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.