Y&R to take ATWT's timeslot in September?

[GregNYC]

I think that CBS wants a two hour game show block of The Price is Right and the game show that will replace ATWT, most likely, Pyramid. In some markets, it would be a three hour game show block with Let's Make a Deal.

CBS would ideally replace ATWT's timeslot with Y&R, and introduce the new game show next to The Price is Right.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Frankly, I'd love to see Y&R in its current crappy state crash and burn in the ratings, but I don't see its traditional timeslot being toyed with.

But if it does happen, then we know for sure CBS wants out of the soap business, and Y&R and B&B won't last past their next contract cycles.

[Soapsuds]

IF....Y&R is given ATWT timeslot not only will it crash and burn but so will OLTL and Days its competition in my market. I dont see CBS airing Y&R after B&B in my area. But who knows CBS already cancelled GL and ATWT so anything is possible.

[edgeofnik]

There is absolutely no way this is going to happen. The TPIR and Y&R block is pretty darn solid. Plus Y&R almost 65% more viewers than the next two shows, which is an unbelievably huge gap when it comes to ratings, I can't imagine why CBS would risk it. It seems that if a move were to be made, it would be to the 4 p.m. slot, like St. Louis, etc. where the audience is bigger, but I doubt most affiliates will give that up since they have lucrative syndication deals.

[Soapsuds]

It really shouldn't matter to me since I'll be done with CBS soaps when ATWT is gone in September. I might catch an eppy or two of OLTL with Kish ...

[Ryan Chamberlain]

If this is true. OLTL is going to DIE!

[bellcurve]

The thing to watch for is whether Bloom will pressure affils to put The Price is Right in ATWT's timeslot. That will REALLY destroy the lineup.

[EricMontreal22]

Really? I wonder how much cross over appeal OLTL and Y&R have? AMC and Y&R are competitors in a lot of markts and I've read it doesn't (well didn't when AMC had decent ratings lol) affect them much.

[Saving ATWT]

Why is 2:00 such a bad time slot? Is this because kids are getting home from school?

[EricMontreal22]

I think it has more to do with just what people are used to--moving a show from the end of morning into mid afternoon is quite a big change. (In Canada anyway most school's don't getout till about 3)

[MarkH]

Moving TPIR is the same problem as moving The View.

In both cases, they provide a STRONG local lead-in to the local noon (or whatever time, per time zone/market) news. I somehow doubt that either show will be moved, unless the affiliates believe they can program better syndicated lead ins than these shows. Since noon news is going to skew old anyway, I don't think the "aged" nature of the audience for either show (esp. TPIR) will necessarily be a problem.

Thus, I also doubt CBS cares about a "game show" block.

The bigger problem is the afternoon. Basically, since none of the nets provide a strong lead in to the early evening news (that was Oprah and Dr. Oz and Dr. Phil), my feeling is that the early afternoon slot is just going to be in a cheap-as-possible holding pattern.

So, ATWT will just get a talk show or (more likely) game show. CBS won't willingly moved Y&R or B&B (they know that will damage the brand).

Over at ABC, when OLTL goes, it gets more interesting. The local affiliates covet the 1-2 pm hour.

Indeed, over at CBS, when GL was cancelled, several affiliates "stole" the 12:30-2 hour (put in a local talker/magazine), and bumped Y&R/B&B/ATWT to after. So, if Y&R moves later, that will be a concession to the local affilitates (who want to capture more eyeballs from their noon newscasts), rather than a network-driven move.

Thus, at ABC, I sort of expect that AMC will move to the OLTL slot (and the affiliates will get the hour they want). If ABC is strong enough to hold on to 1-2 pm (ET, and the equivalent in other markets), then I expect that they'll move GH to 2 pm (killing its after-school audience), and either give 3 pm to the affiliates or program some woman-oriented talker at 3 pm. (Can Diane Sawyer do another show for them?? That's what they want!)