Given that both Wheel & Jeopardy pull in very strong numbers in primetime, coupled with the fact that they were once NBC daytime staples, why hasn\'t the likes of NBC considered bringing these shows back for daytime viewing?
Their schedule seems to be nothing but variations of the \"Today\" show from 4:30am through 11am, then many talk shows mixed in.
I realize the \"housewife\" demographic is virtually non-existant anymore, however, many who are unemployed, many who choose to stay home, many retired people all might enjoy seeing this.
NBC from 10am - 11am could air both these shows, scaled down for daytime budgets. The only drawback perhaps would be it would go up against CBS\' \"Let\'s Make A Deal\". For my money, much as I loved \"Deal\", I cannot endure an hour of that show, and am not too fond of the current series. Wheel & Jeopardy give much more play along factors, and have a bit more of an educational value than watching somebody dressed up as a giant carrot deciding if they should select door 1, 2 or 3.
Is it strictly financial reasons why NBC cannot or will not do this? Is it because both these shows are syndicated at night? With the recent news that the Today show\'s ratings are down, and given that NBC has it on for what seems like 12 out of every 24 hours (a big exaggeration I know), why wouldn\'t daytime versions of \"Wheel of Fortune\" and \"Jeopardy!\" work today? It might also be a way to groom potential new hosts for both night time programs down the road,as Alex is due to retire I believe in 2016, and not sure when Pat will finally hang it up.
Is it strictly financial reasons why NBC cannot or will not do this?
Yes.
When you boil it down to its essence, \"strictly financial reasons\" are why a broadcast network does *everything*. I\'m really not sure why we keep having to say this.
many who are unemployed, many who choose to stay home, many retired people all might enjoy seeing this.
At least two of those three groups you list (if not all three) aren\'t particularly \"desirable\" demographic groups for advertisers.
Their schedule seems to be nothing but variations of the \"Today\" show from 4:30am through 11am, then many talk shows mixed in.
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NBC from 10am - 11am could air both these shows, scaled down for daytime budgets.
Game shows, while cheap, are still more expensive than a newscast, especially ones produced in-house*, and news is a better revenue maker than old-skewing game shows. Look at the commercials you see during the Today show, compared to what airs in TPiR.
*Same reason so many local affiliates air expanded newscasts during the day, as opposed to syndicated programming. Why purchase programming from a distributor when you can air your own programming?
Prime example of Brandon\'s theory: all the ABC (and other?) affiliates that replaced Oprah with an extended newscast once it went off the air.
An odd counterexample: our CBS affiliate has attempted a newscast in the 4:00 hour three times in the past 25 years. All three times it failed. Once was back in the \'90s, once was back after the station lost Judge Judy to our NBC affiliate (it has since regained it), and the last time they cut the broadcast in half so they could plug the syndicated Weakest Link into the slot and later the first season of Millionaire, but dropped it altogether when they picked up The People\'s Court from our NBC affiliate where it had been airing since its debut (and IIRC was losing its slot with the addition of both Judge Joe Brown and Ellen to the lineup).
Game shows, while cheap, are still more expensive than a newscast, especially ones produced in-house*, and news is a better revenue maker than old-skewing game shows. Look at the commercials you see during the Today show, compared to what airs in TPiR.
I don\'t know...Wine Tasting in the Morning is a stretch as a newscast. Still, I suppose a case or two of wine beats out a new bedroom.
J! is a daytime show in some areas, e.g., Dallas (11:00 A.M.) and Chicago (2:30 P.M.).
I know that the affiliate in Baltimore airs a rerun of J! at 2pm everyday in addition to the first run at 7pm.
To expound on what Brandon said, my local CBS affiliate chucked its noon newscast in favor of \"Talk Philly Live\" a few years ago while the NBC one dumped its noon newscast for talk shows in 2008. That left my local ABC affiliate being the only one with a noon newscast. Sure it\'s cheaper to produce a newscast than a game show, but that doesn\'t make it any easier. You still have to \"budget\" the newscast based on what the producers want. Whether it\'s more field reporters or more people in the newsroom, you gotta allocate how much goes into the newscast.
When I was in Southern California in 1986, almost every hour each day, some LA TV station was doing a newscast. I understand it\'s the #2 market in the US(probably still is today), but how would a station go about doing a 2 PM newscast is beyond me. It\'s almost monotonous if I already saw a noon newscast.
Prime example of Brandon\'s theory: all the ABC (and other?) affiliates that replaced Oprah with an extended newscast once it went off the air.
This is very true. KUTV, the CBS affiliate here in Salt Lake City, UT, began a 4 PM hourlong newscast after Oprah went off the air.
Game shows, while cheap, are still more expensive than a newscast, especially ones produced in-house*, and news is a better revenue maker than old-skewing game shows. Look at the commercials you see during the Today show, compared to what airs in TPiR.I don\'t know...Wine Tasting in the Morning is a stretch as a newscast. Still, I suppose a case or two of wine beats out a new bedroom.
J! is a daytime show in some areas, e.g., Dallas (11:00 A.M.) and Chicago (2:30 P.M.).I know that the affiliate in Baltimore airs a rerun of J! at 2pm everyday in addition to the first run at 7pm.
Also in Harrisburg, WHP-21\'s digital subchannel (My 21.2) has a J! rerun at 1pm.