NBC adds fourth hour of Today, cancels Passions

ewolfr · 01-16-2007, 06:16 PM

http://www.variety.com/article/VR111...goryid=14&cs=1

I searched and it doesn't look like anyone has mentioned this yet. NBC is extending The Today Show for a fourth hour and cancelling the soap opera Passions to make room for it.

Todd · 01-16-2007, 06:50 PM

Oh brother. Why don't they just create a Today Show channel and make it 24/7...

drew2k · 01-16-2007, 07:25 PM

How lame. ~~I guess they're trying to get their money's worth from Meredith?~~

Edited: Or maybe not! I should learn to read full articles before posting!

trainman · 01-16-2007, 07:48 PM

At this rate, "Today" will be going straight into "Tonight" by the time Conan O'Brien takes over!

DevdogAZ · 01-16-2007, 09:37 PM

Quote:

NBC Universal has given a greenlight to a fourth hour of "Today," in a bid to extend one of its most profitable franchises into a time period now dominated by syndicated cooking and talkshows.

That's odd, considering that my NBC affiliate has Regis and Kelly in the hour directly following the Today Show. Seems like the audience would be largely the same for the two hours, so there wouldn't be much difference. It's not like 'Passions' starts at 10 am.

MickeS · 01-16-2007, 10:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by devdogaz

That's odd, considering that my NBC affiliate has Regis and Kelly in the hour directly following the Today Show. Seems like the audience would be largely the same for the two hours, so there wouldn't be much difference. It's not like 'Passions' starts at 10 am.

Maybe our timezone doesn't count.

gastrof · 01-16-2007, 10:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by devdogaz

That's odd, considering that my NBC affiliate has Regis and Kelly in the hour directly following the Today Show. Seems like the audience would be largely the same for the two hours, so there wouldn't be much difference. It's not like 'Passions' starts at 10 am.

In the Eastern Time Zone, TODAY airs for two hours starting at 7am, it's then followed by Regis, and then there's another hour of TODAY, apparently followed by PASSIONS (tho' my local NBC station seems to run it later in the day).

Guess PASSIONS is being canned so that third hour of TODAY can become a third and fourth.

I'm just wondering what my local station is going to do, since it was running The Megan Mullally Show after TODAY's third hour.

Hmmm....

Come to think of it, the M M show is being cancelled too. This solves the problem on what to put in its place. I still wonder what they'll run in PASSIONS' time-shift slot, tho', later in the day.

Knowing our NBC affiliate, they'll probably do an hour of news at a time nobody wants any.

drew2k · 01-16-2007, 11:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gastrof

In the Eastern Time Zone, TODAY airs for two hours starting at 7am, it's then followed by Regis, and then there's another hour of TODAY, apparently followed by PASSIONS (tho' my local NBC station seems to run it later in the day).

Should be: "In the Eastern Time Zone on SOME stations ..."

In the NY market, Regis is on ABC at 9 AM, not on NBC. Instead, Today runs 7 to 10 on NBC, followed by Martha Stewart, Megan Mullalley, and some self-help type of talk show called iVillage Live. Days and Passions run from 1 PM to 3 PM, so this proposed Today expansion move would mean juggling the entire line-up on WNBC-NY.

cherry ghost · 01-16-2007, 11:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by drew2k

Should be: "In the Eastern Time Zone on SOME stations ..."

In the NY market, Regis is on ABC at 9 AM, not on NBC. Instead, Today runs 7 to 10 on NBC, followed by Martha Stewart, Megan Mullalley, and some self-help type of talk show called iVillage Live. Days and Passions run from 1 PM to 3 PM, so this proposed Today expansion move would mean juggling the entire line-up on WNBC-NY.

Same times here, including Regis going head-to-head with the last hour of Today, except swap iVillage and Megan Mullalley.

Magister · 01-17-2007, 11:03 AM

My sole justification for TiVo has been so that my wife can watch Passions. It really is the one show she hates to miss.

Ugh, now I have to get her hooked on Thursday night NBC stuff.

osterber · 01-17-2007, 01:11 PM

Boston has Regis at 9 on NBC also, and the 3rd hour of Today at 10.

But I would guess that would depend on the market. Isn't Regis syndicated by ABC?

-Rick

PhillyGuy · 01-17-2007, 01:51 PM

Here in Philly, Regis is on ABC and Today runs nonstop from 7 to 10, followed by a locally produced show called "10!" That's the channel number for the NBC affliate. I wonder if they are going to cancel that show.

drew2k · 01-17-2007, 01:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by osterber

Boston has Regis at 9 on NBC also, and the 3rd hour of Today at 10.

But I would guess that would depend on the market. Isn't Regis syndicated by ABC?

-Rick

Yes ... He films at ABC studios in NYC.

cwoody222 · 01-17-2007, 02:22 PM

I believe "officially" NBC gives the channel back to the local affiliate and 10am and then takes it back from the affiliate to run Days/Passions from 1pm - 3pm.

(Eastern/Pacific zones at least)

So this does mean that the network is going to have to take some network time in the AM (the 10am-11am hour) away from the local affiliate but also give the local affiliate the ability to run local / syndicated programming in the 2pm-3pm hour.

Unlike Passions which an affiliate could juggle around (some markets aired it in the AM the next day) the local stations really aren't going to be able to air the 4th hour of Today mid-afternoon

So it's less options for the affiliates. I'm not sure if the affiliates will consider the 2pm slot more valuable to them than the 10am spot.

With Noon news, it really only leaves the locals with a single hour of AM time to do with as they choose. I wonder how many locals will choose not to run that final hour of Today (if they're even allowed to do that).

cwoody222 · 01-17-2007, 02:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by osterber

Boston has Regis at 9 on NBC also, and the 3rd hour of Today at 10.

So they show Today from 7-9, then they take a break and air the 3rd hour one hour late?

That's just stupid.

drew2k · 01-17-2007, 02:37 PM

Here's an interesting web site on "syndication", with Reege's program cited as an example:

http://www.snta.com/php/display.php?p=syndication

(And if you like awards shows, you might like the calender available on the home page!)

Havana Brown · 01-17-2007, 02:53 PM

You guys get Kelly and Regis on NBC? We get it on ABC

Here we have the Today show from 7-10 and then the local news 10-11 and then the Ellen Show at 11.

Mavrick22 · 01-17-2007, 02:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Havana Brown

You guys get Kelly and Regis on NBC? We get it on ABC

Here we have the Today show from 7-10 and then the local news 10-11 and then the Ellen Show at 11.

We get Regis & Kelly on CBS

drew2k · 01-17-2007, 03:05 PM

Reege is syndicated ... you can get him on any station that forks out the bucks and secures the rights to air it in your market.

5thcrewman · 01-17-2007, 03:41 PM

I feel sorry for Nanny.

RunnerFL · 01-17-2007, 06:35 PM

Here in the WPB area it's:

Today - 7am to 10am
Ellen DeGeneres - 10am to 11am
Rachel Ray - 11am to Noon
News - Noon to 1pm
Days Of Our Lives 1pm to 2pm
Passions 2pm to 3pm

So Does that mean they'll have a 10am to 2pm gap in the Today show? Makes no sense.

Not that I really care because I don't watch any of that crap, but still.

Graymalkin · 01-17-2007, 06:38 PM

Why not just lock Matt Lauer & Co. in the Big Brother House and extend Today to 24 hours?

trainman · 01-17-2007, 07:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RunnerFL

Here in the WPB area it's:

Today - 7am to 10am
Ellen DeGeneres - 10am to 11am
Rachel Ray - 11am to Noon
News - Noon to 1pm
Days Of Our Lives 1pm to 2pm
Passions 2pm to 3pm

So Does that mean they'll have a 10am to 2pm gap in the Today show? Makes no sense.

No, your affiliate will most likely end up moving Ellen Degeneres to a different time slot (and may juggle some other things around).

It wasn't that many years ago that NBC's daytime programming ran from 7:00 to 9:00 and 10:00 to 4:00 in the Eastern time zone, or all the way from 7:00 to 3:00 in the Central and Pacific time zones. That was when they had three hour-long soaps, a half-hour soap, two hours of game shows, and a sitcom rerun, in addition to two hours of "Today." But those days are gone forever, it seems.

DevdogAZ · 01-17-2007, 08:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Graymalkin

Why not just lock Matt Lauer & Co. in the Big Brother House and extend Today to 24 hours?

Well, probably the main reason your idea wouldn't work is that the Big Brother house is owned by CBS.

Graymalkin · 01-17-2007, 08:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by devdogaz

Well, probably the main reason your idea wouldn't work is that the Big Brother house is owned by CBS.

Ah, but CBS is going to buy NBC any day now.

DevdogAZ · 01-17-2007, 08:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Graymalkin

Ah, but CBS is going to buy NBC any day now.

You heard it here first, folks.

Dayton-Dave · 01-18-2007, 12:55 AM

Actually if you notice the article doesn't come out right say that NBC is canceling 'Passions'. It states it is an option to free up network time. From what I gathered, canceling 'Passions' is just one of many options. It appears that NBC has NOT made the final decision on what they will do.

Mike10 · 01-18-2007, 02:57 AM

NBC Entertainment president Kevin Reilly said that passions was being cancelled earlier today but that it could move to cable tv or continue online

http://www.variety.com/article/VR111...goryid=14&cs=1

Sadara · 01-18-2007, 07:45 AM

In my area, it's 3 hours of Today, then Regis & Kelly (which I couldn't care less about anyway), but I never see Passions on TV here..... or I'm so anti-soapera that I avoid them and don't know it's on. I wonder if they are going to bump Regis & Kelly back and hour, I wouldn't mind.... there are always some stupid informationals on after Regis & Kelly and before my local Noon News cast.

unicorngoddess · 01-18-2007, 10:46 AM

Apparently NBC made the cancelation offical today. Passions contract was up in June anyway and with the poor ratings (Passions has always been ranked last place since it premired) Now the only thing that needs to be worked out is negotiations to add just a couple of months to the contract until the extra Today Show hour premires in September. The good news for Passions fans is that they are considering other avenues like making it an online soap only (Passions was the first soap to offer full episodes for free online at www.nbc.com) or they may consider taking it to Soap Net.

Personally, I don't see the need for 4 hours of the Today Show. This week I've been annoyed with it because NBC is my favorite local news station. So with our ice storms the first thing I want to do in the morning is put it on NBC to check weather conditions...only to find out that The Today Show is already on.