Desert Sun 29 October 1987.

NBC primed to start soaps next summer by Gary Deeb.

Nothing's been announced yet, but this column has learned exclusively that NBC will make an unprecedented move next summer by launching two brand-new weekly prime-time soap operas The hot weather experiment will seek to 'capitalize on the lack of first-run summertime programming on the Peacock's two competitors. The bold plan was confirmed by NBC program chief Brandon Tartikoff, who believes that at least one of the two summer serials could become a permanent year-round series. 'Im real excited about this.' Tartikoff told me. I know the nighttime soaps are all declining right now in popularity, and a couple of them may get canceled by the end of this season But that's what makes this the right time to put these new soaps on the air. If Knots Landing or Dynasty or Falcon Crest should get canceled next spring because of low numbers, that doesn't mean there aren't a lot of prime-lime soap viewers out there, it just means that those fans have grown tired of these particular programs that have been on for so long.

If NBC's summertime soap ploy results in strong audience response, one of those off-season newcomers might get Tartikoff's blessing as a permanent fulltime program "If the viewers are there in big numbers and if quality of the show looks good, I'd be prepared to keep it on right into the fall, without interruption." he said. Furthermore should NBC achieve that sort of success, the weekly nighttime soap opera would be telecast virtually throughout the calendar year with no reruns and no three-month summer vacation.

My firm desire is to put a weekly soap on the air with 40 fresh episodes each year, rather than the usual 22 or 24 or 26," Tartikoff declared. Of course, that would be extremely costly it we did the show like most hour-long weekly series. But we are looking at ways to cut the costs and therefore make it financially viable to keep a show like this on the air just about around the calendar. What I want is to develop a series that would cost us around $500,000 per episode, instead of the usual average of $900,000. Now how can I do that ? Well, maybe we'll shoot the show on tape instead of film. Tape is cheaper. Also, the cast of a program like this wouldn't have your customary 12 to 15 regular cast members, maybe we could keep it down to six or seven. I've already got five producers who want to try it. but we ll only do two soaps like this on a trial basis next summer, so I'm gonna have to disappoint at least three of those five people."

Less than five years ago, when NBC was mired in a miserable last place prime-time standing, Tartikoff was continually frustrated by the presence of popular serials on the two rival networks Dynasty" on ABC; and Dallas," Falcon Crest" and Knots Landing on CBS Whenever NBC attempted to create a hit nighttime serial, the result was failure like “Flamingo Road." “The Yellow Rose" and Berrenger's." “We were never able to put together a successful prime-time serial, Tartikoff said. Meanwhile, the soaps on the other networks were rolling along and clobbering us week after week So I know it's ironic that now just as all those nighttime soaps are running out of gas and the genre is supposedly dying NBC is ready to come along and take a chance that the audience is ready for a new soap or two. I honestly think it could work." In addition to trying to squeeze out a hit program for its primetime lineup.

NBC' also is planning the summertime soap ploy as a way of stopping the flow of viewers away from the major networks in June, July and August. Peacock program boss Tartikoff has stated regularly that all three big networks are risking the permanent loss of many viewers by continuing the old practice of wall-to-wall reruns virtually every night all summer .

*Obviously Tartikoff/NBC went cold on the idea. Maybe they just couldn't get the finances right. I wonder if they reached out to people with daytime experience who knew how to structure/ produce on a more limited budget.

ABC had already tried with The Hamptons, which failed.

Thanks @Paul Raven Interesting that Tartikoff was still toying with primetime soaps this late in the game despite having an alleged disdain for them.

He actually never abandoned this idea, towards the end of his time at NBC in 1991 he actually said this in an NBC interview with the L.A. Times on 5/6/91:

Above all, says Tartikoff, networks “have to back up and start with the viewer. If the viewer wants to watch ‘L.A. Law,’ then you damn well better figure out a way to pay for it.” As an example, he says that CBS may have erred in canceling “Dallas”--which ended Friday--and might have gotten a lot more mileage out of it with some ingenuity. To wit:

“ ‘Dallas’ was getting a 21% audience share. Now why is CBS, which averaged a 21 share, taking it off? Because the costs have gone up, the demographics aren’t great and they can only play it once (soap operas do poorly in reruns). You could reduce the cost by cutting loose some expensive cast members and treating it like they do in daytime when somebody gets too big: Start giving storylines to new characters and grow another generation of characters, like we’re doing on ‘L.A. Law.’

“Also, the audience would watch ‘Dallas’ all year long, but every year ‘Dallas’ and ‘Knots Landing’ have stopped in May and not come back until September. The habit is broken. And you know from daytime serials, that habit should be nurtured. If you can make 265 episodes each year of ‘Days of Our Lives,’ I’ve got to believe you can make 40 to 45 episodes of ‘Knots Landing.’ It’s not that hard. Give the audience what they want. They want to watch it every week.

“Maybe some of the cast doesn’t want to work that hard. So start some of your newer storylines and newer characters when you hit the month of June and build them up. You’ve got to be thinking that way.”

Obviously now I have to wonder if Aaron Spelling and Fox took interest into what Tartikoff was trying say here, because just 2 months later 90210 would go ahead and start airing Season 2 in July ‘91 to considerable success.

Brandon Tartikoff was one of the last network programming execs who truly enjoyed working in television and didn't see it as just a stepping stone toward other, greener pastures. NBC would have enormous successes after he stepped away, but the network, IMO, was never the same.

32 minutes ago, soapfan770 said:

Obviously now I have to wonder if Aaron Spelling and Fox took interest into what Tartikoff was trying say here, because just 2 months later 90210 would go ahead and start airing Season 2 in July ‘91 to considerable success.

I have to wonder that myself. IDK how well 90210 did its' first season, but I do remember when they aired new episodes during the summer and the show just took off like a rocket. By the start of the fall, in fact, it seemed like you couldn't go anywhere without running into 90210-related merchandise or advertisements. I swear there was even a 90210 shampoo, lol!

Edited 43 minutes ago43 min by Khan

8 minutes ago, Khan said:

IDK how well 90210 did its' first season

Probably not so good. 90210 first season was Thursday 9 pm, head-to-head with #1 Cheers.

9 minutes ago, Khan said:

I do remember when they aired new episodes during the summer and the show just took off like a rocket. By the start of the fall, in fact, it seemed like you couldn't go anywhere without running into 90210-related merchandise or advertisements. I swear there was even a 90210 shampoo, lol!

Those are my memories too. Peak 90210 for me was Summer 1991 until Shannen Doherty departure in Spring 1994.

Just now, kalbir said:

Peak 90210 for me was Summer 1991 until Shannen Doherty departure in Spring 1994.

I agree. I don't think I watched for too long afterward, but whenever I would tune in again, it seemed like 90210 had gone from being this nice, sweet, little show about adolescence to being KNOTS LANDING: THE NEXT GENERATION.

Edited 30 minutes ago30 min by Khan