NBC Daytime Schedule 1980

[chris319]

No mention of demos in the Broadcasting article.

The networks' chief complaint against game shows was that the demos were too old. We were always told only to look at the share numbers (usually in the teens in those days).

What share was Letterman getting when he was cancelled? I still have all that ratings data but would have to turn my apartment upside down to find it.

[calliaume]

What share was Letterman getting when he was cancelled? I still have all that ratings data but would have to turn my apartment upside down to find it.

The first three weeks are here: https://www.gameshowforum.org/index.php/topic,35131.msg407714.html#msg407714. Another thread here had him at 2.8 in early August.

I can’t imagine the ratings the last few weeks were any better; by that point most of the people who would have been his biggest fans (high school/college students?) were back in school.

[Adam Nedeff]

The ratings data spanning August 4-October 24 (essentially, the entire window when the show was 60 minutes instead of 90) has him averaging a 2.3 rating and a 12 share. One odd tidbit was that from the beginning, the show was broken into 30 minute fragments--they played the theme music at the start of every half hour. At the end, Dave had 83% clearance for the first half-hour and 82% clearance for the second half-hour. (When the show was 90 minutes, the clearances were 88/90/92%.)

[alexb1186]

https://www.amazon.com/Id-Like-Buy-Vowel-Spinning/dp/B0DC6PWBL8

Legit question - I like Wesley Hyatt's contributions to social media, and happy to support, but for those who have read it - worth $32?

Of the surprising number of pop culture authors I know personally, Wes is second to me behind our boy Adam.  I always buy their new works as soon as they're released.  Like Adam, he is an exceptionally thorough researcher.  However, his real strength is as a reference book author, so his prose histories (like this one) can bury you in detail.  I'm not sure I needed to know the exact birthdate of every daytime executive who ever came into Wheel's orbit.  I also got a little bored near the end with what seemed like an endless and somewhat repetitive parade of contestants and their experiences.  With those caveats, it is a definitive history of the show (to the point of publication) and well worth it, especially with a "happy to support" nudge.

As someone who was interviewed in the Wheel book and sent him players to interview, it’s a good read and just needs some dates corrected.  To me, the Woolery theme weeks we didn’t know about (and I never came across in newspaper clippings) were worth the price.

[steveleb]

The ratings data spanning August 4-October 24 (essentially, the entire window when the show was 60 minutes instead of 90) has him averaging a 2.3 rating and a 12 share. One odd tidbit was that from the beginning, the show was broken into 30 minute fragments--they played the theme music at the start of every half hour. At the end, Dave had 83% clearance for the first half-hour and 82% clearance for the second half-hour. (When the show was 90 minutes, the clearances were 88/90/92%.)

The decline in ratings was accelerated by the decline in coverage; as I believe most astute followers here now realize every market where a show was pre-emoted was effectively a zero rating toward that overall number.   But even if the early Letterman numbers were more encouraging there’s no guarantee that those coverage numbers would have been markedly different.  1980 was an especially crowded syndication marketplace where new shows were debuting and older ones weren’t quite fully gone.  This was especially true with talk shoes, where both Mike Douglas and Dinah! still were producing new episodes when John Davidson and Toni Tennille, among others, were debuting.  The marketplace being what it was, lower-rated stations had jumped on those bandwagons long before Dave and had already earmarked fall time slots for those efforts.  So let’s just say the daytime show had the deck stacked against it from the get-go. 

As far as the soaps being given preferential treatment, remember that the P and G shows brought with them large advertiser commitments to the entire schedule, even the lower-rated and lesser-cleared game shows in more vulnerable time slots.  And yes, their demographic skew was slightly younger.  Made the bar for a game to be deemed a success all the higher.

[SRIV94]

The decline in ratings was accelerated by the decline in coverage; as I believe most astute followers here now realize every market where a show was pre-emoted was effectively a zero rating toward that overall number.   But even if the early Letterman numbers were more encouraging there’s no guarantee that those coverage numbers would have been markedly different. 

Although I would say that some markets bought into the curiosity factor initially.  I think of markets like Detroit and Philadelphia, which generally didn't clear whatever NBC offered at 10AM (although Philadelphia was clearing CS for a brief time in late 1979-1980, but not for most of the series), but did clear Dave at first but dumped it within a few months.

Speaking of CS, it still is a curiosity to me that between the cancellation of Fleming J! in 1975 and the debut of SP in 1984, it was the only NBC show to survive more than a year consecutively in the 12N slot (P+ logged about a year or so at 12N, but in a couple of different runs).

[rebelwrest]

Speaking of CS, it still is a curiosity to me that between the cancellation of Fleming J! in 1975 and the debut of SP in 1984, it was the only NBC show to survive more than a year consecutively in the 12N slot (P+ logged about a year or so at 12N, but in a couple of different runs).

Jackpot survived for over a year a half in the noon timeslot as well.  Fleming J! was moved to the mornings to make way for it.

[SRIV94]

True, although I did say between the cancellation of J! in 1975 and the debut of SP in 1984.  JACKPOT only ran six months at 12N at that time (then got moved to 12:30, then got dumped).

[steveleb]

The decline in ratings was accelerated by the decline in coverage; as I believe most astute followers here now realize every market where a show was pre-emoted was effectively a zero rating toward that overall number.   But even if the early Letterman numbers were more encouraging there’s no guarantee that those coverage numbers would have been markedly different. 

Although I would say that some markets bought into the curiosity factor initially.  I think of markets like Detroit and Philadelphia, which generally didn't clear whatever NBC offered at 10AM (although Philadelphia was clearing CS for a brief time in late 1979-1980, but not for most of the series), but did clear Dave at first but dumped it within a few months.

Speaking of CS, it still is a curiosity to me that between the cancellation of Fleming J! in 1975 and the debut of SP in 1984, it was the only NBC show to survive more than a year consecutively in the 12N slot (P+ logged about a year or so at 12N, but in a couple of different runs).

NBC affiliate relations did offer incentives to their better larger market stations for efforts they considered important, often in the form of more favorable terms and increased leniency on other shows--all the more necessary given their solid third place ranking overall and the fact they only contolled five stations at the time and two of them (Washington and Cleveland) were in more modest-sized markets than their competitors'.  Given the fact that WDIV at the time was the Tigers' station, and that KY was part of a more aggressive Group W, I'm certain they extracted more than a few of those MFN considerations in exchange for giving Dave a somewhat more optimal launch.

[chris319]

Does anyone have a clearance figure for Mindreaders?

[JasonA1]

Through the run, Mindreaders had 76% clearance at noon.

-Jason

[SRIV94]

Through the run, Mindreaders had 76% clearance at noon.

That seems awfully high.

CS at 12N only averaged around a 67-70% clearance (although like MINDREADERS, I would suspect that some of that clearance is some ET affiliates putting it on in another slot like 9:30 [before the other game shows started] or 4PM [after the soaps]).