Members EricMontreal22 Posted February 2, 2010 Members Share Posted February 2, 2010 A trivial question but one that's confused me. I'm on the West Coast, PST time and I always wondered why all the networks broadcast their soaps an hour earlier PST, but at the same time in the other time zones. Especially since here we get PRIMETIME at the same time (ie if Desp Housewives is on at 9pm in New York, it'll be on at 9pm in Vancouver too, but AMC is on at noon here, and 1 everywhere else). And don't most networks broadcast an hour earlier Central or Mountain time? *confused* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Soapsuds Posted February 2, 2010 Members Share Posted February 2, 2010 This question has me confused. I am in the central time zone if that helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members All My Shadows Posted February 2, 2010 Members Share Posted February 2, 2010 IDK exactly what you're asking, but in EST, ABC's soaps are on from 1pm to 4pm, but in CST, they're on from 12pm to 3pm. Simultaneous, but different times because it's different time zones. As far as Mountain and Pacific? Confuse the flip out of me. I would think that Mountain would have them on from 11am to 2pm, but I really don't know. ETA: Okay, I reread, and I think I get it now. I think there's some way that the channels choose when they air their stuff in the PST and MST zones. Like, I just checked a random channel's schedule online, and for Eastern, a particular show comes on back-to-back at 11am and 12pm. For Central and Mountain, it's 10am and 11am, but for Pacific, it's 11am and 12pm. So, it airs simultaneously in the EST and CST zones, an hour later in MST, and three hours later in PST. I think they do that because they want to have things on the air in the same general time slot everywhere. While an 11amET/10amCT show is airing on this side of the country, it's still 8amPT on the other side, and still a little bit "earlier" in the day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members soapfan770 Posted February 2, 2010 Members Share Posted February 2, 2010 Be glad you just don't live in the Mountain Time Zone like me, because until a few years ago most stations seemed to air the soaps whenever they wanted to! I live in Albuquerque now but I can post the unusual line-ups we've have here in Albuquerque, and when I lived in Denver and Twin Falls Idaho if anyone is interested. I still have those listings. Most bizarre belongs to KMVT Twin Falls in the 90s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members EricMontreal22 Posted February 2, 2010 Author Members Share Posted February 2, 2010 LOL I guess I wasn't clear. If you go to ABC.com they say "AMC airing weekdays 1et 12pt/ct" (OK so I was wrong Pacific gets them at the same time as Central). Shadows they don't air evertything at the same time or primetime West coast would be far earlier than East coast. My question was why the networks time shift everything on the West Coast in primetime--so that a show on the East Coast at 9pm will be ont he West Coast at 9pm--but for some reason all their daytime schedules work so that a show East Coast at 1pm East Coast airs at 12 West Coast. Does that make any sense? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AllMyDaysatGH Posted February 2, 2010 Members Share Posted February 2, 2010 I live on the West coast in California, PST. The ABC soaps are on from 12-3. I think one of the reasons it's different is because a lot of the ABC local stations show different shows in the morning, at different times. Like I know one person who lives on the east coast that said that Who wants to be a millionaire and The Rachel Ray show come on in their area, when those don't come on in my area at all! And in my area, Rachel Ray comes on the CBS network, and not ABC, LOL so it's really weird how all of this works.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members EricMontreal22 Posted February 2, 2010 Author Members Share Posted February 2, 2010 Right but that's my point. Officially, to use ABC as an example, their soap block is 12-3 PST and CST, and 1-4 EST. I think it has been since at least the 70s. But for primetime it's 8-11 PST *and* EST. I just wondered if some savvy tv history person knew why. Rachel Ray is on at 3 on the Seattle CBS here too (as well as simulcast on a local Van station)--her show is syndicated though so any station can pick it up, it's not directly connected to a network (like Oprah, although I think NBC for some reason tends to carry Oprah) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members All My Shadows Posted February 2, 2010 Members Share Posted February 2, 2010 Ooooh I see. IDK. It's strange because I think only broadcast networks do different time shifting for different parts of the day. Most of the cable channels I'm looking at right now (Hallmark, Cartoon Network, TNT, Lifetime, TBS, Nickelodeon) have simulcasts for the EST, CST, and MST zones, but a three-hour time shift for the PST. Which sucks, I'm sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members EricMontreal22 Posted February 2, 2010 Author Members Share Posted February 2, 2010 It only annoys me when we get award shows later--but it's annoying too when they start at 4 or 5 so Yeah HBO, etc, tend to show their major tv shows twice so that the second showing will be in PST primetime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Saving ATWT Posted February 2, 2010 Members Share Posted February 2, 2010 It must suck not to get shows like Today or GMA live. The Early Show should do a second run live. I'm sure that this would somehow help their morbid ratings. North America is so Eastern-centric, let the west be damned. I bet the stations take advantage of this with local programming. Do westerners feel snubbed, removed from the rest of the country. I remember watching Larry King Live at 6pm while in San Fran and it felt so odd. Randon Question: Guiding Light was seen at various times in different markets across the US. What was the most common time slot for the show? I still feel it odd for local stations to have so much power. I hear World Turns has not been seen in Ct. for many years and Y&R is on at 4pm in Atlanta. I'd love seeing a local try this with CSI or 20/20. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members EricMontreal22 Posted February 2, 2010 Author Members Share Posted February 2, 2010 Here we got GL on CBS opposite GH and I think Days at 2pm PST. I believe 2pm PST/3EST was sorta the officially desired time though of course most markets didn't use it then. When i first got into soaps in the early 90s of course Loving aired at 11:30 right before AMC, and there was an ABC 30 minute news break at 11-11:30. They seem to have dropped the desire for an ABC lunchtime news program now--though the CBS here airs Y&R at 11, then news at 12-12:30 then B&B which i think is a bit diff than some other areas. (and then we get the next day's Y&R at 2pm on a local Vancouver station--it used to be on at 4 and there's some talk aut moving it back there) The East Coast thing doesn't bug me too much--it makes sense. When I lived in Edmonton, which is Mountain time we would get our programs from the US an hour earlier--so primetime started at 7 which was often too easy (I'm usually still eating dinner or just getting home by then--most days) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jonathan Posted February 2, 2010 Members Share Posted February 2, 2010 It's just the way things have been programmed for so long. All My Children 1pm ET / 12 PT is standard however there are a few markets that actually air the ABC soap line up out of order. I forget which ones, I'll have to double check. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members EricMontreal22 Posted February 2, 2010 Author Members Share Posted February 2, 2010 Oh I know, but why when the primetime schedules have basically been set up to match? I'm glad it airs at 12 though here as our lunch break was over the noon hour in school when I became hooked Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JackPeyton Posted February 2, 2010 Members Share Posted February 2, 2010 I think its because our morning shows. We get Regis & Kelly at 9am, not 10. We get the View at 10, not 11. Then the soaps are on from 12-3 and from 3-5 are talk shows and at 5 is our local news. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SFK Posted February 2, 2010 Members Share Posted February 2, 2010 In New York, GL came on at 10am for those last months of the show, while it remained in its 3pm (against GH) timeslot in D.C. yet nearby Baltimore was airing it at 10am so folks in the D.C./Balt. area could watch it twice a day if they were so inclined. The first time I visited L.A. I was surprised to see AMC starting at noon. I really doubt coast to coast spoilers are an issue at all, so I'm assuming that it's something about that 3-4pm hour that's appealing to west coast stations in terms of syndication or local news. The 1/2 hour noon news is pretty much an east coast staple on the big three (four) networks. Here in NY, Y&R and Millionaire start at 12:30. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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