Preempting a network show with another network show

[BD Sullivan]

I'm more of a game show fan than a soap fan, but I think it has to do with the fact that soaps are considered more important in the lineup. When that lineup change happened in October 1984 that you speak of, Ryan's Hope was moved from 12:30 to noon, which would cause it to be pre-empted on all of the stations that carried news or some other syndicated program. So RH could continue to be seen, some ABC stations showed it at 11:30 instead. I do believe many of those stations were pre-empting the noon Feud anyway, so that station's viewers probably didn't know the difference anyway.

My parents recall being in church prayer meetings where a sweet little old lady requested prayer for a soap opera character!

Of course that was better than the soap opera villain who was quietly shopping at a New York department store when she was pushed up against a wall by a rabid fan of her program. :

The dad on The Wonder Years...drawing a blank on his name...said he once played a heel on a soap opera, and was once assaulted by a purse-swinging old lady. ;D

The actor who played Edith Bunker's would-be rapist on an episode of All in the Family encountered some similar reactions in public shortly after that episode aired; I seem to recall reading that one woman even spit on him!

...Margaret Hamilton ... come to mind.

Hamilton once made the comment that many children were afraid to go near her because of her role in "The Wizard of Oz."

 

[joeybabe25]

Sadly, David Dukes (the actor) died of a heart attack at the age of 55 in 2000. His IMDB page notes that he received "numerous death threats" over his role.

And I think he received a bit of confusion over his name!

Joe

 

[SteveRichards]

I don't know if it was "sweetened" by the producers, but I remember the LOUD cheers from the studio audience when Edith got away from him.

The audience reaction was not artificially sweetened. On "The E! True Hollywood Story" documenting "All in the Family," David Dukes was interviewed and he made it a point to remark about how the audience clapped, cheered, and stomped their feet as Edith got free from the rapist and ran out the front door. Dukes said it was the only break they had in the 22-minute taping because they had to wait for the audience to calm down.

 

[BD Sullivan]

Here is (most of) the scene:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4JqTkaEEzc

 

[FreddyE1977]

I wouldn't want to be a staton manager getting phone calls and hate mail from rabid soap fans wanting to know "what happened to my stories(what Kentucky folks called soaps)?" My parents recall being in church prayer meetings where a sweet little old lady requested prayer for a soap opera character!

And that's exactly why the soap would win over my game shows. Also, the term "stories" goes definitely past Kentucky...I've heard it used in PA too

Oh, yeah. Lots and lots of old ladies here in the Pittsburgh region waiting for "their stories" to come on.

 

[BD Sullivan]

I wouldn't want to be a staton manager getting phone calls and hate mail from rabid soap fans wanting to know "what happened to my stories(what Kentucky folks called soaps)?" My parents recall being in church prayer meetings where a sweet little old lady requested prayer for a soap opera character!

And that's exactly why the soap would win over my game shows. Also, the term "stories" goes definitely past Kentucky...I've heard it used in PA too

Oh, yeah. Lots and lots of old ladies here in the Pittsburgh region waiting for "their stories" to come on.

Soap opera fans called TV stations in 1981 to protest the preemption when Reagan was shot. :

 

[70 and 80s kid]

Add Katherine McGregor (Harriet Oleson on Little House) to those who were reportedly opposite of the characters they played. Many fans were pleasantly surprised to receive personal replies to their fan letters they sent

 

[onairb]

During the heyday of Perry Mason, a little old lady was upset with Raymond Burr for 'winning every case', and making that 'nice' Hamilton Burger look bad. Burr put her mind at ease by reminding her that viewers only got to see one case per week)'only the cases I try on Saturdays', and that, every once in a while, he let Burger win when the cameras weren't present! ;D

 

[BD Sullivan]

During the heyday of Perry Mason, a little old lady was upset with Raymond Burr for 'winning every case', and making that 'nice' Hamilton Burger look bad. Burr put her mind at ease by reminding her that viewers only got to see one case per week)'only the cases I try on Saturdays', and that, every once in a while, he let Burger win when the cameras weren't present! ;D

Perry actually did lose a case/appeal--at the start of a show. Of course, by the end, his client was exonerated:

http://www.perrymasontvshowbook.com/pmb_c905_e181.htm

 

[KyDXIn]

I'm more of a game show fan than a soap fan, but I think it has to do with the fact that soaps are considered more important in the lineup. When that lineup change happened in October 1984 that you speak of, Ryan's Hope was moved from 12:30 to noon, which would cause it to be pre-empted on all of the stations that carried news or some other syndicated program. So RH could continue to be seen, some ABC stations showed it at 11:30 instead. I do believe many of those stations were pre-empting the noon Feud anyway, so that station's viewers probably didn't know the difference anyway.

My parents recall being in church prayer meetings where a sweet little old lady requested prayer for a soap opera character!

Of course that was better than the soap opera villain who was quietly shopping at a New York department store when she was pushed up against a wall by a rabid fan of her program. :

The dad on The Wonder Years...drawing a blank on his name...said he once played a heel on a soap opera, and was once assaulted by a purse-swinging old lady. ;D

The actor who played Edith Bunker's would-be rapist on an episode of All in the Family encountered some similar reactions in public shortly after that episode aired; I seem to recall reading that one woman even spit on him!

...Margaret Hamilton ... come to mind.

Hamilton once made the comment that many children were afraid to go near her because of her role in "The Wizard of Oz."

Paul Harvey once did a "Rest of the Story" on Hamiltion. As part of a birthday party for her daughter, they showed the film "The Wizard of Oz" to the children. Her daughter was horrorfied when the scene appear and her mother melted away. I think was aware of how children especially took the character seriously and were frightened when she appeared on Mr. Rogers to explain how it all was make-believe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1WGKGZZ4U0

Mrs. Hamilton was a grand lady, but not opposed to having some fun too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ngveiYIaeQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwaEb79AYaM

 

[joeybabe25]

Perry actually did lose a case/appeal--at the start of a show. Of course, by the end, his client was exonerated:
http://www.perrymasontvshowbook.com/pmb_c905_e181.htm

Did Perry ever lose a case in the tv movies of the 80's and 90's? And how about Monte Markham (I know he's not the "real" Perry...but he did have (I think) 13 weeks on "The New Perry Mason". Did he ever lose a case?

Joe

Actually most of Perry's "cases" were preliminary hearing (so I've read) so the producers could save money on extras for the jury.

 

[azumanga]

I think [Margaret Hamilton] was aware of how children especially took the character seriously and were frightened when she appeared on Mr. Rogers to explain how it all was make-believe.

Around that time of her Mister Rogers appearance (around 1976), she was also spokesperson for Maxwell House coffee.

 

[onairb]

I think [Margaret Hamilton] was aware of how children especially took the character seriously and were frightened when she appeared on Mr. Rogers to explain how it all was make-believe.

Around that time of her Mister Rogers appearance (around 1976), she was also spokesperson for Maxwell House coffee.

I thought that was Vivian Vance, as 'Cora'?

 

[onairb]

Perry actually did lose a case/appeal--at the start of a show. Of course, by the end, his client was exonerated:
http://www.perrymasontvshowbook.com/pmb_c905_e181.htm

Did Perry ever lose a case in the tv movies of the 80's and 90's? And how about Monte Markham (I know he's not the "real" Perry...but he did have (I think) 13 weeks on "The New Perry Mason". Did he ever lose a case?

Joe

Actually most of Perry's "cases" were preliminary hearing (so I've read) so the producers could save money on extras for the jury.

The 1980s Mason TV movies all had a two-hour format, and a large enough budget to hire extras for a jury, so every case in those episodes always went to trial(This also allowed for a lot of padding of the part of William Katt as 'Paul Drake, Jr.', who could only help solve the case in the second hour after totally botching it in the first half, and having Mason look like an idiot against the prosecutor (played by David Ogden Stiers in the first few movies).
Having the Markham version of Perry lose a case might have been the only way to get anyone to tune in.
Believe it or not, in 1972, Markham lost out to Lee Majors to play the Six Million Dollar Man, in the first TV-movie pilot, and his 'consolation' prize after losing that part, and the Perry Mason gig in short order, was the recurring role of the more powerful bionic bad guy, the 7 Million Dollar Man. Markham was sort of like the Hamiliton Burger of ruggedly handsome 60s and 70s TV actors; he did good work, but didn't get much acclaim.

 

[bpatrick]

It was Margaret Hamilton as Cora, a part she took, admittedly,
to soften her image.

I don't think Monte Markham's Perry Mason ever lost a case,
but the show was often criticized for scripts so complicated
that even Markham/Mason was surprised when the real guilty
party stood up and confessed.

But we've gotten 'way off topic. I'll give you another example
of a station that substituted one network show for another:
WCPO Cincinnati, when it was a CBS affiliate in the '70s, routinely
pre-empted "Love Of Life" at 11:30 AM and substituted (usually)
the 10 AM show ("Uncle Al" was on from 9-10:30); in my Kentucky
listings I've pointed out Ch. 9 showing "All In The Family" at 11:30
when it aired on CBS at 10 AM; the station would sometimes air
"Tattletales" at 11:30 rather than 4 PM.

WBTV Charlotte was notorious, all through the '80s, for airing "The Price
Is Right" on a day-behind at 10:30 AM in order to carry its local "Top O'
The Day" from 11:30-12:30. That meant the pre-emption of CBS's 10:30
show, such as "Press Your Luck" and "Card Sharks." Viewers in Charlotte
had to be able to pick up WFMY Greensboro or WSPA Spartanburg, SC
(which, IIRC, was carried on cable anyway) in order to watch the shows
WBTV pre-empted.

Speaking of WFMY, it had a habit up until about 1958 of replacing one
CBS show with another; a couple of examples: "December Bride," which
aired on CBS Mondays at 9:30 (ET), was on WFMY Sundays at 9:30, and
"Alfred Hitchcock Presents," the network's show at that time, was at first
pre-empted, then put into a late Saturday timeslot. WFMY also pre-empted
CBS's Friday 7:30 show in 1956 to air "Do You Trust Your Wife?" (in-pattern:
Tuesday 10:30 PM). The station liked to take advantage of hammocking and
put a popular syndicated show between (or after) popular network shows,
so it would do its own thing Mondays between "I Love Lucy" and "Studio One,"
Wednesdays between Arthur Godfrey and "I've Got A Secret" ("The Millionaire"
aired before primetime on Fridays for about three years), and Sundays between
"GE Theater" and "The $64,000 Challenge." WFMY was not alone among CBS
affiliates that preferred to do their own thing after "The $64,000 Question" on
Tuesdays.

And look at any primetime schedule for WKRG Mobile prior to the mid-'70s; I
guarantee you'll find one CBS show in place of another somewhere during the
week.

 

[Braves2005]

WBTV in Charlotte also pre-empted Young And The Restless from its start in March 1973. I remember in a retro schedule that the independent station in Charlotte picked it up in 1978 but I don't think that this lasted very long.

 

[bpatrick]

WBTV started airing Y&R shortly before it went to an hour,
at 1 PM. WAGA was another that pre-empted Y&R at first,
picking it up in the summer of 1976, also at 1 PM (and even
today, WGCL carries it at 3 PM, opting for the 10 AM feed
of "Let's Make A Deal").

 

[chris12]

WITI 6 in Milwaukee for a number of years aired Young And The Restless on a one day delay at 9am wiping out the shows in that hour while airing a talk show, Donahue, then Sally in the 11 am hour. Also, channel 12 did something similar putting All My Children at 11 in place of what aired in that hour having a noon newscast.