CBS Daytime

[Contessa Donatella]

Sorry I have no capacity to burn a disk BUT I can get you a digital copy, the whole file. We can arrange this. I'll put it in my google drive & share it to you. PM me. I need your email address for the share link. 

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1982

 

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[Jdee43]

What time slots would you say were traditionally problematic for CBS?

4pm seemed to always be tough. They tried a bunch of different shows from the late 70s to the mid 80s, Match Game/ Love of Life/ One Day at a Time reruns/ Tattletales/ Body Language/ Press  Your Luck. They just finally threw in the towel and gave that slot back to the affiliates in fall  1986. CBS was the last network to give the 4pm slot up; ABC did it in winter 1985; NBC in winter 1978!

[Paul Raven]

4pm was a problem for all networks. ABC stuck it out with EON even with low clearances. It went from 99% on CBS to 81 % on ABC when it switched and struggled on for years.

As you say NBC dropped 4pm on  Dec 77 because of low ratings.

So at least CBS persevered.

[kalbir]

Just in time for the rise of Oprah.

[Paul Raven]

Through 1972 CBS regularly scheduled sitcom reruns in the daytime schedule. Lucy, Andy Griffith, Beverly Hillbillies,Gomer Pyle, Family affair were some of the shows chosen for daytime play.

But My Three Sons, Petticoat Junction, Green Acres, Hogan's Heroes never made it.

Then in 72 they revamped, introducing gameshows and dropping sitcoms until 75 when All in the Family was scheduled. In 77 Here's Lucy was used, a few years after it left the nighttime schedule. That was the first time that a daytime rerun was not airing at night.

Had Here's Lucy not gone into syndication when it was cancelled? 

Mash began in 78 and One day at A Time replaced it in 79, Jeffersons and Alice arrived in 80.

I wonder why Maude was not used?

Mary Tyler Moore,Rhoda  and Bob Newhart would seem suitable for daytime but never made it.

Finally in 82, sitcoms were again no longer seen on CBS daytime.

Designing Women was scheduled a few years later but Newhart was not used.

Any thoughts on when those other shows might have been used?

[Jdee43]

I Love Lucy was a staple of CBS daytime from 1958-1966, typically running at either 10am or 10:30am. But it was all in black and white, so from 1968-1972 they reran The Lucy Show at 10am, which at least had some color seasons. 

The Dick Van Dyke Show was also on CBS daytime starting in 1965 and lasting to 1969 in the 11:30am time slot. I'm surprised they aired it from 1967 to 1969, considering it was in black and white and everything was switching to color. Was Dick Van Dyke the last show that CBS daytime aired that had all black and white episodes?

CBS didn't air any primetime reruns in daytime from 1972-1976, an incredible era of original programming. When reruns returned from 1976-1979, it was Lucy's latest show, All in the Family, and MASH. 

Here's Lucy was kept out of syndication after it ended in 1974 out of fear that it would harm the rerun potential of I Love Lucy and the Lucy Show. When CBS put it on in the air for 6 months in 1977, it was the first time it had been seen since it ended production.

In 1979-1982, it was The Jeffersons, Alice, and One Day at a Time. These were the top rated sitcoms on CBS at the time, other than MASH. From 1982 on, no more primetime reruns in daytime, with the sole exception of Designing Women for a few months in 1991. Maybe CBS wanted to get more eyeballs on that show; it was it in the top 10. Newhart had ended its run in 1990. 

CBS daytime to 1972, and then from 1976-1982, when they showed prime-time shows, seemed to be about certain classics (Lucy, Andy Griffith) as well as reruns of the highest rated sitcoms still on the network.

It is interesting how The Mary Tyler Moore Show never made it. Maybe if CBS had shown reruns from 1972-1976, it would have, paired with Lucy. 

Edited January 7 by Jdee43

[Jdee43]

Also, it's interesting how they never reran Perry Mason in the 60s. I guess the hour format, and it being in black and white. Many execs thought it would make an ideal soap opera, and it did inspire Edge of Night, so maybe having Edge on is another reason CBS didn't show it?

Also interesting how they never reran the 30 minute Gunsmoke. That could have opened the door to a western soap opera or something. They also never reran the 30 minute Twilight Zone, which could have opened the door to more sci fi in daytime.         

[Paul Raven]

 I'm not sure how the rerun rights worked for primetime shows. Perhaps MTM had it in their contracts that their shows would not be rerun in the daytime,for whatever reasons.

I thought Petticoat Junction would be ideal for daytime.

Only ABC reran hour shows-Ben Casey,The Fugitive and Wagon Train (under the Trailmaster title). One reason for that might have been a lack of product and also their 'alternative' status they had in the 60's of doing things differently eg Peyton Place,Batman etc

[Mitch64]

Wow, this was my early childhood, I remember watching Dick Van Dyke and the Lucy Show as a kid while my Mom cleaned..(a gene I didn't get...)

The excuse for not syndicating Here's Lucy was that it would hurt the other shows, and that might have been Lucy's viewpoint, I don't think she ever really comprehended how back that show stank. I think other people knew it would flop and it did, it was never successful in syndication and I think CBS only ran it in daytime for a short time.