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.