1 hour ago, Spoon said:

NBC's 84 comeback did not extend to daytime? What shows (game shows, Soaps) would you overhaul or can? What new shows if any would you add to daytime?

I've always wished NBC had greenlit SCRUPLES (based on the Judith Krantz novel, developed for television by Pat Falken Smith) over SaBa.

From what I understand, NBC was never as strict with their affiliates where the shows were aired. I think it really impeded any success any soap they launched could have.

I think to get affiliates to carry their soaps/gameshows they were more lenient in allowing them to reschedule.

But that plan backfired as the network shows were often placed in less advantageous timeslots, so didn't bring in the ratings at a local or national level and then the affiliates dropped them anyway.

I think ABC had an advantage in the late 70's when daytime took off for them as they were often weaker stations who happily took all the network shows.

Our nearest NBC station, Plattsburgh NY, never aired Santa Barbara. Then when Sunset Beach came along they aired it twice a day. Once at 10am and then again late night, after what followed The Tonight Show.

10 hours ago, Stevel said:

Our nearest NBC station, Plattsburgh NY, never aired Santa Barbara. Then when Sunset Beach came along they aired it twice a day. Once at 10am and then again late night, after what followed The Tonight Show.

When Santa Barbara debuted, the Buffalo NY NBC station aired it at 9 am initially although it looks like the Hamilton Ontario station (CHCH) was airing it at 3pm while NBC showed He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.

I went to college in a smaller town and I remember Sunset Beach aired at 1AM Central time.. and once that show was canceled, Passions aired at 2 PM and 3 PM on two different stations.

I always wondered how Passions ended up airing during regular day time hours yet Sunset Beach didn't. Never made sense.

The one good thing about Sunset Beach was that the Pittsburgh station aired it at 1, bumping Days to 3pm where it aired for two decades. We got onto Days after GL went to the morning and my dad would tune in early for Judge Judy. Personally, Days had little to no appeal to me but I got hooked in.

DAILY SENTINEL ROME, N.Y., SATURDAY EVENING, JUNE 21, 1975

She breaks through in Daytime Ratings

Just four years ago staid NBC broke precedent by allowing a woman into the inner sanctum of network programming, a men's club by tradition. Now, the breakthrough can't be attributed to pressure from women's liberation or change in upper - echelon thinking. Such turnabouts are pure fiction. The idea of including a woman's viewpoint in program selection simply never occurred to TV executives until bright Lin Bolen came along. Small, pert, and a bit of a fighter, Lin, who resembles actress Elizabeth Ashley, beat out 30 guys in persuading execs to give her a chance in prime - time programming, and soon had "McMillan & Wife" on solid ground by cutting out the jokes and by putting the family - type leads in jeopardy. Her skillful moves did not pass unnoticed, so when Lin read one morning in a trade paper that NBC's Daytime programming spot was open and she decided to apply, the name of Bolen was familiar to the brass. She got the job by knowing all about who dated who in soap opera history, and NBC daytime programming hasn't been the same since.

Thanks to Miss Bolen, "Another World" and "Days of Our Lives" expanded to full hours this past winter and spring, and the audience loved the move, according to ratings. Then, in April, Lin launched a 90 minute drama on "First Ladies' Diaries: Rachel Jackson," the first of a series, and that, too, earned big figures for the afternoon set.

In the game show department, Lin's delight in lights and pizzazz, has transformed NBC into a colorful gambling den with such newcomers as "Celebrity Sweepstakes," "High Rollers" and the latest gadgetry, "The Magnificent Marble Machine." When cynics pass wisecracks about Lin's penchant for razzledazzle, she counters with "We're in the entertainment business. I found theatricality missing in the way producers stage TV game shows." On a win streak, impresario Bolen really put it all together last St. Patrick's Day with a $100,000 pot on "Celebrity Sweepstakes," by bringing in contestants and hosts from other NBC game shows. And guess who walked off with the marbles? Not the learned history professor, but a Pasadena housewife who revealed the experience had given her "a new sense of self. I never felt I knew very much" she said. "Now, I feel really good."

That kind of answer has Lin Bolen purring inside. She's being helpful. You can entertain and be constructive too. Lin's woman's touch also looks good on paper. Since January, NBC jumped from third to first place in attracting the 18-to-34- age bracket among women, and the network is now tied for 1st place with CBS in the daytime sector. How did Lin do it? Three years ago, NBC was idling along, being clubbed by the opposition. Programming hadn't been overhauled in five years, and development projects were nil. Then Lin Bolen entered the picture. She asked for money, she ordered research to find out what women wanted to see, and she spent a year developing reltaionships with outside show packagers. And she went by gut feeling — her tastes and instincts. She guessed wrong on a realistic young - marrieds' soaper, "How to Survive a Marriage." The show attracted young marrieds like flics, but older women were put off, feeling either left out or threatened. "I made a mistake," Lin said. "You must find a common denominator in a show. Appealing to a limited group doesn't work."

So far the Lin Bolen common denominator is successful in the long form — the hour soap opera and the 90- minute "First Ladies' Diaries." The standard 3- minute scenes can run as long as 12 minutes, and fans seem to enjoy that extension. Costs may have doubled in the process, but the revenues, unnamed by Miss Bolen, are not far behind.

What's next? Lin Bolen, the daytime whiz, teams with documentary producer Lucy Jarvis and "Today's" Barbara Walters for a big September daytime splash — a 90-minute European venture as Barbara Walters visits nobility and royalty — the Duke and Duchess of Orleans, and Queen Margarethe II of Denmark and her husband. Prince Henrik. Cameras will also follow along as Miss Walters attends the posh Versailles Ball and mingles with European notables. So, at last, the women are having a say and their way at NBC. Everybody appears to be benefiting.

10 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

DAILY SENTINEL ROME, N.Y., SATURDAY EVENING, JUNE 21, 1975

Small, pert, and a bit of a fighter, Lin [...] beat out 30 guys in persuading execs to give her a chance in prime - time programming, and soon had "McMillan & Wife" on solid ground by cutting out the jokes and by putting the family - type leads in jeopardy.

Now I know why I didn't like "McMillan & Wife" after the first season.