The CW Daytime

The CW Daytime is the former official branding for an afternoon programming block that broadcasts on The CW. It was originally known as Daytime WB, which aired on one of its predecessors, The WB Television Network, from January 2 to September 15, 2006.

Officially, the network prefers the talk show featured in the block, The Robert Irvine Show, to be aired 3:00–4:00 p.m. in each time zone, though some affiliates air it in differing timeslots (such as KPXJ in Shreveport, Louisiana, and KDAF in Dallas-Fort Worth, which have run the network's talk show at 2:00 p.m. Central Time since September 2012 and September 2013 respectively; and WPIX in New York City and WCCB in Charlotte, which have aired it at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time since September 2012 and July 2013 respectively; in Charlotte, this is due to existing syndication contracts from its time as a Fox affiliate). CW Plus stations in the Central and Mountain time zones also air the show an hour earlier or later, depending on the local time zone.

History

The logo for Daytime WB.

The CW Daytime originated as a block on The WB Television Network called Daytime WB, which launched on January 2, 2006. The block's creation traces back to the former holder of its timeslot, Kids' WB, which began sharing several of its programs with Cartoon Network following the Turner Broadcasting System's 1996 merger with Time Warner. Eventually, Cartoon Network began beating Fox Kids in the ratings, and airing Kids' WB became financially unattractive for The WB as broadcast stations started airing only live-action talk shows and sitcom reruns in the afternoon hours to target adult audiences, figuring that the viewing habits of children in the afterschool hours had migrated to cable channels (such as Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon and Disney Channel).

On May 31, 2005, The WB announced the discontinuation of the weekday Kids' WB block effective December 31, 2005. Kids' WB continued to air weekdays after this, but with redundant programming and theme weeks until January, and more promotion of Cartoon Network's afternoon Miguzi block and the Saturday morning Kids' WB lineup during the transition. After Daytime WB debuted, Kids' WB's Saturday block was expanded by one hour, running from 7:00 to 12:00 p.m. in all time zones.

The block moved to The CW, which replaced The WB in its merger with UPN on September 18, 2006, under the unofficial brand The CW Daytime. On-air promotions for the afternoon block (which aired quite rarely) did not refer to the block by a formal brand name. The only description given by the network's website in the past was that it was a "Monday-Friday afternoon block from 3:00-5:00PM (ET/PT) as well as a Sunday encore block from 5:00-7:00 PM (ET/PT) outside of prime time." The Sunday block (formerly known prior to The CW's launch as "EasyView," a component of The WB's "Big Sunday" schedule) was discontinued in September 2009 when the network gave back the five-hour evening lineup on Sundays to its affiliates in order for them to carry syndicated programs and feature films after the failure of Media Rights Capital's time brokerage agreement with the network for its Sunday primetime lineup during the 2008-09 season. Today, the majority of The CW's stations air NBCUniversal-syndicated talk shows such as Jerry Springer, The Steve Wilkos Show and Maury during daytime hours outside of The Bill Cunningham Show, along with court shows and other talk programming from either CBS Television Distribution or Entertainment Studios. Currently, The CW's website and social media channels make no mention of The CW Daytime in any form, and outside of promos distributed to the network's affiliates and occasional network promotions in primetime (usually only at the start of the television season), the responsibilities and burden of promotion are largely held by the producers of the program featured in the timeslot, and is asserted by the network to be only a minor, yet compulsory element of the network's schedule for affiliates to carry.

Starting in the fall of 2008, Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution began holding the program responsibilities for the block.^[1] At that point, when The CW4Kids block premiered, 4Kids broadcast a half-hour "fall preview" show prior to the launch of the new schedule in September. A premiere episode of Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight from the CW4Kids block aired in early September 2009 to promote the series. Another preview special aired in 2010 upon the rename of the block to Toonzai, as well as the pilot for Tai Chi Chasers in 2011, promoted as a "sneak preview" episode.

On September 7, 2009, the Warner Bros.-distributed The Tyra Banks Show moved from first-run syndication exclusively to The CW Daytime, with a repeat "best-of" episode airing in the first hour of the block, while a new episode aired in the second hour.^[2] Banks announced the discontinuation of the series in December 2009, with the program ending its run in May 2010.^[3]

For the 2010–2011 season, the network aired one repeat "best-of" episode of Banks' show each day until September 16, 2011 – as The CW had cut its weekday daytime down to one hour that season, retaining the 3:00 p.m. start time (the 4:00 p.m. hour was given back to The CW's affiliates, the vast majority of whom filled the slot with syndicated programming). For the 2011–2012 television season, Dr. Drew's Lifechangers, a daytime talk show produced by Warner Bros. subsidiary Telepictures (which also produced Tyra), aired an original episode in the first half-hour, and an encore in the second until September 14, 2012, following the show's cancellation due to Pinsky focusing more on his program on HLN.^[4]Since that point, the "CW Daytime" branding has ceased to be referred to in any on-air form by the network and the show airing in the slot is referred as '(program name), on The CW'.

The Bill Cunningham Show (produced by Tribune Broadcasting and ITV Studios), which had been airing mainly on Tribune's stations (along with a few owned by Local TV and Raycom Media) during the 2011–2012 season, replaced Lifechangers on September 17, 2012.^[5]

On May 27, 2016, in interviews with local Cincinnati media, Cunningham stated that he would no longer continue with The Bill Cunningham Show into the 2016-17 season due to a grinding taping schedule and a three-year extension that he could not agree to, leaving the fate of the network's daytime slot in doubt.^[6]

On June 20, 2016, the replacement series for Cunningham was named. The Robert Irvine Show, featuring Food Network personality Robert Irvine, will also be produced by Tribune, this time in association with Irwin Entertainment, and debuted on September 12, 2016. Tribune's current agreement to program the timeslot runs concurrent with its CW affiliation agreement, which currently expires in September 2021.^[7][8]

Programming

Current programming

• The Robert Irvine Show (September 12, 2016–present)

Former programming

• 8 Simple Rules (2005-06) (Daytime WB)
• ER (2005-06) (Daytime WB)
• Reba (2006–2008)
• What I Like About You (2006–2008) (Daytime WB)
• All of Us (2007–2008)
• The Jamie Foxx Show (2008–2009)
• The Wayans Bros. (2008–2009)
• Judge Jeanine Pirro (2008–2009)
• The Tyra Banks Show (2009–2011)
• Dr. Drew's Lifechangers (2011–2012)
• The Bill Cunningham Show (2012-2016)

References

External links

• TheBillCunninghamShow.com - Official website for The Bill Cunningham Show
• CWTV.com - Official website for The CW Television Network