CBS owned daytime throughout the 50s and especially the 60's where the mix of reruns in the morning, soaps/game shows/variety in the afternoon dominated every timeslot.

Meanwhile ABC and NBC were constantly juggling their lineups trying to break through.

Finally in the late 60's NBC made headway as Days/Doctors and AW began winning their timeslots forcing CBS to make changes. Then GH asserted itself and the 70's saw all 3 networks battling for domination.

CBS made a lot of changes in the 70's. Introducing Y&R was no doubt their best move.

Let's discuss CBS Daytime over the years.

Edited August 6, 20232 yr by Paul Raven

I totally believe you; I was mistaken and hope that all will forgive my mistaken thought.

1 hour ago, danfling said:

I totally believe you; I was mistaken and hope that all will forgive my mistaken thought.

Reading Pete's book, it would be easy to get the idea it was him & Paul together! Not a prob. 

On 8/14/2023 at 6:03 PM, Donna L. Bridges said:

I just now saw this. The plan for expansion didn't come from P&G. Lin Bolen, VP NBC Daytime, spearheaded the expansion to one hour, first with AW & then when it worked, with DAYS & they even looked into it with DOC & did a one hour trial run but did not pursue it ultimately. Once NBC had done it, the other networks copycatted. Didn't come from the shows, or the owners/producers, came from the networks. 

 

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

When Irna moved from P&G to ABC she also became the first person to work for all 3 networks. She had begun with CBS & added NBC, now ABC. Fred Silverman was the second person to work for all 3.

 

 

 

 

Agnes Nixon is the first person to work for all 3 networks. First, for CBS with Guiding Light and As the World Turns. Then for NBC, Another World from 1965 to 1968 and then for ABC, One Life to Live in July 1968.
 

Edited August 19, 20232 yr by JoeCool

1 hour ago, JoeCool said:

Agnes Nixon is the first person to work for all 3 networks. First, for CBS with Guiding Light and As the World Turns. Then for NBC, Another World from 1965 to 1968 and then for ABC, One Life to Live in July 1968.
 

Tomorrow I'm going to have to write Elana Levine an email. Agnes beat Irna to ABC by a full 2 years. Of course Irna was at every place else before Agnes & Agnes wouldn't have been there if not for Irna - but that doesn't matter. Very good. 

 

2 hours ago, JoeCool said:

Agnes Nixon is the first person to work for all 3 networks. First, for CBS with Guiding Light and As the World Turns. Then for NBC, Another World from 1965 to 1968 and then for ABC, One Life to Live in July 1968.
 

Irna worked for all 3 TV networks first.

CBS with TGL and ATWT .

NBC with AW in 64

ABC as consultant working on the development of Peyton Place and ABC daytime:

Feb 65...Flame In The Wind, which premiered in late December, is a good example of the care ABC puts into developing new daytime entertainment. It's written by Don Ettlinger, produced by Joseph Hardy and has as story consultant Irna Phillips, all of whom have been responsible for some of television's most popular serials.

April 64 ...Irna Phillips named ABC -TV consultant on all nighttime dramatic programs. She is credited with originating serial form on radio and TV. Miss .Phillips will be associated with all three .networks since she created and writes CBS -TV's daytime serial, As the World Turns, and, Another World, which will start on NBC -TV next month.

Edited August 19, 20232 yr by Paul Raven

11 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

Irna worked for all 3 TV networks first.

CBS with TGL and ATWT .

NBC with AW in 64

ABC as consultant working on the development of Peyton Place and ABC daytime:

Feb 65...Flame In The Wind, which premiered in late December, is a good example of the care ABC puts into developing new daytime entertainment. It's written by Don Ettlinger, produced by Joseph Hardy and has as story consultant Irna Phillips, all of whom have been responsible for some of television's most popular serials.

April 64 ...Irna Phillips named ABC -TV consultant on all nighttime dramatic programs. She is credited with originating serial form on radio and TV. Miss .Phillips will be associated with all three .networks since she created and writes CBS -TV's daytime serial, As the World Turns, and, Another World, which will start on NBC -TV next month.

Irna worked for all 3 but yes she did work on ABC nighttime. Agnes Nixon is the first person to work for all three networks for daytime.  Irna's work as a consultant  and storu consultant was rather vague at best. I would still go for Agnes Nixon. Agnes Nixon is the first person who substiantially worked on daytime serials for all 3 networks first. Agnes created OLTL for ABC in 1968. Consulting is work yes technicially. Creating a serial, being head writer and executive producer of OLTL is substantial. I would say Agnes Nixon. But if its Irna ok. Irna was not successful at ABC. Agnes was successful at ABC, NBC and CBS.

Edited August 19, 20232 yr by JoeCool

1 hour ago, JoeCool said:

Irna worked for all 3 but yes she did work on ABC nighttime. Agnes Nixon is the first person to work for all three networks for daytime.  Irna's work as a consultant  and storu consultant was rather vague at best. I would still go for Agnes Nixon. Agnes Nixon is the first person who substiantially worked on daytime serials for all 3 networks first. Agnes created OLTL for ABC in 1968. Consulting is work yes technicially. Creating a serial, being head writer and executive producer of OLTL is substantial. I would say Agnes Nixon. But if its Irna ok. Irna was not successful at ABC. Agnes was successful at ABC, NBC and CBS.

And, Agnes owed her career to Irna. And, Agnes was lauded & praised by every entity that existed. Irna is lauded only by the most devoted soap fans. And, as far as "success" goes, do you honestly think anyone was more successful at the creation of soap operas than Irna Phillips? 

Edited August 19, 20232 yr by Donna L. Bridges

26 minutes ago, Donna L. Bridges said:

And, Agnes owed her career to Irna. And, Agnes was lauded & praised by every entity that existed. Irna is lauded only by the most devoted soap fans. And, as far as "success" goes, do you honestly think anyone was more successful at the creation of soap operas than Irna Phillips? 

Agreed. Irna is the Goddess of Soaps! Agnes owed her career to Irna and Bill Bell owed his career to Irna.

No one was more successful than Irna! But Irna did not have success at ABC. Her show was canceled. But overall she was the most successful person in daytime. NO doubt about it. Irna is the best.

48 minutes ago, Donna L. Bridges said:

And, Agnes owed her career to Irna. And, Agnes was lauded & praised by every entity that existed. Irna is lauded only by the most devoted soap fans. And, as far as "success" goes, do you honestly think anyone was more successful at the creation of soap operas than Irna Phillips? 

Let's also not forget that Another World that Irna and Bell created was on the verge of being canceled and Irna asked Agnes to take over AW as a favor to her. Agnes took over AW and made it a huge success within less than a year. So Agnes helped out Irna too.

1 hour ago, JoeCool said:

Let's also not forget that Another World that Irna and Bell created was on the verge of being canceled and Irna asked Agnes to take over AW as a favor to her. Agnes took over AW and made it a huge success within less than a year. So Agnes helped out Irna too.

Yes, when we talk about "so-and-so saved such-and-such" a soap, well, in the literal truth of the matter Agnes saved Another World! People say Pete saved it but what he did was really usher in a golden time. It did not last long enough to call it an era. But, if Agnes had not thrown out the useless nonsense that came from Jame Lipton who was great at Inside The Actor's Studio but never even once great as a soap writer & created the Alice-Steve-Rachel triangle & further defined both Rachel & Ada, well, AW would have been canceled before the P&G men in suits got Pete & plopped him down to be another student of Irna's! 

1 hour ago, JoeCool said:

Agreed. Irna is the Goddess of Soaps! Agnes owed her career to Irna and Bill Bell owed his career to Irna.

No one was more successful than Irna! But Irna did not have success at ABC. Her show was canceled. But overall she was the most successful person in daytime. NO doubt about it. Irna is the best.

Excellent! Same page. 

Feb 1970

CBS makes some adjustments.

Fred Silverman now VP program planning and development NY. Silverman had been head of daytime since 63. This position gives him scope above daytime duties. He will continue to oversee daytime but not on a day to day basis as this new post includes nightime and specials development.

Paul Rauch now national director of daytime programs. Rauch had spent 9 years at P&G as supervisor of daytime programs. He will fill Silvermans post. Mike Filerman director of daytime programs NY now reports to Rauch.

Rauch had been a child actor and was son of Harry Rauch former PR director at Young & Rubicam advertising agency. He had been involved at CBS daytime prior to working at P&G.

CBS had a 3 1/2 hour soap block from February 4, 1980-September 18, 2009. Which of the line ups was the favorite here?

February 4, 1980-June 5, 1981: Search for Tomorrow, Y&R, As the World Turns, Guiding Light

June 8, 1981-March 26, 1982: Y&R, As the World Turns, Search for Tomorrow, Guiding Light

March 29, 1982-March 20, 1987: Y&R, As the World Turns, Capitol, Guiding Light

March 23, 1987-September 18, 2009: Y&R, B&B, As the World Turns, Guiding Light

For me the March 23, 1987-September 18, 2009 line up defines CBS daytime.

17 minutes ago, kalbir said:

CBS had a 3 1/2 hour soap block from February 4, 1980-September 18, 2009. Which of the line ups was the favorite here?

technically it was a block. but guiding light really took a hit from the time shift in so many major media markets. from wikipedia:

In 1995, beginning with CBS flagship station WCBS-TV in New York, Guiding Light began airing at 10 a.m. Eastern time in several markets. Its once-solid performance began to crumble by the mid-1990s, when its ratings sunk as low as ninth place out of ten.^[26] However, during the controversial clone storyline in 1998, the ratings experienced a brief resurgence, moving up to fifth for many weeks that summer. Nielsen reported Guiding Light had 5 million viewers in 1999.

Up until its CBS finale in 2009, stations in a number of markets aired Guiding Light in the morning either at 9 or 10 a.m. local time: Miami, Chicago, Baltimore, Boston, Detroit, New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Dallas-Fort Worth, Orlando, Atlanta, Columbia, SC, Fort Wayne, IN, South Bend, IN, Portland, OR, Quad Cities, Buffalo, Reno, Portland, ME, Milwaukee, Albany, NY, and Scranton-Wilkes Barre, PA. Guiding Light aired at 12 noon local time in Honolulu, Hawaii. In Savannah, GA, it aired at 4:00 pm local time.

 

I think it was unprecedented for a network O&O station to preempt programming as WCBS did with Guiding Light.

Did they stick with GL at 10am till the end?

What programming did they offer at 3pm over the years?

Edit-did some research

`Day & Date' move

CBS O &O WCBS -TV New York, facing too many early fringe shows for too few time slots, likely will seek permission from the network to air network soap The Guiding Light, currently scheduled at 3 p.m., out of pattern and probably in early daytime, said a source. That would allow the station to run CBS /Group W's new magazine strip Day & Date at 3 p.m., following the other soaps, Geraldo at 4 and news at 5. If the network allows the move, other O &Os that have added Day & Date to their schedules could follow suit

Day & Date was not a success but GL was not returned to 3pm.

 

Edited August 25, 20232 yr by Paul Raven

1 hour ago, Paul Raven said:

I think it was unprecedented for a network O&O station to preempt programming as WCBS did with Guiding Light.

Did they stick with GL at 10am till the end?

What programming did they offer at 3pm over the years?

 

I thought someone finally put an end to "Day Ahead". Did they just put morning & afternoon on the same episode & continue to allow the morning broadcasts?