CBS Daytime

[Paul Raven]

Love of Life got a raw deal being shunted to 11.30 to make way for Where The Heart Is.

Soaps had never worked before noon. NBC had tried a few years before with Paradise Bay/Morningstar and CBS with Brighter Day/Clear Horizon. Maybe CBS thought a familiar, stronger show would make a difference.

A few years earlier when CBS showed an interest in All My Children, American Home Products, owner of LOL  were not pleased that CBS wanted the noon slot for AMC and kicked up a fuss. Things must have changed a few years later.

 With a full schedule I wonder why CBS were so enthused about Where The Heart Is. I guess they realized their established soaps were growing older in audience appeal and hoped new soaps would get younger viewers.

[Errol]

I was at both the Y&R and B&B Fan Club weekend. Nothing of the sort was said by anyone on stage. I was literally at a table full of journalists.

To be clear, I was at the luncheon for both.

[AbcNbc247]

The only rumor I heard going around was that Disney/Bob Iger was considering selling ABC. 

[danfling]

Maybe CBS should have introducted Where the Heart Is the same way that ABC introduced Ryan's Hope.   They could have moved Love of Life to 10:30 (11:30 ET) and placed Where the Heart is thirty minutes later.   Then, after a year or so, switced the time slots.    That is the way that Ryan's Hope and All My Children did over on ABC.

[Contessa Donatella]

@Errol  Great! I expected nothing to come of it.

@AbcNbc247  Good line.

I think I understand & appreciate why Bell Sr. said no but I wonder if CBS had asked Claire Labine if she wouldn't have done it. 

Edited August 8, 2023 by Donna L. Bridges
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[Paul Raven]

The day The Newlywed Game went on the air, July 11 1966, CBS pre-empted its popular game show Password to carry a speech by Defence Secretary McNamara. Dedicated game watchers promptly switched their dials to ABC.

Thus, The Newlywed Game had a much larger audience than it otherwise would have commanded. Many viewers stayed with it as the weeks went by. For the first time, CBS’s long-time leadership in the daytime ratings was threatened. Finally, in July,1967, The Newlywed Game passed Password. Shortly after,CBS canceled Password for Love Is A Many Splendored Thing.

That pre-emption probably helped Days as well. And it was just at the time that Bill Bell had begun,

CBS unwittingly handed a gift to the opposition at just the right moment.

[Contessa Donatella]

was a crazy thing that they did. All along in development they were squirrelly about both the nun s/l & about the interracial s/l and then when Irna began to write it they told her she couldn't write those two stories & she fought but lost & so quit. 

[soapfan770]

I was trying to visualize what a potential CBS lineup looked liked and this what I was visualizing, unless the new soap was sandwiched in between Y&R and B&B at 1:30/12:30 with B&B moving to the 2PM/1PM slot. The least likely scenario would have had the new soap air at 1:30 between Y&R and ATWT while B&B moved into GL’s timeslot, obviously I’m quite sure the Bells would have wanted a soap block. 
 

Do we even know what Coming of Age was about? I’m curious, although I do wonder how it would have done. With Maria Arena in charge it makes me wonder if the soap would have ended up flopping as the CBS equivalent of Loving. 

[kalbir]

If the new Bell show was at 1:30/12:30 it would be in direct competition w/ Reilly's Days and no way CBS and the Bells are having that. Also by 1997 GL was not airing at 3/2 in many major media markets so I don't think the Bells would want B&B subjected to the same fate.

Maybe some 1992-1997 articles from soap magazines have info about Coming of Age, but I don't remember reading about the story bible.

[Paul Raven]

There was never any mention of what 'Coming of Age' was about. Obviously about young people reaching maturity. But it could apply to many age groups,I guess.

Do you think it was a good title? Soap titles can be tricky.

[Franko]

It's not my favorite title, but I'll concede that a title isn't always the best way to judge a show. Not a CBS show, but All My Children wasn't built around a singular matriarch, for example.

I think my four '90s soap Holy Grails are finding bibles (if any exist) for Coming of Age, The Soul Survivors, Aremid and Manhattan Lives.

[TVFAN1144]

Sounds like it would have been very similar to original Young and Restless whose working title was The Innocent Years 

[Contessa Donatella]

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.

 

Edited August 15, 2023 by Donna L. Bridges

[Contessa Donatella]

I'm not sure if this is all of this campaign or not. (Telenext: black background with white lettering) 

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Edited August 15, 2023 by Donna L. Bridges

[danfling]

I seem to recall that in his book Eight Years in Another World that either the writer (Lemay) or executive producer (Rauch) desired to expand.   The Alice/Steve wedding was tried as an experiment, and, after it was a ratings success, the plans were made to expand.

I thought that I was right about this, but I am sure that I will be told if I am correct.