Update on Guiding Light's Replacement

[adam95]

LMAD will not start until October so there will be a gap of a couple weeks after GL ends. Can I only guess a double run of TPIR for a couple of weeks to get people familiar with game shows in the time slot (especially those that get GL in the afternoons and have for decades).

Also, have any CBS affils announced a move from 3 pm to 10 am ET? While we just found out "Deal" would be the show, we've known for the majority of the summer that it would be a game moving into the time slot, it was just a matter of which one.

 

[anotherguyTN]

I guess that LMAD is a good show to pair with TPIR, but I still would have liked to seen Pyramid brought back. At least it's not another talk show. :

 

[ssetta]

I actually got thinking, one thing they could do to fill that gap: Maybe they could bring back the 10 most significant episodes of Guiding Light ever, to see what has happened on the show over the 72 years it was on.

 

[vchimpanzee]

I know what you mean. I first started watching GL around 1977 because my sister asked me because I got out of school before her & she wanted to know what happened. I'm a big Douglas Marland (R.I.P.) fan and he wrote 3 of my favorite GL storylines: Kelly & Morgan love story, Nola from bad to good girl and the incredible Carrie Todd Marler story.

I saw Kelly in a movie. He's still a doctor.

 

[imhomerjay]

No lingering goodbye for GL--the filler programming will be Price reruns, not GL repeats.

 

[bpatrick]

I think CBS wants to get the public acclimated to
a game show in GL's timeslot; that's why the Price
reruns for two weeks before LMAD takes over.

BTW, longtime GL fans might want to tune in
August 26 for the return of Holly (Maureen Garrett).
She accepted an invitation to return because she
wanted to say goodbye to some old friends including
her "buddy" Peter Simon, who plays Ed Bauer. In
"Soap Opera Weekly" she said the show had become
unrecognizable (I'll second that); the Roger/Holly
relationship was one of the best things about the show,
and while Michael Zaslow's death couldn't be helped,
the producers might have found a new man for her,
who knows? The loss of both of these characters, plus
Ross Marler, just adds to the list of reasons the "Light"
will be out in six weeks, IMHO.

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

No lingering goodbye for GL--the filler programming will be Price reruns, not GL repeats.

And I presume the "Price" reruns used as post-GL filler will only be those from the Drew Carey episodes--or is there a chance CBS could briefly revive Bob Barker's TPIR albeit in reruns?

 

[mleach]

And I presume the "Price" reruns used as post-GL filler will only be those from the Drew Carey episodes--or is there a chance CBS could briefly revive Bob Barker's TPIR albeit in reruns?

Somehow I doubt CBS would rerun Bob's TPIR even as filler, though there would be no shortage of viewers for it. Afterall when GSN had shown the old TPIR shows 10 years ago, I believe they were the highest rated show on that network at the time, yet they lost the rights for it ( from what I remember hearing about it anyway ) and some say GSN really hasn't been the same ever since.

 

[harrisburgpatv]

No lingering goodbye for GL--the filler programming will be Price reruns, not GL repeats.

What's your source for this? Was trying to find confirmation...It would be awesome!

 

[imhomerjay]

A CBS employee who has seen the internal directive.

It doesn't specify Carey vs Barker, but, really folks, it's time to get over this idea that they're going to air Barker episodes again. It's Drew's show now, as it should be, and just like NBC didn't pull out weeks worth of Carson shows when Leno took vacations, CBS isn't going to bring out Barker shows. It's simple practicality.

 

[harrisburgpatv]

A CBS employee who has seen the internal directive.

It doesn't specify Carey vs Barker, but, really folks, it's time to get over this idea that they're going to air Barker episodes again. It's Drew's show now, as it should be, and just like NBC didn't pull out weeks worth of Carson shows when Leno took vacations, CBS isn't going to bring out Barker shows. It's simple practicality.

Thanks! Hopefully I didn't appear standoffish in my request, that's not how I meant it to come across.

As far as airing the Barker episodes again, I agree with you. It's Drew's show now, and although the Barker episodes were how I grew up with the show, I actually enjoy the show much more with Drew on it than I do with Barker. They're not afraid to try things now (like theme shows..Halloween, Valentine's Day, etc), and it's neat to see it being so creative.

 

[imhomerjay]

Not standoffish in the least.

I'm in total agreement on the Drew/Bob thing. Grew up with Bob's version, but found it growing tired and stale (and I know there are plenty of people who would use the terms familiar and comforting, and I get that point). I enjoy that Drew isn't trying to be Bob-light, just taking the formula and make it his.

What I think some of the more...um....let's say passionate Drew-version haters refuse to acknowledge is that the realities of TV circa 2009 are markedly different from decades ago. Price coasted for a while because Bob was the constant, and unfortunately the audience from the 1970s were the ones who kept tuning in in larger numbers. Right or wrong, that audience just isn't where the ad money is. Moreover, once Bob left, of course a significant chunk of people who were more into watching kindly grandpa Bob would begin tuning out. (See again, Carson to Leno etc.) The show had to find a new direction within the familiar framework. That means a new set, experimenting with themed shows, tweaking some games, etc.

And to be fair, some of the constraints put on the show aren't Drew's/the producers' fault. CBS gets to keep inserting more commercial time and determines the license fee, all of which Price simply has to roll with. Comparing what Drew can do in far less time per show than Bob could do years ago is apples to oranges.

In the end, if they'd kept the same set, had Drew act as much like Bob as possible and done nothing significantly differently, it still would not be the same show because the face of the show left the building. Letting go is hard, but refusing to accept reality does no one any good.

 

[bpatrick]

LMAD will not start until October so there will be a gap of a couple weeks after GL ends. Can I only guess a double run of TPIR for a couple of weeks to get people familiar with game shows in the time slot (especially those that get GL in the afternoons and have for decades).

Also, have any CBS affils announced a move from 3 pm to 10 am ET? While we just found out "Deal" would be the show, we've known for the majority of the summer that it would be a game moving into the time slot, it was just a matter of which one.

Here are the CBS affiliates I know will be airing LMAD in the morning. There may be others.

WIAT Birmingham, AL
KCBS Los Angeles
KOVR Sacramento
WUSA Washington, DC
WFOR Miami
WKMG Orlando
WGCL Atlanta
WBBM Chicago
WANE Ft. Wayne, IN
WSBT South Bend, IN
WGME Portland, ME
WJZ Baltimore
WBZ Boston
WWJ Detroit
WWMT Grand Rapids, MI
WNEM-DT 5-2 Flint, MI
WCBS New York
WRGB Albany, NY
WBNS Columbus, OH
KYW Philadelphia
KDKA Pittsburgh
WHP Harrisburg, PA
WYOU Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, PA
WTVR Richmond, VA
WVNS Bluefield, WV
WISC Madison, WI

If anybody knows of others, feel free to add to the list.

 

[Mainedude2007]

Looks like the affiliates that aired GL at 10am are also going to run TPIR reruns/Lets Make A Deal in the same time slot.

 

[bpatrick]

They are. I'm sure they figured today was the best time to
go ahead and put a game show at 9 or 10 AM. I'm still
surprised that more stations didn't take the bait and go to
a Deal/Price combo 10 AM-noon (ET)/9-11 AM (CT).

Do you know that there are diehard GL fans who are hoping
Deal falls flat and CBS reconsiders about GL? No way that's
going to happen...too many logistical problems, such as bringing
back actors (who may have accepted other offers), building new
sets, and designing new wardrobes (I think CBS donated them to
the city of New York). Sorry, folks, the "Light" is out.

 

[imhomerjay]

While understandable people dislike losing their show, they seem to think Deal somehow stole GL's spot, ignoring the fact that GL was axed long before a replacement was named. It's convenient but highly illogical to blame the replacement.

Deal could attract not a single viewer and it wouldn't mean GL would come back, of course. Time to channel the anger to more productive pursuits.

 

[bpatrick]

For once, I completely agree with you. True, GL was canceled
in April and it was August before Deal was named as its replacement.
But **** hath no fury like the soap fan whose show has been canceled,
and Deal makes a convenient scapegoat for some GL fans. And no, GL
isn't coming back; it's a strange feeling not having it on now, but I have
better things to do, too, and I hope the people who are angry and calling
for boycotts of CBS and Procter & Gamble will get over it soon.

 

[bpatrick]

LMAD will not start until October so there will be a gap of a couple weeks after GL ends. Can I only guess a double run of TPIR for a couple of weeks to get people familiar with game shows in the time slot (especially those that get GL in the afternoons and have for decades).

Also, have any CBS affils announced a move from 3 pm to 10 am ET? While we just found out "Deal" would be the show, we've known for the majority of the summer that it would be a game moving into the time slot, it was just a matter of which one.

Here are the CBS affiliates I know will be airing LMAD in the morning. There may be others.

WIAT Birmingham, AL
KCBS Los Angeles
KOVR Sacramento
WUSA Washington, DC
WFOR Miami
WKMG Orlando
WGCL Atlanta
WBBM Chicago
WANE Ft. Wayne, IN
WSBT South Bend, IN
WGME Portland, ME
WJZ Baltimore
WBZ Boston
WWJ Detroit
WWMT Grand Rapids, MI
WNEM-DT 5-2 Flint, MI
WCBS New York
WRGB Albany, NY
WBNS Columbus, OH
KYW Philadelphia
KDKA Pittsburgh
WHP Harrisburg, PA
WYOU Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, PA
WTVR Richmond, VA
WVNS Bluefield, WV
WISC Madison, WI

If anybody knows of others, feel free to add to the list.

Add WISH Indianapolis.

 

[anotherguyTN]

While understandable people dislike losing their show, they seem to think Deal somehow stole GL's spot, ignoring the fact that GL was axed long before a replacement was named.   It's convenient but highly illogical to blame the replacement.

Deal could attract not a single viewer and it wouldn't mean GL would come back, of course.  Time to channel the anger to more productive pursuits.

Although I would have rather seen CBS bring back Pyramid, I hope LMAD does well because I'd like to see this be the first step in the return of more game shows to daytime network TV. But here is a hypothetical situation: If LMAD doesn't do well, what will CBS do? Will they give another game show a chance, change to a talk show, or turn the time back over to the local stations? The only thing soap related that I could see happening might be for The Bold and the Beautiful to be expanded to a full hour, but then what happens with the other 30 minutes?

In the past game shows had 3 to 6 months to make it or be cancelled. How long will CBS give LMAD? I'd guess they'll give at least a year simply because of not having anything else that could be ready on a short notice.

 

[bpatrick]

Depending on each station's affiliation agreement, preempting the network in any daypart is HIGHLY frowned upon by CBS. Even with the departure of GL, the Tiffany network will not simply allow stations to just decide on their own to dump the GL replacement programming and go local with syndicated fare. In primetime, each station has a basket of time that can be preempted each year (12 hours or so depending on the station) for telethons and specials. For example, Gannett corporately negotiates one agreement with CBS for all five affiliates (D.C., Greensboro, Columbia, Macon and Tampa Bay) and the expiration date is for all stations simultaneously. There's intense pressure from CBS to clear the network line-up as is at all stations. Yes, there are exceptions, but CBS must sign-off on any movement of their programming.

Interestingly, except for WUSA, all of Gannett's CBS affiliates are carrying LMAD at 3 (2 in Little Rock).
All of them carried GL at 3/2; WUSA elected to go with Dr. Oz at 3 and run LMAD at 10 AM.