The morning meeting was a blast of excited creativity. They were settling into the new offices, and the new team members seemed to take to Ian’s style of doing things. Having David Turner there, gorging himself on pastry and fried foods, only added to the dynamic. He seemed to be energized by the spirit as well, of course his energy could have come from three Dr. Peppers, but Ian hoped it was more the former than the latter.
They had decided to concentrate on fixing what they deemed to be the problems with the daytime lineup, first, while attempting to quickly develop something to fix the gaping problem that called itself “Sebastian Manor”.
They first discussed the 1 PM drama, a staple since 1968, and one of the last successful daytime dramas to be launched and survive from the many, many that had tried since. “The Best of Everything” was a good piece, but still trying to regain it’s footing after having been practically decimated when HRT decided to hire Baxter Reilly as it’s head writer. In the four years he headed up the writing team, the story and the history went ory, and the audience left in droves.
Things got worse when some idiot decided it was a good move to allow Reilly to remain as head writer, while creating, producing and writing “Sebastian Manor”. Manor debuted at the bottom of the heap and “The Best of Everything” slid from a solid number three to barely above “Sebastian” at the bottom.
Two years ago, Reilly was removed from the “Everything” staff to concentrate on “Manor”. “Manor” refused to improve, and got worse creatively, but a new head writer managed to help the other older soap to get back up to at least middle ground.
Ian’s problem was to figure out a way to get that show back into the top third, minimum, although he felt with a few tweaks, it could zoom right back to the top. His staff agreed, it was a strong, old fashion soap, with a solid core audience that stuck with it during some really horrible storytelling years.
The thought was that the time slot was the biggest problem. Ian really wanted to move the two soaps he had on the schedule two hours later, removing them from competition with most of the other daytime dramas, making them unique in a glut of syndicated talk shows and local news. It was a tougher time slot, but Wella seemed to agree that the genre distinction would gain audience from viewers who were sick and tired of having nothing to choose from.
A group was assigned to begin calling affiliates to feel them out on the idea. Ian also gave a call to Marcus Hunter, the manager of his old station in Bristol. Hunter agreed to move “The Best of Everything” to 4 PM, admitting what Ian already knew. They hadn’t had decent ratings in that time slot since TV Land had snapped up the syndication rights to “Petticoat Junction” and “Green Acres”.
“America Alive” needed some chemistry adjustment. The anchors were solid enough, but the format was dry and reminded Ian of late night radio shows on college PBS stations. Someone suggested adding a third dynamic in the form of a roaming anchor, one who would actually broadcast from other locations. Four members volunteered to do some cost research and take a look at new formats that seemed to be working for the news/talk format in larger markets.
The biggest problem was “Sebastian Manor”. It was abysmal. While Reilly made quirky, surprising choices in his plotlines, often pushing taboos, his payoffs were lackluster, even insulting. A debate raged as to whether or not “Manor” should be saved and something else take its place.
Which led to a bigger question, could something be developed, written, cast and shot in time to start for a fall push in September? The third problem being was that the idiot who let Reilly create his own show, also gave him ownership, and he was notorious for telling the network brass to take their ideas and, well, you get the picture.
Time was running out and major decisions had to be made and put into action. Ian was determined that the best idea was to launch a “reformed” daytime slate with the fall prime time line up. It would save money, and quite possibly, if exciting enough, may even get a few people to try out daytime for the first time in years.
Ian didn’t mention his call or his desire to snag Pearce Warner for “America Alive!” but the general consensus was that a change in anchors would definitely be a good start. So, Warner or not, everyone was now on the prowl for new blood.
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