NBC Daytime

[robbwolff]

Kobe was already producing by that time. She was an associate producer on Return to Peyton Place, which aired from 1972 to 1974. I think she was then producing at Days of our Lives and The Edge of Night.

[Contessa Donatella]

Thank you, Robb, I thought so. So Monday morning quarterback here, I think Paul should have stuck with AW & Gail Kobe should have been the TEXAS EP from jump. 

[denzo30]

I always thought I read and heard she was the one who bought Y&R to the number 1 ratings.  It never made sense to me after watching Generations for months and finding it so boring, poorly written and equal to taking a valium.  Somehow, I can't see Y&R and the yawn Generations having the same writer

[Paul Raven]

I think Bill Bell might have something to say about that.

[Gray Bunny]

In terms of consistent outdoor location shooting, wasn't Sunset Beach the only soap to do so? 

[Contessa Donatella]

GL Peapack also did. 

[Gray Bunny]

Oh ick. I block that from my memory. I guess I should clarify: Sunset Beach was the only soap to consistently shoot quality camera work with matching quality audio in outdoor locations. 

[Mona Kane Croft]

The City did consistent location shooting in SoHo throughout its entire run.  In fact, I believe there was only one fake outdoor set used, and it was a small alley corner near a dumpster.  Otherwise, every scene set outdoors was really on location.    

[Lye-C]

Sally’s Days was great soap. She gave us The Killing Pool (Eileen’s epic exit storyline), the death of Franco Kelly and its fallout, the wedding of John and Marlena, and Princess Gina/Swamp Girl. She was a worthy successor to JER and I’d love to have her back. 

Not entirely true. Days had the only permanent outdoor set (Salem Place) from 1992-2004.

[Paul Raven]

Oct 92 NBC CANS 'SANTA BARBARA,' GIVES BACK TIME Affiliates will get half -hour from network, NBC puts Rohrbeck in charge of daytime

NBC made the move speculated about for the past year when it announced last week the cancellation of the multi -award winning but low rated daytime soap Santa Barbara. In addition, the network has turned over a half hour of time to its affiliates and turned over responsibility for the daypart to John Rohrbeck, president, NBC -TV Stations, in an attempt to improve support among affiliates for the network's daytime programing.

Santa Barbara wasn't the only casualty last week; the network also canceled Dr. Dean, with both series scheduled to end their NBC runs on Jan. 15, 1993. The network intends to feed four hours of daytime programing to affiliates, with two hours made up of the soaps Another World and Days of Our Lives, and the other two hours made up of the half hour Faith Daniels talk show and an hour and a half of game shows.

The 90 minute block of game shows will be made up of possibly three shows. One option is to produce a new, hour version of Classic Concentration and pair it with one of several projects in development. Currently being looked at are a return of Scrabble, which the network dumped to make room for Generations several years ago, Scategories, or Swap Meet, the latter described as similar to The Price Is Right.

By the summer of 1993, however, the network expects the four -hour daytime feed to consist of the two soaps,an hour of game shows and an hour of talk. The talk hour is expected to consist of either a retooled hour version of Faith Daniels's A Closer Look or an hour long show featuring NBC News legal correspondent Star Jones.

As part of the restructuring, NBC has formed the Affiliate Daytime Committee, to be chaired by Lee, general manager, KHQ -TV Spokane, Wash. The group will work closely with the network in scheduling and advertising and promotion activities with regard to daytime programing. Warren Littlefield, president, NBC Entertainment, said the changes have come about as a result of necessity. "We've had a problem in the daypart for the past 15 years, and I've spent the last two years trying to analyze those problems. We're not a traditional network in these dayparts as we are in late night or prime time. Only 14% of our affiliates carry our daytime schedule as we feed it. We can't think like a network," he said, "we have to put on the glasses of the local stations and better idea of what they're seeing."

The half hour being returned to stations was a concession to affiliates that the advisory committee suggested. "It's something they said they needed," said Littlefield, who also stressed that the stations "would rather be in bed with us rather than syndicators. That's because once those syndicated shows become popular the price starts going up."

The stand out for me was that only 14% of affiliates were running the schedule. NBC allowed that and paid the price.

[te.]

I think this is what trips us up with their shows having high clearances - yes, they were airing the shows, but at what time? I also imagine that it would screw up any nationwide promotional efforts for these shows. Why did NBC never push back on this, especially later in the 90s when they attempted to launch Sunset Beach? Maybe they had hoped that affiliates would choose the best time slot to optimize the ratings for those soaps, but clearly that didn't happen.

[danfling]

The article above mentioned NBC's talk show "The Faith Daniels Show."    I loved that program!   It seems that Ms. Daniels disappeared following its cancellation.  I really wish that her show had been aired for a longer run.

[Contessa Donatella]

But, specifically with Sunset Beach, why in the world did they want it at noon? 

[TVFAN1144]

What time slot was the extra half hour returned to the affiliates 

[Paul Raven]

NBC Entertainment prez Warren Littlefield comments on Daytime Nov 92

John Rohrbeck [president of the NBC-owned stations] was recently given oversight of NBC daytime as well. What's ahead for that daypart?

Well, strategically, what we've had to look at is what's the reality for NBC in the daypart. In late night, we have outstanding clearances. Daytime? We have the schedule, but the fact of the matter is 14% of our stations actually ran it the way we intended.

The entire schedule? Yes, 14% of our stations were running the daytime schedule live, the way we would feed it. So we have multiple feeds, and everyone had their own needs, including some of our O &Os. So I think what we've been realizing, and have been articulating for a while, is that we can't proceed with the kind of network arrogance of, "Oh, we're going to do it, therefore it's going to happen." Because in reality, in the marketplace, it wasn't happening. We formed the Affiliate Daytime Committee to have a more direct relationship with really smart broadcasters out there who are affiliate partners, and what they said is: "We need you in daytime. We can't be in a situation where we are victims for syndicators. Yes, we will take part of our daytime schedule, and, of course, we have to acquire shows from syndicators,  but we can't have our entire daytime schedule be in that kind of flux and jeopardy. We need you." So that was important for us to hear. Then what we've basically had to start looking at is: "What do they need? How can we supply it? How can we succeed ?" We started to say: "All right, we've got to meet their needs. We've got to get into a market to be able to sell much better on a market -for -market basis, the way a syndicator would." We asked ourselves: "How do we induce our stations to get better clearances and to get better promotion, and get them invested in the success of these shows ?" And that's what we've been doing. Now, if you say: "How do you reach and succeed with most of the country?" well, John Rohrbeck has almost 25% of the country with the owned and operated stations. Now, that's a way to increase your base. You've got to be in sync with John Rohrbeck's needs. And what it really became was that strategically it just seemed to make much more sense that the way to accomplish it was to have Rohrbeck running that daypart.

Is NBC going to have a pool of programs from which the affiliates will be able to pick and choose, or will you still try to provide a lineup? Clearly, Days of Our Lives and Another World are critically important enough to us that they be played back to back and that they get total support throughout the country. And we will get that. We can't afford to offer a pool of programs, but if we offer a show that we believe in, and not enough stations carry it, then, you know, we'll go out and try and sell it on a market -for -market basis. That's what we're going to have to do.

To competing stations? Yes. We've really got to change the rules. What we can't do is say: "Oh, here are the 12 choices and, you know, we're going to license these shows, or even own them, and you get to pick, say, four." We're not a Chinese restaurant. But I think, because of the Affiliate Committee, and because of John Rohrbeck's and John Miller's efforts, we're going to be offering product that more closely resembles what the stations need. Look at the way Oprah has succeeded. We're going to do experiments with CNBC. We're going to do station experiments, and then roll out after we can build a track record of success in an individual market, then roll out nationally if we feel we've got the goods.

Do you risk losing even more clearances, whether live or delayed, by in effect saying to affiliates: "If you don't clear our programs, the ones that we're offering, then we're going to have to take them elsewhere in the market ?" As I said earlier, we're going to be less arrogant about what their needs are, and we realize that in the nonsoap programing, there's going to be more movement as to what those station's needs are.