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All I'm Sayin'
April 9, 2012
Oh What A Bountiful Morning
...is morning television hasn't been this competitive for many years, and I love it! For ABC, it all began on January 6, 1975 with Bill Beutel and Stephanie Edwards...if you're asking yourself "who and who?", then you're probably not alone. But you probably know the name of the first news reader - the late, great Peter Jennings. And the name of ABC's first attempt at competing with the behemoth known as "The Today Show" and its anchor team which included Barbara Walters was "AM America". But some tweaking was needed to this fledgling news program and it re-launched in November of that same year as what it's known as today, "Good Morning America", with the hosts David Hartman and actress Nancy Dussault. The weather was presented by WLS-TV Chicago chief meteorologist John Coleman who left in 1982 to join upstart cable net The Weather Channel, and was replaced by Dave Murray. Then in 1977 Nancy was replaced by Sandy Hill and, a few years later, Nancy went on to portray Ted Knight's wife on "Too Close for Comfort".
At the outset, "GMA" was a David Hartman vehicle with his co-host being given far less screen time than David. After Sandy Hill left in 1980 the most familiar and longest-tenured host the show would ever have stepped in straight from WABC in New York - Joan Lunden. This new pairing resulted in "GMA" overtaking "Today" for the first time and lasted, partially due to Barbara Walters' and then Tom Brokaw's departure from the show, throughout the first part of the 90's. Then in 1987 Hartman left and "ABC News This Morning" anchor Charles Gibson took over and ABC saw "GMA"'s rating skyrocket. When Spencer Christian was added, at first on a part-time basis and then full-time, "GMA" was eclipsing "Today" by a decent margin. The chemistry was magical between the Lunden-Gibson pairing and "GMA" stayed on top for several years.
In the mid-90's Lunden asked for a lightened work load and eventually stepped away from "GMA". It was during this time in 1995 that "Today" overtook "GMA" and she was replaced by Lisa McRee. While the ratings decline was slight for "GMA", it wasn't until Gibson decided to leave and was replaced by Kevin Newman in 1998 that it took a massive tumble. For a while in late 1998 and very early 1999, "GMA" found itself in 3rd place among the morning new programs.
Then it all began to change...in January 1999 "GMA" re-launched with 2 very familiar faces, one of which had just left a few years prior - Charles Gibson - and veteran news anchor and ABC News superstar - Diane Sawyer. It also relocated to Times Square later in the year and updated its set and surrounding to become even more viewer friendly. Due to some ground-breaking bookings, updates, graphics, and unique on-location shots, "GMA" saw a 1,000,000 household increase during the same time that the other networks saw their numbers fall dramatically. In fact, CBS's ratings fell so sharply during this time that they dug a hole so deep out of which they've never emerged. (The recent re-boot of their morning show has done little to nothing for their ratings and I wouldn't be surprised to see the entire production shut down by year's end, which would be unfortunate on many levels for a multitude of people)
Back to "GMA", In an unprecedented move in 2002, ESPN's Robin Roberts took over the news desk anchor responsibilities and that led to even more success for the show. On May 23, 2005 Ms. Roberts was promoted to form a 3 person anchor team. On November 3, 2005 "GMA" celebrated its thirtieth birthday with recaps to 1975 and by decorating Times Square. Former co-hosts Hartman and Lunden, along with former meteorologist Spencer Christian (who had since been replaced by Tony Perkins in 1999) were among the guests of honor. Hartman signed off the show that day with his trademark close "From all of us, make it a good day." On that day "GMA" became the first morning news show to broadcast in HDTV.
On June 28, 2006 Charles Gibson left to become the anchor of "World News Tonight" following the untimely death of Peter Jennings. Although it was rumored that Diane Sawyer would follow suit, she re-upped for another 3 years. Chris Cuomo and Sam Champion were brought aboard on September 5, 2006 and a new logo was introduced a week later.
This entire time, "The Today Show" was consistently beating "Good Morning America" in practically every demo but "GMA" had taken over 2nd place earlier in the decade and widened the gap between it and the "CBS Early Show", one of the many names by which it has been known, by a wide margin.
Then on September 2, 2009 ABC announced that Charles Gibson was retiring from the network which would leave the one void that Diane Sawyer coveted, the anchor of "World News Tonight". December 10, 2009 came the word that, after months of speculation, George Stephanopoulos would be Robin Roberts' permanent co-host with Juju Chang becoming the news reader. Minor changes ensued until the final alteration was made to its current lineup - Josh Elliot, also formerly of ESPN took over at the news desk.
And so the Roberts-Stephanopoulos-Champion-Elliot team on "GMA" are very well equipped to take on the Lauer-Curry-Roker-Morales "Today" squad. So well that the title that "Today" has held since December 11, 1995 as the #1 morning news program is in serious jeopardy. So well, in fact, that both networks are pulling out all of the stops to either stay on top or usurp the competition. Take a recent week in April, for instance, when former "Today" co-host Katie Couric filled in while Robin Roberts was away on vacation:
**During the first two days of Couric's five-day stint on "GMA," "Today" maintained an average lead of more than 300,000 viewers, relying on much-hyped guests like Meredith Vieira and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to keep its lead.
On Tuesday, with Palin guest-hosting "Today," the NBC show drew 5.5 million total viewers. "GMA" finished second with 5.14 million, 200,000 more than its first-quarter average.
"Today" still held a 356,000 advantage, which is smaller than its first quarter advantage of 457,000.
But Tuesday NBC did have a slightly bigger advantage than on Monday, when the gap between the two shows was 333,000.
Both shows actually saw gains Tuesday from Monday, Couric's first day, when "Today" averaged 5.1 million viewers and "GMA" had 4.8 million.
The Couric guest-hosting week on "GMA" did help the show to beat its rival on Wednesday, though "Today" finished first the other four days.
For the entire week "GMA" drew 4.9 million total viewers to "Today"'s 5.1 million viewers, a margin of 210,000 total viewers, according to Nielsen data. In the key adults 25-54 demo, NBC lead with 2.14 million viewers over ABC's 1.83 million, a margin of 306,000 viewers. Season-to-date, the margin between "GMA" and "Today" is 501,000 total viewers and 437,000 viewers 25-54.
On Friday, the day that Matt Lauer confirmed he has signed a new long-term deal to remain co-anchor of "Today", "GMA" trailed "Today" by 25,000 total viewers (4.694 million v. 4.719 million).**
In summary, all of this competition is simply good for both programs, good for the networks, and ultimately good for us - the viewers. As a frequent consumer of morning television, it's a win-win, and I'm enjoying it. All we and I can ask is that neither program becomes comfortable or complacent, which I seriously doubt will happen, and the battle continues.
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I'm always looking for new ideas regarding programming on WCHS or WVAH about which to write so I encourage you to either send me an email at pdneace@sbgnet.com or follow me on Twitter @paulneace where I post periodic tweets on ratings.
Big Bang Theory quote:
Sheldon: A neutron walks into a bar and asks how much for a drink. The bartender replies "for you, no charge". (catch The Big Bang Theory weeknights at 6:00 and 7:30 on Fox 11)
...is All I'm Sayin'
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