NBC Daytime

[MichaelGL]

Very true. I've always thought there was a need to add a psychiatrist to the group of Matt/Maggie/Steve/Carolee. 

[Paul Raven]

The thing was The Doctors was still in good shape.

You had the hospital setting and strong family connections.

Nola/Mona was a strong rivalry that could be played for years a la Jill/Katherine.

Greta/Billy was a link b/w the two families. Greta was positioned to be the young heroine and Billy the boy we love to hate.

But the revolving door of writers made dumb decisions.

[Jdee43]

Can anyone shed light on what the NBC execs were thinking when they brought over Search for Tomorrow in March 1982? When they did so, was it pretty much assumed that The Doctors and Texas would be cancelled, or was there a period when they were actually thinking of going with 5 soap operas? 

For 9 months in 1982, it was 11am Texas/ noon The Doctors/12:30pm Search for Tomorrow/ 1pm Days of Our Lives/ 2pm Another World.

Why did they basically abandon the 3pm hour for over 2 years, from March 1982 to August 1984? They had reruns of Chips, then two luke-warm, hour long game shows, Fantasy and Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour. 

[Franko]

If I remember right, NBC was willing to put Search back at 12:30 p.m. EST, which P&G wanted and CBS refused. I'm now wondering what would have happened if NBC/P&G dared to try DOOL directly against Y&R, AW directly against ATWT and Search directly against Capitol.

[GLATWT88]

I'm not sure, but considering SFT was canceled over at CBS with better ratings than the entire NBC lineup, perhaps execs hoped SFT could prop up their numbers by bringing viewers over. Something that clearly didn't happen. 

They should have moved Texas to noon. It was never going to establish itself against GH and GL. It would have at least given it a half hour lead when no direct competition. 

[Contessa Donatella]

Yes, I believe you are correct. P&G thought their trouble stemmed from being moved on the schedule & wanted them moved back. 

[Soaplovers]

I know Sara Dancy did end up working at the hospital..I think as a patient advocate..and she did end up marrying Mike Powers...tying the two families together...but the actress quit and she was killed off quickly.

In 1979, the show did attempt to refocus back on the hospital with the 2 doctors that were brothers, the hospital administrator..and it looked like an unhappy doctors wife was introduced....however..the timeslot changes..regime changes and production company changes did the show in.

[TVFAN1144]

Not sure who thought SFT would work against Y&R and affiliate preemptions 

[robbwolff]

Who were the doctors who were brothers? I don't remember them. I remember Dr. Jack Garner and Dr. John Bennett were introduced in 1979 along with John's wife Ashley, who was portrayed by the wonderful Valerie Mahaffey.

[GLATWT88]

I also feel that NBC was a bit heavy handed when the cancelations of some of its soaps. I believe it was so desperately trying to be competitive that if a soap wasn't a breakout hit, it would get the chop. 

[j swift]

This is reductive, but as a fan of 1980s AW, it often felt like NBC daytime lacked an identity. 

ABC seemed like it was for younger viewers, with an emphasis on romance with a backdrop of social morality, adventure, or mystery.  CBS felt more mature, with the Bell soaps having a particular look, and ATWT and GL focusing on the long-standing tradition of soaps.  But, NBC was rudderless.

It is ironic that their marketing department coined the phrase love in the afternoon for use in marketing, because their later efforts were disparate and scattershot.  At times, they emphasized humor, and at other times they aped the adventure of ABC.  From year to year, the character of NBC soaps changed so much that it was difficult to define what constituted an NBC show.

Edited August 11, 2023 by j swift

[Contessa Donatella]

I was an NBC baby. Well, technically my mother watched ATWT, AW, DAYS, so that's what I began on. When the shows expanded she reluctantly gave up ATWT. I came to discover AMC & GL & GH on my own.

But, I always thought NBC was terrible at promotion & they were paranoid & very jealous of ABC & thought they should own their soaps because ABC did. And they were huge copycats, although I know American business in general was imitative. And it's not like they were lacking for quality in their shows. At different points along the way DOC, GEN, AW, DAYS & SB definitely showed quality. BEACH & PSSN were sorta different but they both could've been long term niche soaps. SFT was inherited but good. The spin-offs had quality in them, even. They hated being 3rd out of 3 but they seemed to screw up more than anyone else. 

[Paul Raven]

Variety Jan 27 82

NBC's Grant Tinker and Brandon Tartikoff trying to talk up the daytime lineup.

The article mentions  daytime makes the money to power primetime and NBC is looking like 'Berlin at the end of WW2'.

The priority is to get away from the gameshow mentality in the morning and fix the soaps in the afternoon.

They are looking at more personality/service oriented shows that may include Richard Simmons.

As for the soaps anything that doesn't show ratings improvement by early Summer may go down the drain.

Top of the list is Texas (13th) that has affiliates hollering as it's a poor lead in to local stations'fringe time'.

Tartikoff said he was more hopeful for Texas now than six months ago and that Texas had no problem attracting the younger demo but was getting killed by GH (1st) Now that GH writers have moved to Days (10th) Texas has more of a chance.

Tartikoff expects to see an immediate ratings improvement when The Doctors moves to Noon, altough station clearances are lowest that would be true of whatever was placed there. He hopes to knock off Family Feud, but not before TD undergoes major changes.

At 12.30 Search for Tomorrow (8th) moving from CBS should show some fast improvement in that timeslot up against RH (5th) and Y&R (6th)

When the timeslot changes take effect NBC promo department will go all out.

A lot of hype there but nothing positive eventuated.

NBC made no moves towards 'personality/info' shows in the morning, instead moving Texas to 11am replacing Wheel of Fortune and Battlestars. that was a flop.

Search did better than The Doctors at 12.30 but I'm not sure TD did much better than Password Plus at midday.

Getting Pat Falken Smith back at Days was a good move but unfortunately she was soon gone and DePriest/Anderson were not of the same caliber and Days momentum was lost.

AW hired Corinne Jacker and that was a bust.

Imagine if PFS had stayed on at Days and maybe The Dobsons had been grabbed for AW. Things might have been different.

 

[Contessa Donatella]

@Paul Raven   You asked me once why NBC would want Jake to rape Marley ... 

Elana Levine. (2020). Her Stories: Daytime Soap Opera & US Television History. Duke University Press

[Paul Raven]

Feb 70.

NBC's latest programming changes to improve daytime ratings have backfired.

At 12.30 'Who, What, Where' is scoring a 23 share compared to 'Namedroppers' 28 share.

At 1.30 'Life with Linkletter' 15 share compared to 'You're Putting Me On' 18 share.

In turn the soap block's ratings are down compared to a year ago

Days 36 share to 28, Doctors 35 to 29, AW 40 to 32.

Bright Promise had a 16 share against Edge of Night 39.