Did NBC make a big mistake...

[danderson]

That's the one that broke the camel's back, per see. Because ABC was able to then get All My Children which became one of their most successful soaps. And they had the advantage of being the only network to program 1:00EST/12:00CST at that time.

The Doctors spelled the end of Art Linkletter, much like Days of Our Lives would spell the end of Password.

[Bryce L.]

The Doctors spelled the end of Art Linkletter, much like Days of Our Lives would spell the end of Password.

I always thought The Newlywed Game finished off Password.

[whewfan]

I know I had read that too. Password got preempted for the news but for some reason NG was not preempted. So, NG got more exposure that day and gained new viewers.

[PYLdude]

You could argue that a better question would be did NBC make a mistake cancelling Password Plus, Blockbusters, and Battlestars to try to save The Doctors and Texas? Both soaps were seriously flagging in the ratings by 1982 and the 3 games were holding their own by NBC standards. They did revive all 3 over the following years, to mixed results.

Wasn't P+ cancelled to open a slot for Search For Tomorrow? I don't think The Doctors was a priority for NBC once they moved it from the 2 PM hour to the 12 PM hour.

[aaron sica]

Wasn't P+ cancelled to open a slot for Search For Tomorrow? I don't think The Doctors was a priority for NBC once they moved it from the 2 PM hour to the 12 PM hour.

Yep! P+ at that point had been airing at noon; when SFT moved over to NBC, it moved to the 12:30 slot it wanted that CBS wouldn't give back (formerly occupied by The Doctors), with The Doctors moving to noon where it died by the end of the year.

[danderson]

You could argue that a better question would be did NBC make a mistake cancelling Password Plus, Blockbusters, and Battlestars to try to save The Doctors and Texas? Both soaps were seriously flagging in the ratings by 1982 and the 3 games were holding their own by NBC standards. They did revive all 3 over the following years, to mixed results.

The Doctors was getting a 1.6 in the ratings in 1982. That was very poor. With local news preempting in many markets, that would be expected. Texas was getting a 2.7.  I wonder how Password Plus's ratings were in comparison to The Doctors.

[chrisholland03]

P+ had a 3.7/14 from Jan-Mar 1982 (its last 3 months on the air) at noon, The Doctors had 3.6/13 at 12:30. 

Oct-Dec 1982 at noon The Doctors had 1.6/7 ratings.

I would say that NBC was highly motivated - CBS and ABC were neck-and-neck for first place in daytime, and NBC had 1/2 (or less) the audience of either.


 

[danderson]

NBC was having a hard time in 80 anyway. About the only thing worth watching then was Blockbusters, Wheel of Fortune, Card Sharks and the overlong Another World (which was 90 minutes at the time, because NBC couldn't find anything better to put on -- by their own admission!) and maybe Little House on The Prairie.

[DjohnsonCB]

I know I had read that too. Password got preempted for the news but for some reason NG was not preempted. So, NG got more exposure that day and gained new viewers.

Once Password left CBS, it went into syndication for a year or so (don't recall whether these were new shows or reruns), and at the start of 1969, the format at least was revived during the last three months of NBC's Snap Judgment, so it was only gone between April 1969 and 1971 when ABC brought it back.

[BrandonFG]

Once Password left CBS, it went into syndication for a year or so (don't recall whether these were new shows or reruns)

The latter, I believe. Didn't the success in syndication more or less lead to the ABC revival?

[JakeT]

Once Password left CBS, it went into syndication for a year or so (don't recall whether these were new shows or reruns),

The syndicated episodes were definitely reruns of earlier CBS daytime episodes...

JakeT

[danderson]

You could argue that a better question would be did NBC make a mistake cancelling Password Plus, Blockbusters, and Battlestars to try to save The Doctors and Texas? Both soaps were seriously flagging in the ratings by 1982 and the 3 games were holding their own by NBC standards. They did revive all 3 over the following years, to mixed results.

If i was doing  a mock schedule, i'd drop Texas, and keep The Doctors and Blockbusters. Now where does The Doctors go, without the noon news issue? Keep it at 12:30, or maybe move it to 11am? As far as BB, i'd keep it at 10:30 or pair it with The Doctors.( i know; putting a soap and a game back to back would be interesting scheduling by NBC, if it ever came to that). But if NBC is trying to save The Doctors, you really cant do it opposite the TPIR juggernaut.

[That Don Guy]

NBC was having a hard time in 80 anyway.

It didn't help any that it put quite a number of eggs in its 1980 Summer Olympics basket, only for President Carter to step on the eggs.

[chrisholland03]

And the remainder in the Letterman basket, which were pretty scrambled.

[snowpeck]

As much as I love The Doctors (been watching the reruns on RetroTV), I'm not sure it could saved in any time slot by that point. They'd gone through producers and head writers in the last couple of years like some people change socks and had had some really outlandish storylines. Even bringing back one of their most popular characters (Elizabeth Hubbard as Dr. Althea Davis) didn't help.