Dumb Daytime Moves--NBC Daytime since 1993

Since 1993, NBC has had the shortest daytime schedule of any of the three networks (ABC, CBS, NBC).  Part of the reason has been the more lucrative syndicated program which had truly emerged since the start of the decade (I'm referring to the 90's here).  Not counting the "Today Show," NBC currently has only ONE HOUR of daytime programming, "Days of our Lives."  How has the once-mighty NBC daytime lineup fallen so low?  Well, let's find out.

On January 18, 1993, NBC's schedule looked something...like this.

• 7:00 a.m.-9:00 a.m.--The Today Show
• 11:00 a.m.-11:30 a.m.--Classic Concentration reruns (hosted by Alex Trebek)
• 11:30 a.m.-12:00 noon--A Closer Look (news/talk show hosted by Faith Daniels)
• 12:00 noon-12:30 p.m.--Scrabble (game show hosted by Chuck Woolery)
• 12:30 p.m.-1:00 p.m.--Scattergories (game show hosted by Dick Clark)
• 1:00 p.m.-2:00 p.m.--Days of our Lives (soap opera)
• 2:00 p.m.-3:00 p.m.--Another World (soap opera)

On March 22, "A Closer Look" was replaced by "Family Secrets" (I mentioned this show in a previous show).  On June 11, "Secrets," "Scrabble," and "Scattergories" were all canceled, replaced by "John and Leeza from Hollywood" (a talk show hosted by John Tesh and Leeza Gibbons) at 11:00 a.m., "Classic Concentration" moving to 12:00 noon, and "Caesars Challenge" debuting at 12:30 p.m.  This lineup lasted until New Years Eve, 1993.  The next two weeks of a full hour of "Caesars Challenge" (a rerun followed by a new episode) until that show was canceled on January 14, 1994.

On January 17, 1994, the re-titled "Leeza" now aired at 10:00 a.m., and the new "Jane Whitney Show" aired at 11:00 a.m.  This lasted until October 7, when Jane Whitney was replaced by "The Other Side."  "The Other Side" lasted until October 13, 1995, when it was soon replaced by reruns of "Leeza."  The reruns lasted until March 1, 1996, and the 10:00 a.m. hour of programming disappeared for over a decade.

On January 6, 1997, "Sunset Beach", a soap opera produced by Aaron Spelling (yes, THAT one), debuted at 12:00 noon (with some markets either airing the show at a different timeslot, on different stations, or not at all).  The NBC schedule would remain the same for over two years until "Another World" was canceled on June 25, 1999.  On July 5, the soap opera "Passions" replaced AW at 2:00 p.m. (as mentioned before, some markets aired the show at different timeslots, different stations, or not at all).  "Leeza" was finally canceled on September 3, and on September 13, the ill-fated "Later Today" debuted at 9:00 a.m. (thought some stations delayed it by an hour or two).  Then on October 2, 2000, "Later Today" permanently became the third hour of the full "Today" show.  This schedule would remain the same until September 7, 2007, when "Passions" left the network (and would air on DirectTV for another year or so), and the 2:00 hour was given to local affiliates.

However...(brace for it)...at 10:00 a.m., a FOURTH hour of "Today" was added to the schedule on September 10.  I'm sure many viewers thought that even the third hour of "Today" was too much.

And now you see how much the once-mighty NBC has crashed and burned.

Somewhat Dumb Daytime Moves--NBC's game shows from 1991 to 1994

As I mentioned back in my "Wheel of Fortune (Post-Sajak)" entry, on September 20, 1991, NBC cleared the last of its game shows ("Wheel of Fortune" and "Classic Concentration") from its schedule.  However, one month later, on October 28, "Classic Concentration" returned...in rerun form, that is.  In my honest opinion, if NBC really wanted to have the show on the air, they should have made new episodes instead or rerunning shows from 1987.

For over a year, this was the only game show on NBC, but that changed on January 18, 1993, with the debut of two new game shows on the schedule--"Scrabble", a revival of the 1984-1990 series hosted by Chuck Woolery, and "Scattergories," based on the board game of the same name, hosted by Dick Clark.  Both of these shows were okay, however they had a number of problems, which I will mention for each show individually.

Scrabble

• The show's new set was smaller, as well as cheaper.  Instead of the octagonal stoppers displays from the original series, we now had three horizontal lights stacked on top of each other.  Also, the "Scrabble Cube" didn't rotate as the previous version did, with all of the gameplay action (both main game and Sprint rounds) being played on the central monitor.
• The Pink and Blue Bonus Squares were back, but instead of directly winning the money after guessing the word, the money which represented that particular square ($500--Blue, $1000--Pink) was added to the Bonus Sprint Jackpot, which started at $1,000.  This, by the way, was the only way money was added to the jackpot.
• Despite this, this version of "Scrabble" had the highest Bonus Sprint jackpot in the show's history--$20,500 (which wasn't bad money for 1993).

Scattergories 

• The five guest celebrities only appeared on prerecorded video from either various locations (mainly either Los Angeles or New York).  They never appeared live in the studio.
• The jackpot for the bonus round was $4,000.  Yes, you read that right.  FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS.  Now, for those of you that fell asleep during economics class, $4,000 in 1993 buys a lot less than it did in 1973.  However, the show did add $1,000 for each day it was not won, but still!!

As you've noticed by both of those shows, the main problem was that they were CHEAP.  Then again, I've heard that they were mainly placeholders until Leeza Gibbons' talk show would debut on the network, so NBC probably didn't really give a damn.

Two more game shows debuted in 1993 on NBC, but not at the same time.  The first was "Family Secrets," hosted by Bob Eubanks, which debuted on March 22, 1993.  The show, which was taped at the then-Disney-MGM Studios at Walt Disney World, was a show that I have to admit, I never actually watched when it first came on, and there was also a controversial moment coming from the show.  According to the "Television Game Show Hosts: Biographies on 32 Stars" book written by David Baber, one team competing on the show turned out to not be a real family.  It was actually a father, his daughter, and his girlfriend posing as the girl's mother.  The team won $6,000 in prizes, but when the real girl's mother discovered the deception, the show was pulled from the airways and replaced with a rerun.  In a major irony, the father and his girlfriend married on June 11, 1993, the same day "Family Secrets" went off the air.  June 11th was also the day that "Scrabble" and "Scattergories" were canceled as well.

The other new 1993 game was "Caesars Challenge," emanating from Caesars Palace in fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada.  Debuting on June 14, 1993, the show was hosted by then-NBC sportscaster Ahmad Rashad (also then-husband of Phylicia Rashad), and featured a male model dressed in Roman attire (regularly Dan Doherty) serving as assistant.  "Caesars Challenge" was known for its giant slot machine which displayed up to nine letters for the scrambled-up words, plus the incredible rapport between Rashad and Doherty.  "Challenge" lasted until January 14, 1994, when it became the last daytime game show (besides "The Price is Right") to air for 15 years.  During that time, "Classic Concentration" went off the air on New Years Eve, 1993.

Although I enjoyed "Caesars Challenge", the one problem I had with it was in its early episodes, contestants bought merchandise with their cash earnings, like the older episodes of "Wheel of Fortune".  However, unlike "Wheel," in which the prizes were of a decent amount, the prizes on "Caesars Challenge" consisted of more high-end prizes (close to the $10,000 range), which means that they could only get one prize.  This later changed to a more suitable prize package that valued the amount of money that they earned during the game.  Also, of the two bonus games the show had, I kinda liked the first one a little better.

I also have to say this.  For some stupid, stubborn reason, NBC has refused to air or relinquish the rights to "Classic Concentration" since 1993.  They also hold the rights of the Jack Narz syndicated version of "Concentration" (they leased the format to Goodson-Todman Productions, and later Mark Goodson Productions, during that time).  And you wonder why NBC's daytime schedule has been under rock bottom for so long...

Dumb Daytime Moves--Wheel of Fortune (post-Sajak)

For those of you that don't remember, or for those that just don't know, "Wheel of Fortune" actually made its debut in the daytime...on NBC to be exact.  Monday, January 6, 1975, 10:30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time.  The show debuted during the Bolen era of NBC daytime, and was the only new show that debuted during that time to last for more than three years.  In fact, it lasted for over 16 years overall on daytime television.  I say sixteen years overall because...well, we'll get to that later.

The show was originally hosted by Chuck Woolery (making his game show host debut), and turning the letters (remember, this was 1975) was Susan Stafford.  Woolery remained the show's host until December 25, 1981, when he left the show due to a salary dispute. (Merry Christmas, Chuck!!)  His replacement?  Some little-known weatherman named Pat Sajak.

It should also be pointed out that Sajak's early months as host of "Wheel" was at a time when the show was the ONLY game show on NBC's daytime lineup (look up my "Texas" post to see what I mean).  Susan Stafford, who had been with the show from day one, left on October 22, 1982 to move on with her career.  On-air auditions were held over the next several weeks, former Miss USA Summer Bartholomew (who would later go on to be co-host of "Sale of the Century" from December 31, 1984 to March 24, 1989), former Playboy playmate Vicki McCarthy, and Price is Right First Four Breakfast Club member Vanna White.  Guess who ended up getting the job on December 13, 1982?

As you all know, the went into syndication in 1983, and despite a slow start (with only a few stations airing the show), it soon skyrocketed and became the #1 syndicated show on television.  The success of the nighttime "Wheel" allowed the daytime "Wheel" to remain on NBC for an extended period.

But now we're getting into what you really wanted to see in this particular blog entry.  In 1988, CBS was planning a late night talk show in another attempt to challenge Johnny Carson's "Tonight Show" in the ratings.  Their choice to host the show?  Pat Sajak.  Sajak's last "Wheel" aired on January 9, 1989 (I think it was preempted due to some news story), and the big question was who would replace him as host the following day?  Well, fasten your seat belts, folks, because it's going to be a bumpy ride.

Taking over as host was Rolf Benirschke, a former kicker for the San Diego Chargers best known for kicking the game-winning field goal in the famous playoff game against the Miami Dolphins on January 2, 1982, and surviving ulcerative colitis.  However, from day one, viewers knew that Merv Griffin might have made a mistake in hiring the former football player.

Here were the problems with Benirschke's run as host.

• Rolf had ZERO television experience prior to his stint on "Wheel."
• Rolf had never seen a complete episode of "Wheel" prior to his stint on the show.  This would be proven when, in one episode, two players tied at the end of the game.  Rolf stared into the camera and admitted to the world that he had no idea what to do at that point. (for those that are wondering what would happen if a game ends in a tie on the daytime version, there is no bonus game, and all three players come back on the next show to continue from where they left off)

Although #6 would improve as his time on "Wheel" went on, the ratings still went down.  By 1989, game shows on daytime television were in decline.  "Sale of the Century" and "Super Password" had been canceled earlier in the year, and the odds were that "Wheel" would soon bite the dust as well.  Well...it would happen.  "Wheel" was canceled after its June 30, 1989 broadcast, and that was the end of daytime "Wheel".

But not for long...

CBS brought back "Wheel" for its daytime schedule on July 17, 1989, airing at 10:30 a.m. (between "Family Feud" and "The Price is Right.")  The show was now hosted by Bob Goen, who had hosted "Blackout" for the network one year earlier (and had shaven off that hideous mustache that he had during his early hosting career), and a significant improvement over Benirschke.  Shopping, which had been a staple of daytime "Wheel" since the beginning (and the nighttime version until 1987), had been eliminated, and unfortunately, the Wheel was significantly cheapened, with $50 and $75 spaces, and the top value being only $500 for rounds 1 & 2, $1000 for round 3, and $1250 for round 4 and afterwards.  Prizes were added to the Wheel, and the bonus round now had a $5000 cash prize (which, in this blogger's opinion, should have been an accumulating jackpot) in addition to several other bonus prizes.  I think the main reason the show was cheapened was due to CBS's winning limits of $75,000, with players being allowed to keep up to $100,000 (unlike NBC, which had no winnings limits whatsoever).

"Wheel" only lasted 18 months on CBS, before it returned to NBC on January 14, 1991.  Despite being back on the peacock network, the show still taped at Television City (Studio 33, to be exact), and still had the cheapened wheel (although the $50 and $75 spots were gone by this time).  The show lasted until September 20, 1991, when the network cleared the last of its game shows from the schedule (Classic Concentration would return a month later with reruns for the next two years.  I'll get to that one later.).


And as for Sajak's talk show?  That only lasted about a year before it was canceled.  But don't worry, he still did (and is still doing) the nighttime version of "Wheel."

Dumb Daytime Moves--CBS Morning News

CBS has never been too successful with its early morning programs, even though ABC was the last of the "three networks" to join in the fray.  The Eye network's first morning show, "The Morning Show," began on March 15, 1954, hosted by Walter Cronkite (yes, THAT one), and ran for two hours (like "The Today Show" on NBC).  It was cut back to one hour (7-8) on October 3, 1955, to make room for a little kids' show called "Captain Kangaroo," and on February 27, 1956, the show was retitled "Good Mornin'," but the show was still beaten soundly by "Today."  It was canceled on April 5, 1957.  CBS would not attempt an early morning show again until 1965.

On August 16, 1965, the CBS Morning News (which had debuted at 10:00 a.m. on September 2, 1963) aired for 25 minutes from 7:05 a.m. to 7:30 a.m.  It expanded to a full hour from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. on March 31, 1969, and remained at that length for over a decade.  In January of 1979, it was retitled "Morning," and used the format of its "CBS Sunday Morning" show.  On September 25, 1981, the show expanded to 90 minutes (7:30 a.m.-9:00 a.m., and to two hours (7-9) on January 18, 1982.  Despite numerous changes to the show, it never topped "Today."

But the worst occurred on January 12, 1987, when it was transferred from the News to the entertainment division, and became "The Morning Program."  It shrunk back to 90 minutes (7:30 a.m.-9:00 a.m.), and was how hosted by Rolland Smith and Mariette Hartley, with Mark McEwan at weather, and comedian Bob Saget doing comedy bits (this was shortly before he started doing "Full House").  "The Morning Program" soon became the joke of the industry, bring the show its lowest ratings in five years.  In fact, ratings were SO bad, that one long-time producer said...

"Everyone thought we had the lowest ratings you could have in the morning.  The Morning Program proved us wrong."

On November 30, 1987, it was transferred back to the news division, and became "CBS This Morning," now back at two hours from seven to nine, and hosted by Harry Smith (no relation to Rolland) and Kathleen Sullivan.  The show still stayed at the bottom of the morning ratings, to the point where several stations dropped the program and replaced it with their own local morning newscast.

On November 1, 1999, the show became "The Early Show", now hosted by Bryant Gumbel (formerly of "The Today Show") and newcomer Jane Clayson, but the show was STILL in third place.  Even with all the changes to the show, it seems that CBS will be forever destined to have the lowest-rated morning show on the networks.

Dumb Daytime Moves--Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara has the distinction as being the last show NBC aired in its 3:00 p.m. timeslot, which was once hot (as it was the long-time home of "Another World" during the 70s and 80s), but quickly turned cold (as "General Hospital" started dominating the hour with the "Luke and Laura" storyline).  It lasted from July 30, 1984 to January 15, 1993.

Despite being near the bottom of the ratings throughout its run, the show did win three consecutive Daytime Emmys for Outstanding Drama Series (1988, 1989, 1990).  The first of these happened in the same year the show's creators, Jerome and Bridget Dobson, were fired by NBC.  Though the two were eventually allowed to return to the show a few years later, it was never the same afterwards.

By the early 1990s, many stations either moved the show to early morning timeslots (WNBC-TV in particular aired it at 12:00 noon) or just outright canceled it altogether.  Its final shot (that of the show's final Executive Producer, Paul Rauch, crushing his cigar on a bare soundstage and walking away) has earned major scorn from soap critics.

Dumb Daytime Moves--Loving

Created by Agnes Nixon (responsible for such ABC soaps as "One Life to Live" and "All My Children"), Loving lasted for over a decade, despite its low ratings and low critical acclaim.  Initially airing as a TV movie on June 26, 1983, which featured big stars such as Lloyd Bridges and Geraldine Page, the soap proper began on June 27, 1983, at 11:30 a.m., up against "The Price is Right" on CBS.  I mentioned during the "Texas" post that soap operas almost never succeed in the mornings.  I should also point out that before then, ABC aired reruns of "The Love Boat" for three years (except for a three-month period in the Summer of 1981 where they aired back-to-back reruns of "Three's Company") at the 11:00 hour.  I may talk about ABC's success (or lack throughout the 80s and the early 90s) during the 11:00 hour in a future post.

Anyways, "Loving" lasted only one year at 11:30 a.m., moving to 12:30 p.m. on October 8, 1984.  This time, the soap was against "The Young and the Restless," which had pretty much been a powerhouse on CBS from day one (March 26, 1973).  ABC must have had faith in the show, since it bumped "Ryan's Hope" (which had been at 12:30 for over 7 years) back to 12:00 noon and gave the 12:30 slot to "Loving."  Still, the show was either near or at the bottom of the ratings during its entire run.  Changes in writing staff, changes in producers, nothing really worked.  Perhaps the show's best storyline occurred as the show was being canceled...the Corinth serial killer...

This is the sound of trouble. The kind that caresses lives, even as it steals them away. That delicately unravels the fabric of entire towns like Corinth, Pennsylvania. When the trouble comes, it will sound like this. And Loving, will never be the same again. Trouble, with a capital 'L.' Figure it out.

"Loving" ended on November 10, 1995, replaced the following Monday by a 'sequel' series, "The City," which starred Morgan Fairchild.  Like "Loving" before it, "The City" spent most of its run at rock bottom, and was ultimately canceled on March 20, 1997 (Fairchild had left the show before then).

I will say this about "Loving," though.  It did have higher ratings in its first year than "Edge of Night" and "Search for Tomorrow" (then again, those shows were on life support), and it also outdrew "Santa Barbara" when that particular show debuted in 1984 (I'll be getting to Santa Barbara soon enough).  It didn't officially hit rock bottom until the 1990s, after "Ryan's Hope" had been canceled, and NBC's "Generations" (which ran against Loving) had come and gone.  I did like the last theme song of the show, though, and that's about all the praise I'm going to give it now.

Dumb Daytime Moves--Death Slots

Whenever a network moves a show to either 12:00 noon or 4:00 p.m., chances are the show's days are numbered.  The reason a show at 12:00 noon has little-to-no chance of succeeding, at least since the 1970s, is that most stations air newscasts at that time.  And at the 4:00 timeslot, most stations, especially by the 1980s, would air more lucrative syndicated programming instead (whether it be reruns, a talk show, etcetera).  Whenever a show was preempted, it would either air at a different time slot, air on a different station altogether, or not air on a station in that particular market at all.  This would especially be true as the years went on.

Here's a list of shows that have aired at the 12:00 noon and 4:00 p.m. timeslots since 1970.

ABC (12:00 noon-12:30 p.m.)

• The Best of Everything (soap opera; March 30, 1970-September 25, 1970)
• That Girl (sitcom reruns; September 28, 1970-March 17, 1972)
• Password/Password All-Stars (game show hosted by Allen Ludden; March 20, 1972-June 27, 1975)
• Showoffs (game show hosted by Bobby Van; June 30, 1975-December 26, 1975)
• Let's Make a Deal (game show hosted by Monty Hall; December 29, 1975-July 9, 1976)
• Hot Seat (game show hosted by Jim Peck; July 12, 1976-October 22, 1976)
• The Don Ho Show (talk show; October 25, 1976-March 4, 1977)
• Second Chance (game show hosted by Jim Peck; March 7, 1977-July 15, 1977)
• The Better Sex (game show hosted by Bill Anderson and Sarah Purcell; July 18, 1977-January 13, 1978)
• The $20,000 Pyramid (game show hosted by Dick Clark; January 16, 1978-June 27, 1980)
• Family Feud (game show hosted by Richard Dawson; June 30, 1980-October 5, 1984)
• Ryan's Hope (soap opera; October 8, 1984-January 13, 1989)
• Growing Pains (sitcom reruns; January 16, 1989-August 25, 1989)
• Perfect Strangers (sitcom reruns; August 28, 1989-July 13, 1990)
• Match Game (game show hosted by Ross Schafer; July 16, 1990-July 12, 1991)
• The Home Show (talk show which began at 11:00 a.m.; July 15, 1991-September 18, 1992)
• Local Programming (since September 21, 1992)

ABC (4:00 p.m.-4:30 p.m.)

• Dark Shadows (soap opera; July 15, 1968-April 2, 1971)
• Password (game show hosted by Allen Ludden; April 5, 1971-September 3, 1971)
• Love, American Style (comedy reruns; September 6, 1971-May 3, 1974)
• The $10,000 Pyramid (game show hosted by Dick Clark; May 6, 1974-December 20, 1974)
• The Money Maze (game show hosted by Nick Clooney {father of George}; December 23, 1974-July 4, 1975)
• You Don't Say (game show hosted by Tom Kennedy; July 7, 1975-November 28, 1975)
• The Edge of Night (soap opera: December 1, 1975-December 28, 1974)
• Local Programming (since December 31, 1984)

CBS (12:00 noon-12:30 p.m.)

• Where the Heart Is (soap opera; September 8, 1969-March 23, 1973)
• The Young and the Restless (soap opera; March 26, 1973-February 1, 1980)
• Local Programming (since February 4, 1980)

CBS (4:00 p.m.-4:30 p.m.)

• Gomer Pyle, USMC (sitcom reruns; September 8, 1969-March 24, 1972)
• Amateur's Guide to Love (game show hosted by Gene Rayburn; March 27, 1972-June 23, 1972)
• Unknown, but probably Local Programming (June 26, 1972-September 1, 1972)
• Family Affair (sitcom reruns; September 4, 1972-January 12, 1973)
• The Vin Scully Show (talk show; January 15, 1973-March 23, 1973)
• The Secret Storm (soap opera; March 26, 1973-February 8, 1974)
• Local Programming (week of February 11, 1974)
• Tattletales (game show hosted by Bert Convy; February 15, 1974-June 13, 1975, December 1, 1975-December 16, 1977, and January 18, 1982-June 1, 1984)
• Musical Chairs (game show hosted by Adam Wade {first African-American host of a national game show}; June 16, 1975-October 31, 1975)
• Give-n-Take (game show hosted by Jim Lange; November 3, 1975-November 28, 1975)
• Match Game (game show hosted by Gene Rayburn; December 19, 1977-April 20, 1979)
• Love of Life (soap opera; April 23, 1979-February 1, 1980)
• One Day at a Time (sitcom reruns; February 4, 1980-September 25, 1981)
• Up to the Minute (news show; September 28, 1981-January 15, 1982)
• Body Language (game show hosted by Tom Kennedy; June 4, 1984-January 3, 1986)
• Press Your Luck (game show hosted by Peter Tomarken; January 6, 1986-September 26, 1986)
• Local Programming (since September 29, 1986)

NBC (12:00 noon-12:30 p.m.)

• Jeopardy! (game show hosted by Art Fleming; September 27, 1965-January 4, 1974)
• Jackpot (game show hosted by Geoff Edwards; January 7, 1974-July 4, 1975)
• The Magnificent Marble Machine (game show hosted by Art James; July 7, 1975-November 28, 1975 and January 19, 1976-June 11, 1976)
• High Rollers (game show hosted by Alex Trebek; December 1, 1975-January 16, 1976)
• The Fun Factory (game show hosted by Bobby Van; June 14, 1976-October 1, 1976)
• 50 Grand Slam (game show hosted by Tom Kennedy; October 4, 1976-December 31, 1976)
• Name That Tune (game show hosted by Tom Kennedy; January 3, 1977-June 10, 1977)
• Shoot for the Stars (game show hosted by Geoff Edwards; June 13, 1977-September 30, 1977)
• To Say the Least (game show hosted by Tom Kennedy; October 3, 1977-April 21, 1978)
• Sanford and Son (sitcom reruns; April 24, 1978-July 21, 1978)
• America Alive (60-minute talk show hosted by Jack Linkletter; July 24, 1978-January 5, 1979)
• The All-New Jeopardy! (game show hosted by Art Fleming; January 8, 1979-March 2, 1979)
• Password Plus (game show hosted by Allen Ludden {1979} and Tom Kennedy {1981-1982}; March 5, 1979-August 10, 1979 and October 26, 1981-March 26, 1982)
• Mindreaders (game show hosted by Dick Martin; August 13, 1979-January 11, 1980)
• Chain Reaction (game show hosted by Bill Cullen; January 14, 1980-June 20, 1980)
• Card Sharks (game show hosted by Jim Perry; June 23, 1980-October 23, 1981)
• The Doctors (soap opera; March 29, 1982-December 31, 1982)
• Just Men (game show hosted by Betty White; January 3, 1983-April 1, 1983)
• The New Battlestars (game show hosted by Alex Trebek; April 4, 1983-July 1, 1983)
• The Facts of Life (sitcom reruns; July 4, 1983-September 30, 1983)
• Go (game show hosted by Kevin O'Connell; October 3, 1983-January 20, 1984)
• Hot Potato (game show hosted by Bill Cullen; January 23, 1984-June 29, 1984)
• Diff'rent Strokes (sitcom reruns; July 2, 1984-September 21, 1984)
• Super Password (game show hosted by Bert Convy; September 24, 1984-March 24, 1989)
• Local Programming (March 27, 1989-January 15, 1993, January 17, 1994-January 3, 1997, and since January 3, 2000)
• Scrabble (game show hosted by Chuck Woolery; January 18, 1993-June 11, 1993)
• Classic Concentration (reruns of game show hosted by Alex Trebek; June 14, 1993-December 31, 1993)
• Caesars Challenge (reruns of game show hosted by Ahmad Rashad; January 3, 1994-January 14, 1994)
• Sunset Beach (soap opera; January 6, 1997-December 31, 1999)

NBC (4:00 p.m.-4:30 p.m.)

• Somerset (soap opera; March 30, 1970-December 31, 1976)
• The Gong Show (game show hosted by Chuck Barris; January 3, 1977-December 2, 1977)
• Local Programming (since December 5, 1977)

As you can clearly see, with a few exceptions, if a show is put into any of these slots, it's going to end up being canceled within less than a year.  I might talk about some of these shows in the near future.

Dumb Daytime Moves--The Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour

"The Match Game" and "The Hollywood Squares" were two of the most popular game shows in the 1960s and 70s.  Both of them featured celebrities and both of them were well-known for their comedic answers.  In 1983, NBC decided to marry these two shows together for a one-hour show.

That show has the distinction of being one of the worst game shows in television history.  And here's why.

The first problem was the hosts.  Now, I have nothing against Gene Rayburn, who has been known as one of the most talented individuals in show business (besides his game show hosting, he was also the original announcer of "The Tonight Show" hosted by Steve Allen).  The main host problem was with Jon Bauman, also known as "Bowzer" of Sha Na Na.  The fact is, he had never hosted a game show before (although he was also hosting "The Pop and Rocker Game" around this time, a musical game show that he was probably more suited for), and he...was awful, let me put it at that.  I think you can mention him in the same sentence as Patrick Wayne, Rossi Morreale, and Rolf Benirschke (I'll get to the last one later).

It's been said that Gene didn't like working with Bauman during the show, and, according to legendary announcer Gene Wood, Rayburn was "dragged kicking and screaming into the hour."  I should also point out that the show replaced "Fantasy" (debuted on September 13, 1982), an audience participation show hosted by Peter Marshall (the Master of the Hollywood Squares), which makes me think...if they were canceling "Fantasy," why didn't they just ask Peter to co-host the show along with Gene?  Or maybe even better, why didn't Gene just host the entire show himself?

The other problem with the show was with the "Hollywood Squares" segment.  Besides Bowzer hosting it, all of the questions were multiple choice, and the celebrities were not supplied with "zingers".  Also, players could win "by default," meaning that if one player was going for a block, and they made an incorrect judgment, the opponent would automatically win (in the more normal versions of Squares, a player could not win the game on an opponent's mistake, they would have to earn the square him/herself).

Now, there were two good points to the show.  One, it had a large video board which showed the show's logo, displayed the names of the stars (as well as the hosts), as well as showing the amount of money the winner played for in the Super Match (up to $30,000).  The other was its theme song, which can still be heard today as a car theme for "The Price is Right."

I will say this--this was the worst revival of "Hollywood Squares" ever (they got better as the years went on), but not the worst revival of "Match Game" (you'd have to wait until 1998 to see that; I might be covering that in a future entry).  But that's just my opinion.  The show debuted on Halloween, 1983, and lasted until July 27, 1984.  If you want to see it for yourself, check out a few episodes on YouTube, because that's the only way you'll see this show (unless you taped the episodes back in the way), due to the cross-ownership (the show was produced by Mark Goodson Productions and Orion Television {the then-owners of Hollywood Squares}), and possibly due to the aforementioned Rayburn not liking Bauman.

Dumb Daytime Moves--Texas

Although not too many people have heard of "Texas," it is historic for a number of reasons.

• It was the first American soap opera to be an hour show from its inception (as opposed to previous soaps that had expanded to a full hour from a shorter length).
• It was one of the rare soap spin-offs (in this case, "Texas" spun off from "Another World". {This was actually the second soap to spin off from AW, the first being "Somerset".})
• It was one of the rare soap operas to credit an actor in its opening title sequence. (in this case, Beverlee McKinsey)

Despite all this, the show flopped.  Big time.

The first problem with the show was Beverlee McKinsey as Iris Carrington (obviously, no relation to the Carrington family of "Dynasty").  Now, on AW, her character was known for being a villainess, but on "Texas," critics say that she had become too tame.  Another problem was that many other roles were poorly cast or suffered from poor writing.  One of the biggest mistakes the series made was luring "General Hospital" star Kin Shriner to the show at great expense...only to give him almost nothing to do until he eventually left.

It also didn't help that at the time, "Texas" was up against ABC's "General Hospital," in which the Luke and Laura storyline was in full steam.  In fact, the wedding of Lucas Spencer and Laura Webber occurred on November 16, 1981, making it the highest-rated hour in soap opera history.  "Guiding Light" on CBS was also in a revival around that time as well.

On April 26, 1982, the show moved from 3:00 p.m. to 11:00 a.m., in a desperate attempt to raise the ratings.  I should point out that by this time, Brandon Tartikoff (the man who would save NBC) taken over the head of the network job from Silverman.  Anyways, there were two major problems with this move...

• Soap operas almost never succeed in the morning time slots. (despite the fact that CBS's "Love of Life" lasted for a decade at 11:30 a.m., its ratings were mainly lukewarm during this time)
• "The Price is Right" was on CBS.  Enough said.

The show was eventually canceled on New Year's Eve, 1982, after 2 years and 4 months on the air.  Thankfully, NBC never tried any more soaps in the morning afterwards (although another network would air a soap in the mornings for about a year or so {I might get to that later}).

Dumb Daytime Moves--Black Friday, 1980 and David Letterman

Oh, boy...

Game show fans know what I'm going to be talking about next.

The year is 1980.

NBC is last in the ratings.  I would have said "dead last," but even that's saying too much.

Its morning and early afternoon lineup consists of six game shows of varying popularity...

• 10:00 a.m.--Card Sharks (hosted by Jim Perry; debuted April 24, 1978)
• 10:30 a.m.--The Hollywood Squares (hosted by Peter Marshall; debuted October 17, 1966)
• 11:00 a.m.--High Rollers (hosted by Alex Trebek; debuted April 24, 1978)
• 11:30 a.m.--Wheel of Fortune (hosted by Chuck Woolery and Susan Stafford; debuted January 6, 1975)
• 12:00 noon--Chain Reaction (hosted by Bill Cullen; debuted January 14, 1980)
• 12:30 p.m.--Password Plus (hosted by Allen Ludden; debuted January 8, 1979)

In June of 1980, NBC made the decision to cancel three of these shows to make room for a new talk show hosted by David Letterman.  Let's look at each of the shows that were axed on June 20, 1980. (what would have made it worse was if they were axed a week earlier)

The Hollywood Squares
Perhaps the flagship game show of NBC at the time, Hollywood Squares' decline started in October of 1976, when it was moved from its long-time time slot of 11:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., up against "The Price is Right."  But it really started going downhill after it moved to 1:00 p.m. (up against "All My Chlidren"), with some stations preempting it for newscasts or other syndicated programming.  More moves to 12:30 p.m. (in March of '79), and back to 10:30 a.m. (in August of '79), plus the departure of Paul Lynde in 1979 ultimately sealed the show's fate.  The show, which was still popular in its weekly syndicated version, would expand to five days a week, and move to Las Vegas (I'll probably get back to this later), which would end up being its last season, ending its long run in 1981.

High Rollers
If I was running NBC back then, I would not have canceled this show...at least not on Black Friday.  Like "Card Sharks", which debuted on the same day, it allowed players to win a fortune in cash and prizes by luck.  In this case, the roll of the dice determined a player's destiny, and champions could end up winning over $30,000 in a single game.  Of course, by the end of this run, the prizes started to get a bit strange, including the infamous $10,000 fishbowl in the show's finale (whether or not Alex Trebek is intoxicated, I'll let you be the judge of that).  Speaking of Trebek, he would not have a regular hosting job for another year (in which he got two--"Battlestars" for NBC, and "Pitfall" in his native Canada...just don't mention that latter show to him if you meet him face-to-face)

Chain Reaction
"Chain Reaction" was a show that, I think, would have lasted a little longer if the bonus round wasn't so messed up.  Now, I don't have a problem with the game itself (where celebrities ask a question by forming one word at a time).  The problem was with the payoffs.  In its first week, players had only 60 seconds to get 8 answers.  Starting at $1, each answer was worth half-a-zero, with every second answer completing the zero.  They changed this after the top payoff for the week was only $100 (in fact, the very first episode had only a $10 payoff).  The second week greatly increased the bonus round winnings, with 90 seconds to get 9 words with each word getting more money ($1 for the first, then adding a zero for the next three, then each of the next four worth an extra $1,000, and the ninth and final answer worth the full $10,000).  The third format had the more normal $100 per answer, and $10,000 for all ten answers, which was changed AGAIN a few weeks later to having the player start with $100, and only needing nine answers to win the money.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, those shows were replaced by "The David Letterman Show," broadcast live from New York from 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. ("Card Sharks" moved to 12:00 noon to accommodate this).  While critical reception was good, audience response was lukewarm at best, and by August, the show was cut to sixty minutes (with "Wheel" moving back to 11:00 a.m., and "Password Plus" moving to 11:30 a.m.).  The show's ratings continued to decline and was ultimately axed on October 24, 1980.  However, this would not be the last time we would see David Letterman on NBC.

Now, there was even talk of axing "Wheel of Fortune" to make room for Letterman, but somebody must have informed Silverman that "Wheel" was the highest-rated show in its daytime lineup (and probably the highest-rated show on the network overall), so "Wheel" was thankfully spared.

Dumb Daytime Moves--expanding Another World to 90 minutes

On January 6, 1975, "Another World" became the first soap opera to expand from 30 minutes to a full hour.  As I mentioned earlier, AW was NBC's top show around this time, and continued to be the top show for the peacock network until around 1978, when the "Luke and Laura" storyline on "General Hospital" began.  Desperate for ratings, NBC decided to expand "Another World" to 90 minutes beginning on March 5, 1979.

I bet you can guess what happened afterwards.

Long story short, the show (as well as NBC's one-mighty soap lineup) hit rock bottom.  It was cut back to 60 minutes beginning on August 4, 1980, but the show was never the same.  Although they did recover some of the lost ratings, it ultimately limped along until June 25, 1999, when it was finally canceled.

I honestly do not know what the National Broadcasting Company and Procter & Gamble (the producers of "Another World") were thinking when they expanded the show to 90 minutes.  That's like making a TV movie every weekday.  Eventually, the quality's going to suffer, and that's exactly what happened.

As I mentioned earlier, the expansion of "AW" to 90 minutes had long-term affects on other NBC shows.

• "The Doctors" was part of NBC's "powerhouse" soap opera block.  Settled between "Days of our Lives" and "Another World", the three soaps popular were throughout the 1960s and 70s.  When AW expanded to 90 minutes, "The Doctors" was bumped to 2:00 p.m., beginning its terminal decline (pun intended).  More timeslot changes to 12:30 p.m. in August of 1980 and 12:00 noon in March of 1982 further weakened the show, and the plug was pulled on December 31, 1982.
• "Days of our Lives" settled into its 'permanent' timeslot of 1:00 p.m.  Since 1980, it as been NBC's most popular soap opera (and ONLY soap opera since 2007).

I have one more question to ask before I leave you for now.

WHY?!

Dumb Daytime Moves--Fred Silverman

Fred Silverman is one of the most famous (and infamous, depending on your point of view) television executives in history.  During his runs at CBS and ABC, he was responsible for bringing us such classics as "All in the Family," "The Mary Tyler Moore Show", "Cannon", "The Bob Newhart Show", "M*A*S*H", "Maude", "The Waltons," "Barnaby Jones", "Kojak," "The Sonny & Cher Hour," "Good Times," "Happy Days," "Laverne & Shirley," "Family," "Charlie's Angels," "Donny & Marie," "Eight is Enough," "Three's Company," "The Love Boat," "Soap," "Fantasy Island," "Good Morning America," and the award-winning miniseries "Roots."  However, he's also indirectly responsible for nearly destroying the NBC television network during his run there from 1978 to 1981.  True, there were some good shows such as "Diff'rent Strokes," "Real People," "The Facts of Life," and "Hill Street Blues," but the flops, especially the super-flops, outnumbered the hits.  In fact, Silverman's time at NBC was so notorious that the same company that made the "Proud as a Peacock" campain also made a parody version of the same campaign entitled "We're Loud!"  But I'm getting a bit off-track here.

There were definitely some dark times in the daytime department, as the once-mighty lineup of NBC crashed and burned during his run.  And some of the things I mention here may get their own entries in this blog.  Yeah, they're THAT notorious.

Let's begin with "America Live," a one-hour talk show hosted by Jack Linkletter (son of Art).  Debuting on July 24, 1978, the show was soundly beaten by "The $20,000 Pyramid" & "Ryan's Hope" on ABC, and "The Young and the Restless" & "Search for Tomorrow" on CBS, and as a result, the show ended at the end of the first week of January.

"The All-New Jeopardy!" debuted on October 3, 1978, and as a result of its debut, the long-running "Hollywood Squares" was bumped to 1:00 p.m. (Squares had been bumped from it's long-time time slot of 11:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. two years earlier).  This version of J! was infamous for eliminating the lowest-scoring player after the "Jeopardy!" round, and replacing the "Final Jeopardy!" round with a "Super Jeopardy!" (no connection to the 1990 tournament that aired on ABC primetime) bonus round.  This version was canceled on March 2, 1979.

January 8, 1979 brought two new game shows to replace the departing "America Alive"--"All Star Secrets," hosted by Bob Eubanks, which had contestants guessing which of five guest celebrities had a particular secret, and "Password Plus," the revamped revival of "Password" hosted by Allen Ludden.  Secrets lasted until August, while Password lasted until 1982 (Ludden would be forced to leave the show in October of 1980 due to illness, and passed away on June 9, 1981; Bill Cullen subbed for Ludden for a four-week period in 1980, and Tom Kennedy became the permanent host after Ludden's departure {both from the show and from life}).

March 5, 1979 brings us to the first of the most notorious moments to happen during this period of NBC daytime--the expansion of "Another World" to 90 minutes.  This caused three shows to be bumped back 30 minutes as a result ("Hollywood Squares" to 12:30 p.m., "Days of our Lives" to 1:00 p.m., and "The Doctors" to 2:00 p.m.), and had a long-term affect on most of NBC's shows.

"All-Star Secrets" would be replaced by "Mindreaders," an ESP game (ESP was popular during the 70s).  Hosted by Dick Martin, the show only lasted 23 weeks, being replaced by "Chain Reaction," hosted by Bill Cullen, on January 14, 1980.  Chain only lasted until June 20, 1980, bringing down two other game shows with it (we'll get to that moment eventually).

"The David Letterman Show" debuted on June 23, 1980, and was such a flop that on August 4, it was shrunk from 90 minutes to 60 minutes, and canceled altogether on October 24.  During this time, the first hour-long soap opera from inception, "Texas" debuted on August 4, bumping "Another World" back to 60 minutes in the process.

The shows that replaced Letterman in the morning was "Las Vegas Gambit," a revival of the CBS game show hosted by Wink Martindale, and "Blockbusters," a Bill Cullen-hosted show which had a solo player playing against a family pair to see if two heads were really better than one.

"Card Sharks" ended its 3-and-a-half year run on October 23, 1981, replaced the following Monday by "Battlestars," a Hollywood Squares-clone produced by Merrill Heatter (one of the co-producers of "Hollywood Squares"), and hosted by Alex Trebek (hosting his first show since the cancellation of "High Rollers").  Battlestars only lasted 26 weeks, being canceled along with Blockbusters on April 23, 1982.  "Las Vegas Gambit" had ended on November 27, 1981, replaced the following Monday by "The Regis Philbin Show," which was then canceled on April 9, 1982.  I already mentioned in a previous post that "Search for Tomorrow" moved to NBC in March of 1982.  "Password Plus" was the victim of this move, and "The Doctors" (which had moved to 12:30 when "Texas" debuted) was bumped to 12:00 noon.  "Texas," meanwhile, moved to 11:00 a.m. in a desperate attempt for ratings, but found none, and both "The Doctors" and "Texas" ended their runs on New Year's Eve, 1982.  Thankfully, NBC would start to recover shortly afterwards.

I know Silverman left NBC in 1981, but I just had to mention some of the stuff that happened in late-1981 and 1982 as well.  Trust me, you'll be hearing much more about some of the aforementioned stuff very soon.

Dumb Daytime Moves--Cancelling the #2 Game Show

On April 12, 1976, ABC debuted "Break the Bank," a revival in name only of the 1950s game show.  The new "Break the Bank" was another clone of "Hollywood Squares" that popped up during the mid-1970s, and proved to be very popular.  So popular that it was the #2 game show during the 1976 season.  However, it was canceled after only 15 weeks to make room for the expansions of "One Life to Live" and "General Hospital" for 45 minutes.

As I said in an earlier post, I said I would be a bit biased towards game shows in this series, since I am a huge fan of game shows, and I just have one question to ask ABC.

WHY?!

Then again, Fred Silverman was running ABC at the time, and he seemed to lean more towards soap operas than game shows, but that's just how I see it.

And trust me when I say this, folks.  This would be NOTHING compared to what would happen when Freddy took over NBC in 1978...

Dumb Daytime Moves--Moving Match Game to the Mornings

When "Match Game '73" debuted on July 2, 1973, it soon became the number one show on daytime television.  Yes, you read that right.  The NUMBER ONE SHOW IN DAYTIME TELEVISION!!  What made the show so popular was the unpredictable answers coming from the celebrities with whom the civilian contestants tried to match their answers with.  It made Gene Rayburn (who had hosted the previous NBC version back in the 1960s), Brett Somers, Charles Nelson Reilly, and especially Richard Dawson (who had been known for his six-year stint on "Hogan's Heroes") into household names.

On November 7, 1977, CBS expanded "Guiding Light" to a full hour, moving "Match Game" to 11:00 a.m. in the process.  This proved to be a fatal blow to the popular game show, as most of its audience consisted of high schoolers who caught the show after class.  Realizing their mistake, they moved the show to 4:00 p.m. six weeks later, but the damage was done.  The show was now being pre-empted by some stations airing more lucrative syndicated programming in the time slot instead.  "Match Game" limped along (even adding a "Star Wheel" which increased the potential bonus round jackpot to $10,000 as well as the departure of Richard Dawson, who was now also doing "Family Feud" for ABC) until April 20, 1979, when it was canceled.

The show was quickly brought back for daily syndication the following fall, and lasted for three more years.  "Match Game" would be revived three more times in the next two decades (1983, 1990, and 1998), but none of them, especially the most recent version, have been able to capture the charm of the 70s version.

(I'll be talking about the '83 version of the "Match Game" {and its "sister" show} later on.)

Dumb Daytime Moves--Unneccessarily adding Celebrities to Game Shows

Sometimes, in an attempt to increase ratings, either the producers or the network add celebrities to a game show.  Most of the time...actually, all of the time, this actually results in the exact opposite happening, and the show ultimately being canceled.  Now, these are game shows which had civilian contestants at first, before being switched to either an all-celebrity format, or adding celebrities as their partners.  Here are some examples.

Password All-Stars
The ABC revival of the popular game show "Password" debuted on April 5, 1971, replacing the cult soap opera "Dark Shadows."  The show proved to be a hit for the alphabet network, but by 1974, the ratings started to slide, so they decided to change the format to "Password All-Stars," which had six celebrities each week competing for charity, with the highest-scoring star winning a $5,000 bonus for their favorite charity.  Two $25,000 "Grandmaster Tournaments" were held during the run, which ended on February 14, 1975.  The civilians returned the following Monday in a revamped format, but the change came too little, too late, and the show ended on June 27.

The Magnificent Marble Machine
I mentioned this show back in my "Lin Bolen, Part II" entry.  When the show came back from its hiatus in January of 1976, the show's format changed to having two teams of celebrities playing for home viewers, and a studio audience member playing the machine.  Needless to say, the ratings didn't go up.  The last original episode aired eight weeks later on March 12, 1976, and reruns of the show aired until June 11, due to a technical strike at NBC (technicians seemed to go on strike a lot during the 70s.  Just watch the 1972 episode of "The New Price is Right" that aired after the 2000 Pillsbury Bake-Off, and you'll see what I mean).

"All-Star Beat the Clock" and "Whew!"
Because these shows aired around the same time for the same network, CBS, I decided to include them both here at once.

"Whew!", hosted by Tom Kennedy, has the distinction of being one of the most fast-paced game shows on the air.  Perhaps it was too fast-paced, as it struggled in the ratings.  I should also point out that "Whew!" replaced the 70s edition of "Match Game" on April 23, 1979, on CBS (I'll be getting to that one soon enough).

Meanwhile, the "All-New Beat the Clock" debuted on CBS on September 17, 1979, hosted by Monty Hall, and announced by Jack Narz (Tom Kennedy's older brother and a former host of Beat the Clock).  That show struggled as well, so on November 5, 1979, both shows switched to celebrity formats.

"The All-New Beat the Clock" because "All-Star Beat the Clock," where both teams of celebrities played for their respective rooting sections (the red team played for the red section, and the green team for the green section; this format was similar to the popular 70s game show "Tattletales," where three celebrities and their mates played for their respective sections of the audience {blue, banana [yellow], and red}), and "Whew!" became "Celebrity Whew!" (which Jack had to fully pronounce in his end-of-show plugs every day), with a celebrity partner joining the civilian contestant.  Clock ended on February 1, 1980, while "Whew!" lasted until May 30, 1980.  Game shows wouldn't return to the 10:00 hour of CBS daytime until 1982 ("The Price is Right" was, and still is, airing at 11:00 a.m. at this time).

Bullseye
I know, this wasn't a network game show, but I just HAD to include this on the list.

"Bullseye" was produced by Jack Barry and Dan Enright, who had also created and produced the popular "The Joker's Wild" and "Tic-Tac-Dough," two of the top syndicated game shows during the late 70s and early 80s.  "Bullseye," hosted by former Dating Game emcee Jim Lange, was considered by many to be a combination of the two shows, and had perhaps THE most stylish set of all game shows on the air at the time (there's even an urban legend where the set received a thumbs-up from Johnny Carson, of all people).  However, midway through the show's second season, they changed the format to having celebrity playing for charity, but that was only the first change.  Questions were now primarily multiple choice, and matches were now a best two-out-of-three, resulting in the Bonus Island game not being played in some episodes.  Needless to say, the show wasn't renewed for a third season, but Barry and Enright (mainly the latter) would not seem to learn their lesson, as shown here...

Hot (hiss) Potato
I had to do that.

"Hot Potato", hosted by "Uncle Bill" himself, has got to be one of the most underrated and under-appreciated game shows of all time.  True, it was a bit of a rip-off of "Family Feud," but what made it unique was that all three contestants on a team had something in common (Moms-to-be, teachers, waitresses, clowns, dentists, etc...).  However, on April 23, 1984, exactly three months after its debut, "Hot Potato" became "Celebrity Hot Potato," with the teams now consisting of two celebrities and one civilian (who still wore whatever uniform fitted his/her occupation).  Some weeks even had both teams consisting of all three celebrities, with the winnings going to charity.  Adding celebrities just seemed to drag the game down more than one notch, especially since some of the celebrities were comedians who deliberately gave wrong answers in a pathetic attempt to be funny.  The show as canceled on June 29, 1984.  Oh, and the people that produced this show?  Barry and Enright (this turned out to be Jack Barry's last show that he created/produced, as he passed away on May 2, 1984).

For those that want to produce a game show, I have this piece of advice.  If you plan to have an all-celebrity format for your show, save it for sweeps periods.

Dumb Daytime Moves--Lin Bolen, Part II

And now for part two on Lin Bolen's reign of terror at NBC Daytime.

January 6, 1975 is notable for three reasons.

One, it marked the debut of arguably the most popular game show in television history, "Wheel of Fortune."  Originally hosted by Chuck Woolery and Susan Stafford, "Wheel" would ultimately become the second-longest running game show in network daytime history.

Two, it marked the first expansion of a soap opera from a half-hour to a full hour.  "Another World," which had been NBC's most popular soap for a decade, was given the nod and expanded from 3:00 p.m.-3:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m.  Because of this, "How to Survive a Marriage" would be bumped back to 1:30 p.m., but it wouldn't stay there for long...

And it also marked the debut of "Blank Check," hosted by Art James.  That show only lasted for six months.

On April 18, 1975, "Marriage" finally bit the dust, and on the following Monday, "Days of our Lives" became the second soap opera to expand to a full hour, taking the 1:30 P.M. timeslot, and had NBC finally having a show that could fully compete with "Let's Make a Deal" and "As the World Turns."

On July 7, 1975, "Blank Check" was replaced by "The Magnificent Marble Machine."  Hosted by Art James, TMMM has the distinction of being one of the most notorious game shows of the 1970s.  Produced by the same company that game us such "larger-than-life" game shows as "Video Village" (which featured a human board game), "Hollywood Squares" (nine celebrities in a giant tic-tac-toe board), "Gambit" (which had giant playing cards), and "High Rollers" (which had giant dice), "The Magnificent Marble Machine" was a giant pinball machine that a celebrity and his civilian partner would play in that show's bonus round for cash and prizes for the civilian.  Around the same time, "Jackpot!" changed its format from riddles to straight questions, a change that ultimately killed the show.  It died on September 26, and was replaced the following Monday with "3 For the Money," a game with two teams of a two civilians and a celebrity captain that competed for an entire week.  That show only lasted nine weeks.  Yes, you read that right.  NINE WEEKS!!

With "Wheel of Fortune" becoming so popular in such a short time, it became the second game show to permanently expand to an hour on December 1, 1975.  However, this expansion only lasted six weeks, as it shrunk back to a half-hour on January 16, 1976.  "The Magnificent Marble Machine" also endured a two-week hiatus in January of 1976.  TMMM was replaced by the talk show "Take My Advice," which only lasted for five months.  "High Rollers" (which had changed its format to having players guess a celebrity picture concealed by the nine numbers) and "The Magnificent Marble Machine" were also canceled on June 11, 1976, replaced the following Monday with two comedy game shows--"The Fun Factory," hosted by the late Bobby Van, and the infamous "Gong Show," hosted by Chuck Barris.  "The Fun Factory" would leave the air on October 1, the same day as "Celebrity Sweepstakes."  Both shows were replaced by "Stumpers" (produced by Lin Bolen's production company) and "50 Grand Slam" (where players could win up to $50,000), hosted by Allen Ludden and Tom Kennedy, respectively (both had previously hosted "Password" and "Split Second" back-to-back on ABC from 1972 to 1975).  Both shows ended on New Year's Eve.  Another show that ended on December 31, 1976, was the "Another World" spin-off, "Somerset" (which debuted on March 30, 1970).

The first Monday of 1977 brought along three new shows:  "Shoot for the Stars" (hosted by Geoff Edwards, the game also holds the distinction of being the last new network daytime game show to air from New York), a revival of "Name That Tune" (this time hosted by nighttime host Tom Kennedy), and the soap opera "Lovers and Friends."  "Lovers and Friends" was taken off the air on May 6, only to returned on December 5, 1977 under the title "For Richer, For Poorer."  That show only lasted until the end of September 1978.

"Name That Tune" ended on June 10, replaced the following Monday by "It's Anybody's Guess," hosted by Monty Hall and announced by Jay Stewart (who had previously worked together for 14 years on "Let's Make a Deal").  That show, along with "Shoot for the Stars," were both gone by the end of September, replaced on October 3 by "Knockout" (hosted by semi-regular Gong Show panelist Arte Johnson) and "To Say the Least" (hosted by Tom Kennedy).  Both shows ended their run on April 21, 1978.

The following Monday brought two of the NBC's most popular game shows on its lineup--"Card Sharks" (hosted by Jim Perry, who was virtually unknown in America, while well-known in Canada for his shows "Definition" and "Headline Hunters"), where a player could win over $28,000 on the turn of a card, and a revival of "High Rollers," hosted again by Alex Trebek, which had bigger prize packages than the previous version.

Nineteen seventy-eight also brought along the end of the daytime "Gong Show."  The show had been pushing the envelope during the past year (particularly with the infamous Popsicle Twins, plus Jaye P. Morgan baring her breasts {which were censored, of course.}), and NBC decided to cancel the show, even though it was still somewhat popular.  Chuck Barris had the last laugh in the show's final episode, where he sang his version of the song "Take this Job and Shove It," delivering a middle finger to NBC (which was censored).

Around this time, Lin Bolen was replaced by Fred Silverman, a man who would not only cause NBC's daytime lineup to crash, but almost caused the network itself to implode.

But that's for another entry.

Dumb Daytime Moves--Lin Bolen, Part I

Before I get into the nitty-gritty of this blog, let me just state for the phonograph that I have nothing against women having executive positions in the workforce.  And I also have nothing against Lin Bolen as a person.

Now that that's out of the way, let's get started.

Lin Bolen has the distinction of being the first female head of daytime television, a position which she took in 1972 as Vice President of Daytime Programming at NBC.  Now, at that time, NBC was airing many successful game shows and soap operas (such as "Concentration", "Sale of the Century", "Hollywood Squares", "Jeopardy!", "The Who What or Where Game", "Three on a Match", "Days of our Lives", "The Doctors", and "Another World", among the many.  However, Bolen decided to replace some of the long-running programming with newer shows in an attempt to raise the ratings.

The first victim was "Concentration," which had been on the air for 15 years, being canceled on March 23, 1973.  The following Monday came "Baffle", a revival of the late 60s syndicated game show "PDQ", hosted by sportscaster Dick Enberg.  "Baffle" failed to draw in the ratings, partially because it was up against "The $10,000 Pyramid" on CBS (which also debuted on March 26, 1973).

The next victim was "Sale of the Century," which had been a popular show for four years, but had declined in the ratings after CBS debuted "Gambit".  Sale's replacement was "The Wizard of Odds", debuting on July 16, 1973, which brought the American debut of some Canadian named Alex Trebek.  The show only lasted one year, replaced on July 1, 1974 by "High Rollers," also hosted by Trebek.

The biggest victim during Bolen's run would have to be the original "Jeopardy!", hosted by Art Fleming.  At that time, Jeopardy! was dominating the 12:00 noon timeslot, mainly due to students who watched the show during the lunch break.  The show moved to 10:30 a.m. on January 7, 1974, replaced in the noon timeslot by the new game show "Jackpot," hosted by Geoff Edwards (more on how Bolen messed that up later).  Also debuting on January 7 was a new soap opera called "How to Survive a Marriage," which was replacing the canceled "Return to Peyton Place" (a revival of the 1960s ABC primetime soap "Peyton Place").  "Marriage" was notorious for its show the first "nude" scene in a daytime soap opera (the nudity was only implied, as both actors were covered by a blanket).  The soap was only on the air for 15 months (more on its cancellation later).

Meanwhile, Baffle's cancellation on March 29, 1974, led to the debut of the semi-popular game show "Celebrity Sweepstakes" the following Monday.  Sweepstakes was a variation of the popular "Hollywood Squares" (although Sweepstakes was not produced by the same company as Squares).  On June, 1974, "Three on a Match" was canceled, replaced the following Monday by "Winning Streak" (both shows, incidentally, were hosted by Bill Cullen, the dean of game show hosts).  "Streak" debuted at 10:30 a.m., while "Jeopardy!" was moved to 1:30 p.m., now up against ABC's "Let's Make a Deal" and CBS' "As the World Turns."  Both Streak and Jeopardy! ended their runs on January 3, 1975.

On July 29, the popular talk show "Dinah's Place!" was replaced by the popular musical quiz "Name That Tune", hosted by Dennis James, who was SO out of place hosting this show.  I should also point out that Bolen was looking for younger males to host her new game shows, so if they couldn't be young, she tried to make them hip-looking, and they ended up looking embarrassing (Bill Cullen was also a "hip" victim on "Winning Streak").  Tune sang its last song on January 3rd as well.

And this is only part one.  In the next part, we'll talk about the expansions of soap operas, the debut of the ONE game show that lasted for more than two years under Bolen's run, and some more failures that would lead to the downfall of NBC daytime.

Dumb Daytime Moves--moving Search for Tomorrow

I said earlier that "The Edge of Night" moving from CBS to ABC wouldn't be the last time that a soap changed networks.  There was another one, which I will mention right now.

"Search for Tomorrow" was one of the earliest soap operas on television.  It debuted on the CBS television network on September 3, 1951, airing for 15 minutes from 12:30 PM to 12:45 PM.  Throughout most of its run, it was one of CBS's highest-rated soaps.  On September 9, 1968, it became one of the last two soaps to expand from 15 minutes to a half-hour (the other was "The Guiding Light", which aired immediately after Search for over 15 years), taking the 12:30 timeslot by itself.  It continued to dominate the 12:30 timeslot for over a deade until CBS moved the show from 12:30 to 2:30, which caused a huge drop in ratings.  Procter & Gamble (producer of the soap) insisted on the show being returned to his prior timeslot, in which CBS responded by cancellng it.

However, that was not the end of the show, as it moved to NBC on March 29, 1982 (replacing the popular game show "Password Plus".  I should warn people here that I will be a little bit biased towards game shows in these daytime entries), airing at its former timeslot of 12:30 PM.  However, by that time, "The Young and the Restless" on CBS and "Ryan's Hope" on ABC were dominating the 12:30 slot, so Search's ratings were even lower than they were on CBS.  Not even a live broadcast (which happened due to the master copy and a backup of a previously taped episode allegedly being lost) could help the declining ratings, and the show was ultimately canceled on December 26, 1986, ending an incredible 35 and 1/4 year run.  At that time, it was the longest-running soap opera on television, which would be quickly eclipsed by its former sister show "Guiding Light".

Dumb Daytime Moves--Moving "The Edge of Night" and the subsequent move to ABC

Before I get into the main plot of this blog entry, let me give you a little back-story.

"The Edge of Night" was the second 30-minute soap opera to air on daytime television (soap operas before then were a scant 15 minutes in length per episode). The first 30-minute soap, just for the phonograph, was "As the World Turns," which will be going off the air tomorrow (or depending on when you read this entry, is already off the air). Both soaps debuted on the CBS Television Network on April 2, 1956, with ATWT airing at 1:30 Eastern Time, and "The Edge of Night" airing at 4:30 Eastern Time. "The Edge of Night" was originally going to be an adaptation of "Perry Mason," which was very popular in radio and literary formats at the time. However, disagreements between the network and Erle Stanley Gardner, the creator of Perry Mason, would lead to a similar, but different format for the show. "Perry Mason," BTW, would eventually appear on television, in a prime-time drama on CBS from 1957 to 1966.

But I'm getting a bit off-track here. Unlike most soap operas, which dealt with domestic and romantic issues, Edge's main focus was crime, and due to that, as well as its late afternoon timeslot, the show's audience was slated to be, at one point, 50% male. In 1963, the show moved to 3:30 P.M., where it continued to dominate, even against ABC hits "Dark Shadows" and "One Life to Live," as well as NBC's hit game show "You Don't Say." Edge's downfall, however, began on Labor Day, 1972.

CBS was revamping its daytime schedule, replacing its morning sitcom reruns with television game shows (The Joker's Wild at 10:00 AM, The Price is Right at 10:30, and Gambit at 11:00), as well as shifting its soap operas that aired between 2:00 PM and 4:00 PM.  You can see where the soaps aired before and after the timeslot change below...

CBS Daytime Schedules
Friday, September 1, 1972
2:00 PM--Love is a Many Splendored Thing (debuted September 18, 1967)
2:30 PM--The Guiding Light
3:00 PM--The Secret Storm
3:30 PM--The Edge of Night

Monday, September 4, 1972
2:00 PM--The Guiding Light
2:30 PM--The Edge of Night
3:00 PM--Love is a Many Splendored Thing
3:30 PM--The Secret Storm

Why the change, you ask?  Well, Procter and Gamble (the company that produced As the World Turns, Guiding Light, and The Edge of Night) wanted all of its soaps to air in one continuous block (although there was no network programming on between 1:00 PM and 1:30 PM).  Because of this move, Edge no longer had as large a male audience as it had during its first 16-and-a-half years on the air.  By 1975, it was the lowest-rated soap on the CBS daytime lineup, so the network told P&G that it was canceling Edge to make room for an extra half-hour of "As the World Turns".  However, this was not the end of "The Edge of Night," as it would end up on ABC's daytime lineup on December 1, 1975, at 4:00 PM Eastern Time.  It would remain in that slot during its last nine years on the air, although its ratings were never as high as they were on CBS.

But wouldn't be the only time a timeslot change for a CBS soap would ultimately lead to it leaving the network...

Dumb Daytime Moves--Black Friday 1969

Pretty much every die-hard game show fan knows about Black Friday, 1980 (which I will get to in a future blog entry), but I'm here to talk about a somewhat lesser-known Black Friday that also involved NBC (surprise, surprise).

The date is Friday, September 26, 1969. Man had landed on the moon two months prior, we were still a few months away from a big yellow bird terrorizing children's television, and "The Brady Bunch" premiered on ABC, but we're here to talk about NBC.

On this day on the National Broadcasting Company, four game shows ended their runs, many of which were very popular shows for the network: "Personality" (hosted by Larry Blyden), "Eye Guess" (hosted by Bill Cullen), "You Don't Say" (hosted by Tom Kennedy), and the original "Match Game" (hosted by Gene Rayburn). Three of their replacements ("Name Droppers" for "Eye Guess", "Bright Promise" for "You Don't Say", and "Letters to Laugh-in" for "The Match Game") didn't last as long as the shows they replaced, while Personality's replacement, the original "Sale of the Century", lasted for nearly four years, twice as long as "Personality".

Ironically, two of the replacements for the replacement shows lasted longer than the replacements. (Confused? So am I) Letters to Laugh-In's replacement, "The Who, What, or Where Game," lasted for four years, while the replacement for "Name Droppers", the "Another World" spin-off "Somerset", lasted for over six years).

It was moves like these that ultimately cost NBC the top spot in daytime.

Dumb Daytime Moves--Let's Make a Deal changing networks

When "Let's Make a Deal" debuted on the NBC Television Network on December 30, 1963, it quickly became one of the top game shows on daytime television, being of the first shows to regularly compete with the popular CBS soap opera "As the World Turns".

It was so popular that the network ran a limited primetime series during the summer of 1967. Host and co-producer Monty Hall wanted a permanent berth on the network's nighttime schedule, but NBC wouldn't give it to them. ABC soon offered Hall a spot on both its daytime and nighttime schedules.

The change was soon made and on December 30, 1968, exactly five years to the day, "Let's Make a Deal" made its debut on the ABC daytime lineup in the same timeslot it aired on NBC three days earlier (1:30 P.M.). This turned out to be a huge change for both networks. NBC soon lost millions in advertising revenue, and ABC would quickly become the number one daytime network. The nighttime "Let's Make a Deal" made its ABC debut on February 7, 1969, and ran until the end of the 1970-71 season, when it moved to syndication.

But that wasn't the only dumb move NBC made around this time.

Dumb Moves in Daytime Television History

This will be a series of posts that will be on dumb moves made by network executives in the history of daytime television. Just so everyone knows, most of these decisions will involve a network that has a bird in its logo.

And also note that these will be on NETWORK daytime shows, not syndicated programming such as "The People's Court," "Oprah," etcetera.

Expect the first post to come up soon.