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Curtains For Katie?

The normal lifespan of a talk show that goes through several stations moving it to a "new time" is two seasons. However, if too many stations sand Katie to overnights by Christmas, she will be one and done!
 
Moving anything isn't going to happen; the 3pm/2pm CT is a timeslot that hasn't been available to ABC affiliates to locally program since the black and white experimental days, and in comparison, many NBC stations kept Leeza on in syndication at 3/2 even after it left the network roster, and many NBC stations still have no idea how to program that slot fifteen years later.

You can't do a newscast there at all unless it's so fluffy it makes America Now look like 60 Minutes in comparison, and putting an infomercial or Byron Allen'ish product on in that slot is akin to assisting in the suicide of your entire early prime schedule. Double-running a talk show will make your viewers think of you as a lazy programmer, and sitcom reruns are no option for a major network affiliate except after 5pm.

Also, the climate is a lot different than it was five years ago. There used to be changes in mid-season at that time all the time; last year, not one station in Milwaukee or Green Bay did a mid-season adjustment to their syndicated schedule because the bench for mid-season isn't deep or non-existent. Like it or lump it, we're stuck with Katie for the full season, and until November sweeps, we won't have a definite verdict on if it's officially a flop or not.
 
You guys kill me here...posts giving Jeff Probst and Katie Couric pink slips after only two weeks...TWO WEEKS!! Come on now, you all know as well as I do that it takes time for programs to build an audience. And has anyone here who has buried either of these efforts seen the said programs? We take the numbers way too seriously.

Who among here made the decisions to put these shows on the air? A show of hands...

...waiting...

...still waiting...

...Yeah, just like I thought.

If the same story holds up after six weeks, or even 13, then post. Until then cool out. It's still too early in the season for this.
 
Rollo-Smokes said:
If the same story holds up after six weeks, or even 13, then post. Until then cool out. It's still too early in the season for this.
Click to expand...

Agreed on this. Syndication and network are two different animals; stations would never buy a show if the distributor would cancel it in two weeks. Even in 2000 when Dr. Laura was bombing all over CBS O&O schedules and most major market affiliates, many of the smaller stations kept it in the same slot for the whole year because there was nothing they had to replace it (even WTMJ in Milwaukee kept that show at 2pm until it was put out of its rerun-filled misery in September 2001).

I viewed it out of curiosity and that was it, but I didn't expect at all they would care if I tuned in or not, because I'm out of the show's demographic. As long as plenty of 25-54 women tune in and it keeps getting good publicity (or even bad), it's going to stick around, and there's going to be topic shifts, changes in diction, and new set dressing to address weaknesses.
 
FRR said:
Why would anyone think it would have succeeded ?
Click to expand...
I was thinking the same thing. Granted, it's not the same type of show, but there's a reason why she's not doing the news anymore. I can't quite put my finger on it, and maybe I'm wrong, but there's a quality about her that's not the same as, say, a Jane Pauley or a Robin Meade.
 
Rollo-Smokes said:
it takes time for programs to build an audience.

We take the numbers way too seriously.
Click to expand...
Isn't that part of the problem though? Those in charge do take the numbers way too seriously, and often decisions are made prematurely. One thing I've always found frustrating with the networks is when they start messing around with the time slots. It's no wonder shows get canceled before they can find an audience... no one knows when they're on.
 
Rollo-Smokes said:
You guys kill me here...posts giving Jeff Probst and Katie Couric pink slips after only two weeks...TWO WEEKS!! Come on now, you all know as well as I do that it takes time for programs to build an audience. And has anyone here who has buried either of these efforts seen the said programs? We take the numbers way too seriously.
Click to expand...

I agree with you. This might not be the best analogy, but networks pull primetime shows after 2-3 airings if the numbers are low. Why should daytime programming be any different?
 
Maybe people are just tired of talk shows. There are way too many of them. There was a similar story about Jeff Probst's show having problems already. Maybe they could start repeating some of the primetime shows during the daytime hours for people that may have missed them at night. We certainly don't need any more court shows.
 
brian4 said:
Rollo-Smokes said:
You guys kill me here...posts giving Jeff Probst and Katie Couric pink slips after only two weeks...TWO WEEKS!! Come on now, you all know as well as I do that it takes time for programs to build an audience. And has anyone here who has buried either of these efforts seen the said programs? We take the numbers way too seriously.
Click to expand...
I agree with you. This might not be the best analogy, but networks pull primetime shows after 2-3 airings if the numbers are low. Why should daytime programming be any different?
Click to expand...
Daytime programming is typically five days a week. Prime-time is only once per week, unless the show is a big hit, in which case they will figure out ways to stretch it out across the rest of the week.
 
I expected that "Katie" would get huge first week ratings.

The next few weeks will determine if her show has a long-term future.

It's too early to pass judgment on her show's fate.
 
It is possible for a syndicated talk show to get axed before
a full season is up; case in point: "America," with McLean Stevenson,
Sarah Purcell, and Stuart Damon (who jumped ship back to "General
Hospital" almost as soon as the show debuted), in 1985. The CBS o&os
in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and St. Louis dumped it by December;
stations in Atlanta, Tampa, Cleveland, Cincinnati, and San Francisco followed suit
shortly afterward.

Of course, OTOH, "Thicke Of The Night" lasted the full 1983-84 season, IIRC.

I'm not going to predict the fate of either Katie or Jeff's shows, but I'm wondering
if they might have to do what Jenny Jones did and start taking the low road; Jenny's
show started as a celebrity-oriented talk show, then in year two she began switching
to subjects reminiscent of Springer and Maury.

BTW, does anybody know how "General Hospital" is doing at its new time?
 
"America" aired on KIRO/7 at the start of the 1985-86 season.

-crainbebo
 
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