2023-24 Syndication News

[Nelson R. 560]

5 hours ago, Nelson R. said:

@WheelWarriorWOLO in Columbia, SC  has completely crapped on Wheel of Fortune. They normally air Wheel at 7 and Jeopardy at 7:30, but instead of airing Jeopardy in place of one of their Judge Judys at 4 or 4:30 they are moving Jeopardy up to 7 tomorrow night to air Monday Night Countdown. They are dropping Andy Griffith for half of Drew Barrymore at 12:30pm so that wasn’t an option but they could’ve spared one of their Judge Judys. And they are not airing Wheel in late night according to their website.

They actually could have used 12:30pm for Jeopardy now that Drew will be a rerun. 

Edited September 17, 2023 by Nelson R.

[Georgie56 3059]

Now Jennifer Hudson is putting the brakes on her talk show...

 

Bill Maher has a lot of egg on his face right now.

Edited September 17, 2023 by Georgie56

[Abraham J. Simpson 303]

6 hours ago, Nelson R. said:

They actually could have used 12:30pm for Jeopardy now that Drew will be a rerun. 

Or they can run Jeopardy at a better time for the business, given the results of the show have a direct impact on the games that week. 

[T.L. Hughes 746]

10 hours ago, mrschimpf said:

I'd say she bowed to the pressure of Paramount Global to keep the show on the air in the first place in business as usual mode rather than the strikes.

 

The problem here was PG forcing the show back into production without writers and a limited guest pool (pretty much Broadway and unscripted, along with PGs deal of the day hucksters, the exact same as The View minus politicos). This is all on them and she's the front liner to take the blame while Bob Bakish would prefer she come back (and hired the goons to take away WGA buttons from audience members) and gets none of it.

Actually, there’s another reason; from Variety:

Quote

Syndicated TV shows have contractual obligations to deliver new episodes to their local station partners. Unlike network shows – like “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” or “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” which have permanent real estate on a network’s schedule – nationally syndicated daytime talk shows like “The Drew Barrymore Show” are required to produce a certain amount of episodes to more than 200 local stations throughout each television season.

 

In other words, this was a business decision — and not one that Barrymore made alone. Hosts like Barrymore are under contract with major media production companies to perform their hosting duties, and like any regular job, they eventually have to show up to work. Syndicated talk shows are typically required to deliver 35 to 40 weeks of new episodes to their station partners. If they don’t, they can lose their show.

 

Meaning that there’s a risk that WGA writers working for syndicated shows may cost themselves (and their fellow crew members) their existing jobs if the shows can’t fulfill their contracts. It’s important that the writers get a fair deal, but there are other crew members working with them that are being impacted by the strike. That fear of losing their jobs is expressed by several staffers of struck talk shows also interviewed anonymously in the cited Variety article:

Quote

Staffers from other talk shows feel the same. “We have to come back, or else hundreds of people are out of work,” an employee on a current talk show tells Variety. “Stations will pull us right off the air — they’ll put us in the middle of the night, and we’ll stay in the middle of the night. That’s just how it works.”

 

An employee from a different daytime show echoes this sentiment: “If even one major station group pulls out and says they’re not going to run our show, even if they have repeats, that affects ratings and advertising. It affects everything. Why would we risk letting a show die and letting people lose their jobs permanently if we can do a show without violating rules?”

 

“The strike doesn’t look like it’s anywhere close to being settled. The two sides can’t even agree who owes who the next offer,” this individual adds, referring to the WGA and AMPTP. “Are we supposed to wait around forever?”

 

Making things more complicated:

Quote

But WGA members believe that any form of writing — even notes written by producers — are a violation, though when asked by Variety, a spokesperson for the union was not able to provide any specific language from the current WGA agreement to support this.

If it’s not cited in the current agreement, forcing shows to continue their production hiatuses when they may not be required to risks creating a wedge between the WGA members and their colleagues on their struck shows since said colleagues have to resume work at some point. (Several daytime shows resumed production during the 2007-08 WGA strike, though The Ellen DeGeneres Show—which had a larger writing staff due to its monologue and comedy segments—received the most heat from striking writers for its resumption.) There are people stuck in the middle with no way out, other than take jobs outside of the industry.

 

By the time the studios and writers do reach a deal (which at this rate, might not happen before the end of the year, don’t quote me on that, since the studios are just waiting out the writers basically rather than submit a satisfactory deal), the syndication business may not be the same. (Fox Television Stations programming EVP Frank Cicha said in the article, “More repeats would just be a quicker death march for syndication. […] It’s a critical time, and if there’s not a way to do original programming, then you can see the end of national syndication.”) That means, we may see stations glutting their lineups with even more news.

Edited September 18, 2023 by T.L. Hughes

[nycnewsjunkie 1395]

32 minutes ago, T.L. Hughes said:

Actually, there’s another reason (from Variety

 

Meaning that there’s a risk that WGA writers working for syndicated shows may cost themselves (and their fellow crew members) their existing jobs if the shows can’t fulfill their contracts. It’s important that the writers get a fair deal, but there are other crew members working with them that are being impacted by the strike. That fear of losing their jobs is expressed by several staffers of struck talk shows also interviewed anonymously in the cited Variety article:

 

Making things more complicated:

If it’s not cited in the current agreement, that creates a wedge between the WGA members and their colleagues on their struck shows since said colleagues have to resume work at some point. There are people stuck in the middle with no way out, other than take jobs outside of the industry. By the time the studios and writers do reach a deal (which at this rate, might not happen before the end of the year, don’t quote me on that), the syndication business may not be the same.

This article puts things in a more complete context, especially for those of us (like me) who have no idea how this stuff works. Thanks for sharing it.

Edited September 18, 2023 by nycnewsjunkie

[T.L. Hughes 746]

4 minutes ago, nycnewsjunkie said:

This article puts things in a more complete context, especially for those of us who have no idea how this stuff works. Thanks for sharing it.

To quote one Waldo Geraldo Faldo, “no prob, Bob.”

 

Edited September 18, 2023 by T.L. Hughes

[CoopInTheHouse 63]

CBS to air back-to-back reruns of Comics Unleashed after The Late Show with Stephen Colbert starting tonight.

 

This is because of two reasons:

 

1. The current Hollywood labor disputes (in other words, the Writers Guild and SAG-AFTRA strikes).

 

2. The cancellation of the Late Late Show and the inability to make its scheduled successor due to the disputes.

Edited September 18, 2023 by CoopInTheHouse
I thought listing “a Comedy Central series which I cannot name because of the..” was a bit much because everyone would be scrambling to find it.

[mrschimpf 2051]

If you're not an ABC affiliate who was supposed to carry the local Monday Night Football game in syndication you're not a happy camper today after it was announced the entire season will be simulcast on ABC. I don't expect this is 'temporary because of the writers strike' either and will become permanent.

 

(makes way for the Wheel and Jeopardy watchers and agrees that there's no need for a 7:30 pregame show either).

[CircleSeven 1944]

What's worst is next week, ABC will carry the early 7:15 game (ESPN will have the 8:15). That'll pre-empt both J! & Wheel.

[Nelson R. 560]

2 minutes ago, CircleSeven said:

What's worst is next week, ABC will carry the early 7:15 game (ESPN will have the 8:15). That'll pre-empt both J! & Wheel.

That’s just a one or two time thing though.

[CoopInTheHouse 63]

4 hours ago, CoopInTheHouse said:

CBS to air back-to-back reruns of Comics Unleashed after The Late Show with Stephen Colbert starting tonight.

 

This is because of two reasons:

 

1. The current Hollywood labor disputes (in other words, the Writers Guild and SAG-AFTRA strikes).

 

2. The cancellation of the Late Late Show and the inability to make its scheduled successor due to the disputes.

Correction here: It will be NEW episodes. Weird considering the original series ended 7 years ago.

[tyrannical bastard 3442]

Johnny Carson and Tom Snyder are spinning in their graves right now.

 

Putting Byron Allen on CBS is like giving up Saturday Morning TV to Litton.

[CircleSeven 1944]

5 hours ago, CoopInTheHouse said:

Correction here: It will be NEW episodes. Weird considering the original series ended 7 years ago.

 

From the Hollywood Reporter:

Quote

The episodes airing nationally on the network will be a mix of the show’s library and previously unseen installments taped prior to the writers and actors strikes.

 

[DoItForDale 0]

13 hours ago, CircleSeven said:

What's worst is next week, ABC will carry the early 7:15 game (ESPN will have the 8:15). That'll pre-empt both J! & Wheel.

Well that's pretty annoying to be honest. Hopefully this is the only time this season

[Nelson R. 560]

According to the Futon Critic ABC will only be airing Monday Night Countdown on December 11 and on Christmas and before the Saturday games. They were already scheduled to air a game on 12/11. So that would mean only two more Wheel preemptions the rest of the football season after this coming Monday, with one of them being on Christmas night. King World probably put their foot down. http://www.thefutoncritic.com/showatch/monday-night-football/listings/

14 hours ago, CircleSeven said:

What's worst is next week, ABC will carry the early 7:15 game (ESPN will have the 8:15). That'll pre-empt both J! & Wheel.

 

1 hour ago, DoItForDale said:

Well that's pretty annoying to be honest. Hopefully this is the only time this season

 

1 hour ago, DoItForDale said:

 

Edited September 19, 2023 by Nelson R.

[KS-IL-IA 40]

11 hours ago, CircleSeven said:

 

From the Hollywood Reporter:

 

Well, David Brenner is on tonight and he's been dead 9 1/2 years. Judging from the listings this week, they key on one recognizable name.

[Abraham J. Simpson 303]

20 hours ago, mrschimpf said:

If you're not an ABC affiliate who was supposed to carry the local Monday Night Football game in syndication you're not a happy camper today after it was announced the entire season will be simulcast on ABC. I don't expect this is 'temporary because of the writers strike' either and will become permanent.

 

(makes way for the Wheel and Jeopardy watchers and agrees that there's no need for a 7:30 pregame show either).

If I were in charge of an ABC station and it was getting MNF back even for a season, heck yes, I'd be happy. It's a heck of a lot more sellable as an established brand to my local clients than some of the other programming. Is it as good as SNF in terms of matchups? Of course not. But while I'm still saddled with the Bachelor and Dancing with the Stars et al, a primetime marquee sports franchise back on my air, temporary or otherwise, is a win. 

13 hours ago, tyrannical bastard said:

Johnny Carson and Tom Snyder are spinning in their graves right now.

 

Putting Byron Allen on CBS is like giving up Saturday Morning TV to Litton.

Meh, times change, circumstances change and the world doesn't stay frozen in 1984. 

[Manny NYC 27]

3 hours ago, Nelson R. said:

According to the Futon Critic ABC will only be airing Monday Night Countdown on December 11 and on Christmas and before the Saturday games. They were already scheduled to air a game on 12/11. So that would mean only two more Wheel preemptions the rest of the football season after this coming Monday, with one of them being on Christmas night. King World probably put their foot down. http://www.thefutoncritic.com/showatch/monday-night-football/listings/

 

 

Wouldn't trust that, I don't think listings have been updated yet

[Action Newsroom 1149]

Vanna White is staying on with Wheel of Fortune as cohost for the next two seasons (through the 43rd [2025-26]), along with a sweet pay raise.

https://deadline.com/2023/09/vanna-white-wheel-of-fortune-new-deal-season-41-pat-sajak-1235550608/

 

Edited September 19, 2023 by Action Newsroom

[mre29 1340]

On 9/18/2023 at 3:52 PM, CoopInTheHouse said:

CBS to air back-to-back reruns of Comics Unleashed after The Late Show with Stephen Colbert starting tonight.

 

This is because of two reasons:

 

1. The current Hollywood labor disputes (in other words, the Writers Guild and SAG-AFTRA strikes).

 

2. The cancellation of the Late Late Show and the inability to make its scheduled successor due to the disputes.

 

I'm surprised CBS didn't opt to run repeats of procedurals like they did back in 2014-15 when they were last between hosts for either late-night slot, or, even better, just keep the Late Late reruns going indefinitely.

 

[tyrannical bastard 3442]

3 hours ago, Abraham J. Simpson said:

If I were in charge of an ABC station and it was getting MNF back even for a season, heck yes, I'd be happy. It's a heck of a lot more sellable as an established brand to my local clients than some of the other programming. Is it as good as SNF in terms of matchups? Of course not. But while I'm still saddled with the Bachelor and Dancing with the Stars et al, a primetime marquee sports franchise back on my air, temporary or otherwise, is a win. 

Meh, times change, circumstances change and the world doesn't stay frozen in 1984. 

At least back in 1984, CBS affiliates had that time slot to themselves.  So many crap shows are on the air simply because the networks won't return time to their affiliates.

[Nelson R. 560]

2 minutes ago, tyrannical bastard said:

At least back in 1984, CBS affiliates had that time slot to themselves.  So many crap shows are on the air simply because the networks won't return time to their affiliates.

CBS also programmed 10-11am ET, but the programming was better. 

[Abraham J. Simpson 303]

26 minutes ago, tyrannical bastard said:

At least back in 1984, CBS affiliates had that time slot to themselves.  So many crap shows are on the air simply because the networks won't return time to their affiliates.

And there was a plethora of amazing entertainment at 12:30 am? 

 

They don't need to give the time back at this point. Whatever strike filler there is, it's not really a big deal. The networks have given plenty of time over the years, and they're also in business to make money as a network. It's 2023 and the business models need to reflect that reality. 

26 minutes ago, Nelson R. said:

CBS also programmed 10-11am ET, but the programming was better. 

What was that, All in the Family reruns? 

[gsrecaps 8]

On 9/8/2023 at 10:03 PM, H-Town TV Fan said:

Doesn't look like the Houston market cleared any of the new Allen Media Group court shows.

I'm a bit surprised they haven't at all. I would have expected KIAH to clear them. Thankfully, I do get a channel that does air all of them on my DirecTV, but I'm hoping they clear them in the next year perhaps.

[carolinanews4 316]

1 hour ago, tyrannical bastard said:

At least back in 1984, CBS affiliates had that time slot to themselves.  So many crap shows are on the air simply because the networks won't return time to their affiliates.

 

Am I missing something? This isn't a long-term problem. CBS has a plan for the 12:30A slot, but those plans are temporarily on hold due to strikes. So I do not understand why returning time to the affiliates is even being mentioned. As for a comparison to 1984, that isn't exactly comparing apples to apples. There were three commercial networks and PBS. So to compare almost 40-year-old programming choices doesn't seem relevant. But that's just my thinking.

 

1 hour ago, Nelson R. said:

CBS also programmed 10-11am ET, but the programming was better. 

 

Technically, CBS still does. Let's Make a Deal runs at 10A Eastern. However, some affiliates have chosen to air it later in the day

Edited September 19, 2023 by carolinanews4