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All I'm Sayin'
December 15, 2011
The ever-changing face of Daytime
... is time was that Daytime TV was all about soaps and game shows, and it wasn't all that long ago. In television programming vernacular "Daytime" is defined by any program airing from 9a-4p. 4:00 has, traditionally, been the time the networks turn programming back over to the local affiliates. Since Fox has never dipped its toes into the Daytime pool, for the purposes of this article, I'll only be focusing on ABC, CBS, and NBC.
Let's look back to a time not that long ago - the Fall season of 1990 - a mere 21 years ago. The Daytime landscape was virtually unrecognizable by comparison to today. There were 7 daily game shows - 3 each on CBS and NBC, and 1 on ABC (anyone remember Match Game?). There was 1 lifestyle show and 1 talk show. And there were 10.5 hours of soap operas, 3.5 hours on each network airing from 12:30 - 4:00. Each network aired 4 soaps, 3 of which were 60 minutes and 1 that was 30 minutes. And, if all of that doesn't seem peculiar enough, of the 7 hours per network - or 21 total Daytime hours - local and syndicated programming only accounted for 6 hours whereas network programming comprised the remaining 15 hours. The very next fall is where it seems the beginning of the shift in programming took place: the number of game shows went from 7 to 3 with ABC out of the arena completely and NBC whittled their total down to 1; local and syndicated programming picked up an hour; and soap operas decreased its number by 1 when Generations aired its final broadcast on January 25, 1991. The next soap to wave farewell was Santa Barbara when it left the airwaves on January 15, 1993 when NBC gave its affiliates another hour of local programming.
Leaping ahead 10 years to 2000 the schedule was somewhat different looking in Daytime. Of the 21 hours, local and syndication now made up 9 of those hours with only 1 network game show, the never-dying The Price is Right, and a still healthy number of soaps.
But looking at this past September the Daytime layout is barely recognizable compared to that 1990 example. Local and syndicated programming is now up to 10 1/2 hours, there are now only 5 soaps remaining with One Life to Live in its final month to be replaced by The Revolution, and The Price is Right and Let's Make A Deal are the last remaining game shows, both on CBS.
For the fanatical followers of All My Children and One Life to Live I thought I would mention The Chew and The Revolution. There is a reason these lifestyle type shows are replacing the daytime serial and it can be summed up with one word - money. The soaps simply aren't making the kind of advertising dollars needed to support all the production costs which includes actor/writer/producer/director salaries, tech support, location fees, and so forth. Fans that have been watching the Port Charles perils of Luke and Laura and Erica Kane's many hyphenated last names in Pine Valley are fewer than ever before. Ratings for the once-mighty daytime drama have dropped sharply over the past few years. And The View proved that the soap demo of women 25-54 will be just as apt to watch a small group of celebrities or chefs or lifestyle experts sit around and talk about what's "hot" or "in" or "healthy" than they are to watch Brady beat a confession out of Quinn, Rafe switch identities with Randall as the town gapes in amazement, and Chasity puzzle over Jana's secret love child.
Take the most recent instance when The Chew replaced All My Children this past September. AMC had been in production for 41 years and had a countless number of dedicated fans. The Chew debuted with modest ratings - from the curious, no doubt - but it started to lose audience after a week or so. And now, 3 months later, the audience is coming back for The Chew and it is matching or besting All My Children in total viewers at a much lower production cost. It will level off eventually but ABC can be nothing but pleased with the audience it's garnering. Expect a similar negative initial backlash and similar eventual positive results when The Revolution replaces One Life to Live in January. It will take a little while for the somewhat unknown hosts to find their comfort level and for the public to accept them but, eventually, I predict it will find its niche and those same naysayers will forgive and forget - OR - The Revolution and its impressive lineup of hosts, both well known and not so, will find a different audience from the channel surfers and information hounds that peruse daytime television. So who wins in this scenario? Sorry soap fans, but I'm afraid the daytime serialized drama has become a little too pricey in which the networks can continue to invest. The bottom line is, at their peaks both All My Children and One Life to Live only had 2.5 - 3 million viewers. The Chew is already at 2.3 million and it's slowly increasing. It may not make it to 3 million but I suspect ABC is thrilled with 2.3 considering the considerable amount it's saving with production costs.
This is the final column of 2011. To anyone that has taken any piece of information and passed it along to someone else or simply read it with interest, I certainly appreciate your time. I would like to wish all of you and yours a very Merry Christmas along with a safe and Happy New Year!
Modern Family quote -
Cam: Why so much tape Jay?
Jay: Why are you wearing a sweater when it's 95 degrees out?
Cam: It's my Christmas sweater!
Jay: Based on those stains, you are the Christmas sweater.
For daily TV talk, follow me on Twitter @paulneace.
...is All I'm Sayin'
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