

KSHB would be the station that would have to compete with WDAF at 9 PM. I don't know much about Kansas City but from what you say, I don't think Channel 41 would make much of a dent in WDAF's ratings. I said this when this subject came up the first time. There are markets where the Fox station has established newscasts at 10/9 and are not likely to lose audience to an NBC station starting a newscast at that time. WXIA, for example, can't compete with WAGA any other time so what makes anybody think they'll have better luck at 10? WBRC, Fox6 in Birmingham, has shares in the 60 range, and that would be extremely difficult for WVTM at 9 (CT). WFLA in Tampa might find it rough going against WTVT. For all this, however, I have often wondered why ABC, CBS, and NBC don't follow the lead of Fox and the CW and end primetime at 10/9.

As does WCAX (CBS) Burlington, VT-Plattsburgh, NY.

I`m not sure it was the first. but Tom York's Morning Show on WBRC might be in the running, having also started in 1957. Unlike WFMY's show it is no longer on the air, having ended in 1989. If you were looking at the first local morning show, you'd have to go with one that had news but was more or less a comedy show. That was Ernie Kovacs' 3 To Get Ready on WPTZ (now KYW) in Philadelphia. The success of that show prompted Pat Weaver to create the Today show, which wasn't strictly a news program in the Dave Garroway era.

Don't look for her to be on WSB, also a Cox station. WAGA has her in Atlanta and that station is a Fox o&o.

Somebody forgot Texas, the Another World spinoff that tried to capitalize on the Dallas craze in 1980. NBC put it on against General Hospital (then in the Luke and Laura craze) and Guiding Light at 3 PM, and it made few if any inroads against the established hits on ABC and CBS. NBC made another goof when it moved Texas to 11 AM, against The Price Is Right. Texas and The Doctors had their last episodes Dec. 31, 1982. Texas was actually the first soap to debut as an hour show and, yes, it was on NBC. Does anybody realize that only three NBC soaps lasted more than ten years: Days, The Doctors, and Another World? I don't count Search for Tomorrow, because it was on CBS for 31 years but only four on NBC. By contrast, CBS has had eight (Y&R, B&B, Guiding Light, As the World Turns, Edge of Night (19 of its 28 years), Search for Tomorrow (31 of 35 years), Love of Life, and Secret Storm; ABC has had five (GH, One Life to Live, All My Children, Ryan's Hope, and Loving--I don't count Edge of Night because it was on for nine years on ABC).

I wouldn't put money on B&B going to an hour. Brad Bell has been adamant that that's not going to happen, and I think the actors like the half-hour format because, normally, they can rehearse and tape the show in an eight-hour working day rather than the 12-14-hour days common on the hour soaps. 0p-

I can see a CBS newscast at 11 AM outside the Eastern time zone, but there are five stations which run Y&R at 11:30: Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Nashville, and Springfield, MO. Also, KFMB has a local newscast from 11-12:30, delaying Y&R to 1 PM. In the Eastern time zone, you seem to be suggesting that CBS's newscast air at 1 PM, directly opposite GMA3 and NBC News Daily. Do you think people will want three news/public affairs shows head-to-head in the middle of the day? And does Y&R get the boot? Perhaps those five stations that run Y&R at 11:30 expand their midday news (or, in Nashville, "Talk of the Town") to 11-12, then go along with the East Coast with network news at 12 (CT/PT). The question then becomes: what happens to the soaps? It looks to me like B&B is headed for the boneyard sometime in 2025, and the new Black-oriented soap The Gates is still on the drawing boards. Does Y&R go to 2/1? And a few other complications: there are CBS affiliates (WBTV Charlotte and WANF Atlanta among them) that start their news blocks at 3. That doesn't bode well as a potential timeslot for a soap; further, I don't see CBS giving up Let's Make A Deal, which seems to work just fine either at 10 AM or 3 PM. This is a truly complicated situation.

WPGA already dropped ABC one time, objecting to the content of some of the network's programs. I don't know if they'd find Fox to be any better.

I think the idea was to get a jump on All My Children and Days Of Our Lives; for a little over a year in 1980-81 all three soaps were on at 1 (ET). Ryan's Hope was beating Search For Tomorrow (still on CBS), and The Doctors on NBC was past its peak; CBS had to figure that neither was so formidable that they couldn't be taken. As for AMC and Days, well, they were among the most popular soaps, so it was more valuable to CBS to top both of them. By putting Y&R at 12:30, it would be in progress when AMC and Days came on, and its viewers would be less likely to change channels. Having Bold and the Beautiful at 1:30 was the same strategy; AMC and Days would be in progress, and CBS viewers would be less inclined to turn away. One thing I don't understand is why ABC doesn't do a split feed of GMA3. It airs at 1 (ET), noon everywhere else, and ABC affiliates in the earlier time zones have to run their news at 11 AM (WFAA Dallas, for example, was running All My Children at 11, followed by news at noon; GMA3 forced them to move the news to 11 so the network show could air at 12.) The Eastern time zone would still see GMA3 at 1 (like CBS's Eastern affiliates see Y&R at 12:30), but everyone else would have the choice of GMA3 at 11 and news at noon, or vice versa (like Y&R outside the Eastern time zone...11 or 11:30 AM).

In those markets where GL was moved to 10 AM it was getting hammered by General Hospital and had been for years. But there had also been the loss of several popular characters: some longtime fans stopped watching when Maureen Bauer (Ed's wife, if you know the show) was killed off because Procter & Gamble wanted to bring in Buzz Cooper, father of Frank and Harley and who had been MIA in Vietnam for years. (A focus group had told P&G that they didn't care either way if Maureen (Ellen Parker) was let go.) Then Michael Zaslow, who played Roger Thorpe, died in real life and his replacement lasted about a month. Finally Jerry ver Dorn (Ross Marler) walked in one morning and was handed his pink slip. Losing popular characters like these didn't help; fortunately the show didn't write out Josh and Reva. My own take on all this is that, after 72 years on radio and television, GL was out of stories. I don't doubt they'll get another year. However, if I were a CBS affiliate manager, I wouldn't dare drop either show but I'd be praying for the day I could expand my noon newscast to an hour and go head-to-head with the ABC, NBC, or even Fox affiliates from 12-1. I know, there are a few stations doing it (WLKY, KOTV, to name two) but right now I don't think many stations want to mess up viewing habits in the middle of the day.

I never watch soaps unless I'm somewhere where a TV is on. I was in such a place at lunchtime one day last week, and Y&R was on. I'm almost shocked at how Peter Bergman and Melody Thomas Scott have aged, and--along with Eric Braeden--they could be considered the stars of the show. Braeden says his cancer is in remission, but he's in his 80s so how many years does he have left? Over at B&B Katharine Kelly Lang definitely looks 63. And these people are identified with their respective shows! It makes me wonder just what will happen when they go--just like I wonder what will happen to Wheel of Fortune when Vanna goes. As for Drew, not only does he acknowledge that Bob Barker had TPIR before him, he'll even mention the host who had it even before that--Bill Cullen. I don't recall but once when Barker acknowledged Cullen at all, and that was when Cullen appeared to promote his short-lived game show Child's Play.

There is one station that airs "Y&R" at 4: WLKY Louisville. And I don't look for them to move it, because its 5 PM newscast is number one in the timeslot.

Except for WLS, where Oprah's show originated and aired live at 9 AM, stations were not allowed to air her in the morning. The most common time for her show was 4 PM (local time), although there were some stations that aired her at 5 as lead-in to the news and some, like KABC, that had her at 3, before the 4 PM news. Now as to whether Kelly and Mark should be on in the afternoons: I can remember, back in the '70s, when Mike Douglas was considered better suited for the morning and Merv Griffin for the afternoon. That did not deter stations from reversing that; Mike dominated 4:30-6 PM in Atlanta and Jacksonville for years, and Merv did likewise in the mornings in Birmingham until then-ABC affiliate WBRC started carrying "Good Morning America" (Merv had been on at 8 AM). So I don't know about this "such-and-such a show is a morning show (or an afternoon show)." I don't know what difference it makes if Kelly and Mark are on at 9 AM or 3 PM with one exception: For CBS affiliates to put "Y&R" at 3 would be a gamble. CBS affiliates, particularly in the Eastern time zone (like Fort Wayne), tend to dominate at noon; their noon newscasts are bracketed by "The Price Is Right" at 11 and "Y&R" at 12:30. ABC and NBC affiliates are probably in a better position to run Kelly and Mark in the afternoons...not that I think any of them are going to.

WESH also carries Live at 9 AM, with the third and fourth hours of Today at 10 and 11 AM respectively. WESH is also a Hearst station.

I don't recall GL airing in Atlanta at 10 AM; in fact, I recall only two stations south of the Mason-Dixon line airing the venerable soap in the morning; WFOR and WKMG. As for LMAD, I see WKMG has moved it back to 10 AM.

Do you mean that ET is moving from WXYZ to WJBK? It's been on WXYZ at 7:30 for as long as I can remember.