Primetime vs Daytime

[ljacks13]

I was reading a Variety article this afternoon about the new Fall primetime lineup. The networks are having a hard time spending money on these new series. They now say that with the 'moviezation' of television with more people demanding quality from these shows with good special effects and they use of single cameras, the costs of producing these shows are ballooning. The average episode of primetime now costs 2.3 - 3.3 million which includes salaries of the actors and production costs. The new Bronic Woman pilot cost 4 million dollars to produce.

The reason I bring this up is that back in day daytime used to pay for primetime shows but with costs like these, it doesn't seem that is even an argument for daytime anymore. I just wish that the networks would spend that much money on daytime counterparts. I wish there was an advocate for daytime out there, telling these networks if invest more money into these shows and hire better writers, you might be able to gain more viewers for daytime.

[Graciecat]

The quality of some primetime television these days truly is incredible. And it's such a shame that it is all so costly, because that means that the much cheaper, but much dumber reality TV shows are able to bloom, seriously infringing on what I consider, an otherwise golden era of primetime. Smart, clever shows like Arrested Development, 30 Rock, and Veronica Mars have either been canceled, or are on the verge of it, while filth like the Bachelor and Survivor keep coming back, year after year.

So these days, networks have to keep taking the cheap route, which for daytime, means talk shows. I mean really, did Good Morning America need a fourth hour? Does anyone want that much of it? No, not many, but it's a lot cheaper than Passions.

And really, you can't blame the networks. Television is a business, and they do have to make money. I just think it's a shame what we the audience lose.

I'm going to disagree with you, though, that the networks need to put more money into their daytime writers. The truth is, not that many talented writers want to work in daytime. And given how much TV they have to create, I think most of the writers do pretty good jobs. Beleive me, I have a lot of issues with much of the stuff that happens in Daytime. I mean, I'm a GH viewer; that show sometime makes me seethe with rage and moral indignation, but at the end of the day, these writers have to put out 250 hours of television a year on a miniscule budget. I think, considering that, they are generally reasonably talented.

[ljacks13]

Why would writers want to write for daytime? I mean it would pay better over the long haul than primetime. If TV Networks paid a good amount of cash, they could find some talented writers. It seems that me that the jobs in tv are shrinking with all of these reality shows, and even prime time actors coming to daytime, why wouldn't writers make switch also.

[R Sinclair]

I think it's a give and take. Especially with the lack of patience and refusal to honor the "commitment" in the 13 episode commitment from networks. If the show doesn't pull in huge ass ratings within the first 4-6 weeks, it's yanked off the air (Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, anyone?). And if it's a midseason replacement, they have even less time to succeed.

I think primetime is the worst place to try and write -- because you're only as good as your last success and as bad as your last failure... even if it wasn't your fault.

Daytime seems to shove all that to the side with its incestuous recycling of writers. I mean, there is no reason Megan McTavish or Brown and Esensten should be allowed to head write any daytime show, considering their miserable ratings/cancellations. But yet, they still get work no matter how panned their previous work was.

In primetime, I still miss writers like Adam Chase, Alexa Junge and Ira Ungerlieder who were essential in the success of Friends.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

You liked the writing for Friends?

I've always found that show quite inconsistent, the first six seasons were good, then it all went downhill here from there. Not to mention the generic dialogue, friends who morphing into lovers, and lame-ass plots.

[R Sinclair]

That's my point. Alexa Junge, Adam Chase and Ira Ungerleider had left by then. Along with Jeff Greenstein & Jeff Strauss, they were the ones who gave the friends their voices. Once they left, it got totally cartoonish and silly. There were some good moments, but nothing as a whole stood out from season six on. I have all ten seasons on DVD and I agree that later on, the dialog was generic. Chandler, who was initially this sharp witted character, turned into this dork who made cheap and unfunny jokes by the end of the series, for example.

[Sylph]

OH MY GOD!! IS THIS REALLY HAPPENING?! I absolutely adoooooooore Alexa, I followed her wherever she went... I didn't like the fact that she was a member of The West Wing under John Wells ( ). She only wrote two episodes. I loved her contribution to Sex and the City (Critical Condition). Sex and the City had a golden writing team.

Alexa's last stint waw HBO's Big Love.

[Sylph]

And how come you forgot Greenstein?

[RuAsRuAnAu]

Primetime Success vs Daytime Success

Does a successful primetime lineup lead to a successful daytime?

During the heydays of the 1980s, ABC Primetime (Dynasty, Growing Pains, Who's the Boss?, Monday Night Football, Roseanne, Full House, 20/20, The Wonder Years) & Daytime thrived (The last time a show averaged double digit numbers was during the 1983-1984 season: General Hospital 10.0 household rating) Then in the mid 1990s, its daytime lineup tumbled.

ABC Primetime saw sharp declines in viewers beginning with the 2001-2002 TV season, and that lasted for 2 more seasons. During this time, ABC Daytime also saw its ratings tread downwards, particularly GH in 2005.

ABC Primetime’s fortunes did not change until the 2004-2005 season with the arrival of Desperate Housewives (cultural phenomenon at the time), Grey’s Anatomy, Boston Legal, and the sharp ratings increase for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. AMC saw a slight upswing in viewers at the end of 2004, only to lose more viewers than they gained. GH is increasing, and the same goes for OLTL, albeit slightly, in 2007.

Its primetime lineup is poised to attract more viewers this season than the last with DWTS, Pushing Daisies, Private Practice, Dirty Sexy Money, and a few other programs. But will this translate into more viewers and increased budgets for AMC, OLTL & GH?

CBS’s primetime lineup performed very well in the 1990s, and has been the most watched so far this decade. During the 2003-2004 season, CBS Daytime was in a ratings free fall. It is once again in a massive decline in 2007.

NBC Primetime was the number one in the 1980s, but NBC Daytime struggled to compete with its rivals. When the 1990s came around, Another World declined and then remained stagnant, Santa Barbara was cancelled, DOOL did not increase until the mid 1990s, and Sunset Beach bombed from the start.

FOX managed to have a few primetime hits without a daytime lineup.

[David V]

Hasn't the Law & Order franchise been one of NBC's few strong points in recent years? And SVU (my favourite show by far) is likely to remain one of the few spinoffs to outgrow its "parent" show in popularity.

There is a lot of good in primetime at the moment, but also a fair amount of bad. But primetime shows what can be done when you get a TV show right (balance, characters, etc) whereas daytime in recent years shows what happens when you get it all wrong.

[R Sinclair]

LOL! Yes, it's really happening.

[RuAsRuAnAu]

Ratings: WEEK ENDING 9/16/07 (Nielsen Media Research)

THE TONIGHT SHOW 4.9 million viewers

LATE SHOW 3.6

NIGHTLINE 2.8

LATE NIGHT 2.0

THE LATE LATE SHOW 1.7

JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE 1.5

LAST CALL 1.1

Proposed Late Night Lineup

ABC

11:35 NIGHTLINE

12:05 JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE

1:06 GH

2:06 OLTL

3:06 AMC

4:06 NEWS

CBS

11:35 LATE SHOW

12:35 THE LATE LATE SHOW

1:35 Y&R

2:35 GL

3:35 ATWT

4:35 NEWS

[Sylph]

Amazing!  I just didn't want for things to be like what you like, oh look - I like it too! I really love the woman. And God knows we have our disagreements.

P. S. You didn't say anything about Jeff.

[RuAsRuAnAu]

Michael Malone once said that "the open-endedness (everlastingness) of daytime is another strength that causes a weakness: Art likes to have a beginning, middle and end--to have a shape, a form, a denouement. The curtain closes when the lovers kiss, the novel ends when the couple says I do. Daytime has to keep going. And going and going."

I truly feel that to remain much more competitive in today's TV market, all shows should be reduce to four airings per week, with 5 airings during the last week of the year. This will save them money and possibly lead to more original storytelling , and decreased character exhaustion (Marlena-DOOL; Viki-OLTL; Reva-GL; Sonny-GH; Erica-AMC; Lily-ATWT; Brooke-B&

[RuAsRuAnAu]

With the WGA strike in place, it seems that daytime has much more to lose if there is a long strike. Primetime series will be negatively impacted as well, but to a much lesser degree. Primetime series can be off the air for five or six months, and bounce right back in the ratings. If such a scenario occured, I would not be surprised to see the already struggling AMC (record low: 2.4 mil/October 2007) or GL (record low: 2.1 mil/June 2007) below two million viewers for any new episode.