TV's fall daytime schedule includes Anderson Cooper, more food and lifestyle programming - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
TV's fall daytime schedule includes Anderson Cooper, more food and lifestyle programming
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.
In fall syndication, it's the year after the end of "The Oprah Winfrey Show." And yet there are not that many new shows debuting this fall. Talk shows starring Katie Couric, Steve Harvey and Jeff Probst ("Survivor") are in the works for next year, but this year the biggest name is CNN's Anderson Cooper, who will host his own show, "Anderson" (11 a.m. weekdays beginning Sept. 12, WPXI).
Fear not, CNN viewers, Mr. Cooper will still appear on the cable news channel, too.
"I have a nighttime show on at CNN, and I'll still be able to do that, and I also work for '60 Minutes,' " Mr. Cooper said at a press conference last month. "I do six pieces a year for ['60 Minutes']. I've already shot two this summer for this next year. So, you know, I manage my time really well."
Mr. Cooper's daytime program will be produced out of the same New York building where his CNN studio is located. He said the "Anderson" studio will seat 400 people and has 90-foot-tall windows overlooking Columbus Circle and Central Park.
One thing "Anderson" won't do is keep the host on a leash when news happens in far-flung corners of the world.
"If you look at this past year, I was in Egypt for the revolution there. I was in Japan for the tsunami, Joplin, Mo., and those stories I was away for basically eight to 10 days at a time including weekends," Mr. Cooper said. "So we'll have enough shows [banked] that we can cover a trip like that."
Mr. Cooper said he might even do portions or full episodes of his daytime show from such faraway locations.
"If we wanted to, say, insert a live top from overseas somewhere in the first 20 minutes of a show and rejigger the rest of the pre-taped show, we can do that," he said. "We have complete flexibility to respond to events as we feel warranted."
Mr. Cooper acknowledged key differences between hosting a daytime program and a nighttime newscast.
"On a daytime show you really see more sides of the host," he said. "You see more of the person's personality. And there's a huge variety of stories and it can be a big celebrity interview one day, it can be a provocative social issue the next day, and it can be some fun pop culture stuff the following day."
He said viewers will get a better sense of him as a person on the daytime show, too, but it's not something he's planning in advance.
"It's most compelling and most interesting when it happens organically and when it happens authentically, and I think that will be one of the interesting things in this program is kind of the surprise of seeing different sides of myself and me learning about viewers more and viewers learning about me more," Mr. Cooper said. "And where that goes, I don't really know."
Mr. Cooper said his daytime show's goal is to cover stories both serious and silly. He's particularly fond of the audience interaction practiced by one longtime daytime host.
"I liked how the old 'Phil Donahue Show' used audiences, how they incorporated audiences, and I think audiences today aren't being used in shows," he said. "You see audiences, which are basically being used for applause in and out of commercial breaks, and ironically people are better informed now than ever before and have more opinions and are more TV savvy than ever before. So we want to incorporate the audience into the broadcast."
The arrival of "Anderson" means "The Doctors" will move to 12:30 p.m. weekdays on WPXI.
Channel 11 will also get reruns of "Law & Order" to air at 12:35 a.m. Monday beginning Sept. 26.
WTAE
"The Dr. Oz Show," currently airing at 12:30 p.m. weekdays on WPXI, will shift to the 4 p.m. slot on Channel 4, currently the home of the departing "Oprah Winfrey Show," beginning Sept. 12.
WTAE also will upgrade "The Nate Berkus Show" from late night to 10 a.m. weekdays starting Sept. 12. In return, current morning talk show "Rachael Ray" moves to 1:05 a.m.
Although it is not a syndicated show, WTAE will add ABC's new daytime series, "The Chew," at 1 p.m. weekdays, replacing "All My Children," which ends its run on Sept. 23.
The title makes it sound like a show about chewing tobacco -- or would that be "The Chaw"? -- but "The Chew" -- rhymes with "The View" -- is a lifestyle and chat show largely about food.
"The Chew" stars celebrity chefs Mario Batali, Michael Symon and Carla Hall, entertaining expert Clinton Kelly ("What Not to Wear") and health "enthusiast" Daphne Oz, daughter of TV's Dr. Mehmet Oz. Don't hold the end of "All My Children" against them. If more viewers continued to watch daytime soaps, the soaps wouldn't be going away.
"We were asked to come and join the daytime lineup because the daytime tastes have changed," said executive producer Gordon Elliott, who hosted his own daytime talk show in the 1990s. "The daytime audience in cable for food and lifestyle is growing. I think the network has embraced it."
KDKA-TV
There are no changes planned for KDKA-TV's daytime lineup.
WPCW
One of the more interesting schedule moves is WPCW executives' decision to program a game show against long-running WPXI game show hit "Jeopardy!" Channel 19 will carry "Family Feud" weekdays at 7 p.m. beginning Sept. 12.
It's not syndicated, but Pittsburgh's CW affiliate will carry a new CW daytime offering, "Dr. Drew's Lifechangers," at 3 and 3:30 p.m. weekdays beginning Sept. 19. The series, a spinoff of the syndicated show "Extra," stars Drew Pinsky of "Celebrity Rehab" and HLN's "Dr. Drew," who will offer advice on ways for people to improve their lives, sometimes with the assistance of celebrity "lifechangers."
"Some of these stories are going to be small changes that we can initiate and get through that day that we're filming," Dr. Pinsky said at a press conference last month. "Some of them are going to be much longer arcs. ... The thing I have been fascinated by so far is that something that to me, I'd be like, 'Right, that's going to make a giant change,' makes a huge change. [There is a woman] that had her teeth done. It changed who she was, changed the rest of her life. And that, to me, has been a very pleasant surprise."
Channel 19 will air reruns of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" at 4 p.m. and 1 a.m. weekdays beginning Sept. 19. Reruns of "'Til Death" will air weekdays at 9:30 a.m. beginning Sept. 12 and Saturday at 3 and 3:30 p.m. starting Sept. 17.
WPMY
"The Steve Wilkos Show" moves to 10 a.m. weekdays followed by new program "Jeremy Kyle" (11 a.m. weekdays), starring the British daytime tabloid talk show host, who brings his confrontational style to America beginning Sept. 19. (The show will also air weekdays at 4 p.m. on WPGH.)
"Judge Alex" moves to 3 and 3:30 p.m. weekdays, where it will be followed by a new court show, "We the People With Gloria Allred," which will air at 4 and 4:30 p.m. starting Sept. 19.
Reruns of animated Fox comedy "American Dad" will air at 5 p.m. followed by "Family Guy" at 5:30 p.m. starting Sept. 19.
Reruns of "Seinfeld" move from 7:30 p.m. on WPGH to 7:30 p.m. on WPMY.
My Network TV adds "Law & Order: SVU" reruns Monday at 8 and 9 p.m. and "Cold Case" reruns in prime time on Tuesday night.
A new dating show called "Excused" will air at 11 p.m. and midnight starting Sept. 12, with "TMZ," which moves from 4 p.m. weekdays, sandwiched in between at 11:30 p.m.
A new wrestling show, "Ring of Honor," will air at 5 p.m. Saturday and 11:30 p.m. Sunday.
Reruns of "The New Adventures of Old Christine" will air at 12:30 and 1 a.m. weekdays.
Sunday night Channel 22 will offer a sitcom lineup with back-to-back "Christine" episodes at 8 and 8:30 p.m., "Friends" reruns at 9 and 9:30 p.m. and "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" reruns at 10 p.m.
WPGH
Judge Jackie Glass takes over as the star of "Swift Justice," replacing Nancy Grace. The show will air at 9:30 and 10 a.m. weekdays starting Sept. 12. "America's Court With Judge Ross" will air at noon and 12:30 p.m. weekdays.
Channel 53 will add reruns of "The Big Bang Theory" at 6 and 7 weeknights starting Sept. 19 with "Two and a Half Men" at 6:30 and 7:30 p.m. ("Big Bang" reruns will also air on TBS Tuesday and Thursday nights.)
"30 Rock" reruns are scheduled for 11:30 p.m. and 12:30 a.m. weekdays and 5 and 5:30 p.m. Saturdays beginning Sept. 19.
Reruns of "My Name Is Earl" get bumped from evenings to 1 and 2:30 a.m., followed by "American Dad" at 3 a.m. and "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" at 3:30 a.m.
Telethon makeover
The MDA Telethon gets a makeover this year, and it's not just the dismissal of longtime host Jerry Lewis that we reported last month.
The telethon, which used to span multiple days, will be confined to just one night. So it will be shorter in duration, but it will air during hours with more viewers watching TV.
Last year over Labor Day weekend the telethon aired on WPXI from 11:30 p.m. Sunday until 2 p.m. Monday, moved over to PCNC and a digital subchannel for Monday afternoon before returning to Channel 11 at 6 p.m. Monday.
This year the telethon will air 6 p.m. to midnight Sunday. That's a reduction from almost 22 hours to six hours of telethon.
With Mr. Lewis out, the telecast will be co-hosted by Nancy O'Dell ("Entertainment Tonight"), Nigel Lythgoe ("So You Think You Can Dance"), Jann Carl ("Entertainment Tonight") and Alison Sweeney ("The Biggest Loser").
Local segments on WPXI will be hosted by Bill Cardille, now in his 41st year, along with WPXI anchors David Johnson and Peggy Finnegan.
Channel surfing
If you're trying to catch up on CBS's "The Good Wife," the network will offer a half-hour recap special airing Sunday at 9:30 p.m.
Tuned In online
Today the TV Q&A column takes a rest but it will return next week.
This week's Tuned In Journal includes posts on a "Friday Night Lights" book, "The River" and "Dinosaur Revolution." Read online-only TV content at post-gazette.com/tv.
Tuned In podcast has the week off.
First published on September 2, 2011 at 12:00 am
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