daytime tv

[14gameshows]

Back in the 70s, Game shows flooded the landscape of daytime tv on the big three networks and remained in the 80s and vanished out to the "land of parting gifts" in the 90s.  My question is why is that?  Network execs got tired of the low ratings, affilates wanted more time, not cost effective??  

Actually this question can apply to the whole daytime tv genre as a whole as if you noticed, all the big three networks had stuff on from 9 in the am to about 4-5pm in the evening.  What gave to network execs slicing their daytime programming?  Look at NBC for example, a network that had tons of stuff to offer back in the day and now they only have 3 hours of daytime programming (3 hours if you consider the third hour of TODAY, along with DAYS and PASSIONS).  CBS used to have that 4pm block...but that went away?  ABC's schedule was loaded big time.  ABC and CBS are the only ones to still have their anchor soaps.  But what happened to the game shows though?

Last question in the post...NBC had three hours of game shows in the late 80s, who or what caused them to cancel their shows..even to the point of sending their flagship program over to CBS (speaking about Wheel of Fortune).?

[Jimmy Owen]

There were no cable networks then and there has been a societal shift.  Women who used to be able to stay home while the husband works now have to have outside jobs as well.

It used to be said that game shows were popular with the networks in the 70's because housewives could do dishes, laundry, change the baby, etc. and still follow the show without actually watching.  

Unfortunately for the networks, housewives became extinct a couple of years before the daytime game show went away.  Soaps are still important enough to tape for many women to watch in the evening.