One has to appluad at least the nearly obsessive level of tenacity and fight that the folks in charge of ABC News have shown in the case of their least-viewed program on their schedule. GMA3, a brand extension on what has been the demo champ of the highly profitable morning news wars for decades–GOOD MORNING, AMERICA–is in the midst of year eight as the “anchor” for the network’s afternoon lineup–which considering both its lead-in and lead-out are both programmed locally, is as much of a misnomer since ABC actually started programming the daypart 67 years ago.
In terms of viewership, it’s pretty much been much ado about nothing. The most recent daily audience figures available from the reliable USTVDB are exemplary. Last Wednesday, GMA3 was watched by 1.275 million persons over the age of 2–the overwhelming percentage of them well over age 55. That’s less than half of the 2.663M that tuned into the mothership program from 7-9 AM. By contrast, while NBC’s TODAY SHOW was edged out for first by a hair, delivering 2.527M, its Third Hour followed with 1.71M of its own. Do the math–that’s a two-thirds retention of its own mothership, and roughly a third more viewers than GMA, ostensibly its equivalent.
And competitively, that’s in line with how even the typically optimistic Tony Maglio of INDIE WIRE summed it up back in December 2022:
The ABC News production ranks fourth overall at 1 p.m., behind just CBS (“The Bold & the Beautiful”), Fox News Channel (“America Reports”), and Fox’s broadcast network (local programming prior to the World Cup). In the demo, NBC (“NBC News Daily”) jumps ahead of the ABC series, but Fox News falls to sixth (behind Telemundo’s various programming, too), so “GMA3” remains in fourth place.
And that alone should tell you where the daytime audience puts this in its consideration set. Despite the fact that behind the scenes there’s been far more drama and newsworthiness than during the show itself. The reason why Maglio dropped that story was that the show was in the midst of losing both of its anchors–Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes–who chose each other’s irresistible bodies and, to be fair, true love, over fighting this quixotic battle, leaving after the affair that ended their respective marriage and partnership became public.
And yesterday, after a weekend of rampant speculation, the folks that attempted to replace them were themselves replaced–or something. Here’s how OK MAGAZINE’s Stephanie Kaplan classily reported it:
ABC is once again giving GMA3 a makeover. On Monday, July 7, co-anchor Eva Pilgrim announced she’s leaving the 1 p.m. show to star on CBS’ Inside Edition, while the company announced in a newsletter that her costar DeMarco Morgan “has decided to begin a new journey and will be departing ABC News.” Morgan hadn’t been on the show for a few weeks now.
Monday’s episode was hosted by Rebecca Jarvis, Ginger Zee and Gio Benitez. A news outlet stated the shake-up will likely make way for their stars such as Zee or Benitez to have more time on-air, with no new hosts being announced as of yet.
DEADLINE’s Ted Johnson provided a bit more context for at least the short-term strategy:
ABC News is planning to blend Good Morning America more seamlessly with its spinoff GMA3 following the announcements on Monday that co-hosts DeMarco Morgan and Eva Pilgrim are departing the show. The immediate plan is for the show to continue what it has been doing in recent weeks, with members of the Good Morning America “extended family” of personalities taking hosting duties on the show. Status newsletter first reported on the exit of the two GMA3 hosts.
Last year, Karamehmedovic announced a cost-cutting restructuring of the news division that saw the exit of Cat McKenzie as executive producer, with Simone Swink, executive producer of Good Morning America, taking over supervision of the show. The strategy has been to capitalize on the viewer familiarity with Good Morning America in the GMA3 hour.
Which seems to make the piece that THE NEW YORK POST’s BreAnna Bell on (ironically) April Fool’s Day prescient on one point and arguably increasing so on another:
“Good Morning America 3” anchors DeMarco Morgan and Eva Pilgrim may be getting axed soon as sources claim ABC News executives are looking to update the show in light of poor ratings.
ABC News president Almin Karamehmedovic will probably have the hosts replaced by the end of the summer, an insider told The Post on Tuesday. “’GMA3′ won’t be there at the end of the summer,” said the source.
Bell led with all that despite burying the network’s spin deeper:
“What we have said from the beginning is that we are unifying all day parts under the GMA umbrella and team and that includes seeing all members of the extended GMA family in the third hour,” a spokesperson told The Post Tuesday. “The third hour is a valued part of the GMA franchise. Robin, George and Michael have been on before and they will continue to be featured,” the rep concluded.
Of course it’s valued. For the same reason that anyone local or national that programs news continues to double and triple down on it. It’s already operational, it can reuse a lot of pieces from other programs because of how the majority of news viewers typically watch–for portions of long form broadcasts only– and the personnel’s already in place. From an ROI mission statement perspective, it’s every bean counter’s dream.
Except GMA3 has NEVER been a priority for anyone other than corporate brass since it began. It caused an internal civic war when it moved Michael Strahan off of his co-host role with Kelly Ripa to start it up as an emergency move to replace the ill-fated food-centric panel show that attempted to play off THE VIEW–incredously titled THE CHEW–became more expensive and problematic than it was worth. The fact is that LIVE! WITH KELLY, whether she’s been the “work wife” of OG host Regis Philbin or now the grizzled veteran now carrying her himbo hubby Mark Consuelos along with her as the modern-day equivalent of Peter Lind Hayes and Mary Healy (Google it, kids) has actually been entrenched as the “third hour of GMA”, since in a majority of ABC-owned markets and on many affiliate it’s aired from 9-10 AM for nearly four decades. Indeed, the reason NBC even expanded TODAY to that hour was their inability to launch anything of consequence either on network or via its syndication division against the demo juggernaut that LIVE! was–and in a lot of cities today still is. But the network was tired of losing internal cred with Disney’s schleppers so it effectively ordered Strahan’s move, which sent Ripa into a rage way above her typical diva stature. She staged a walkout that would have made Cesar Chavez proud before finally being placated with money and yes, the ability to actually get away with sleeping with your co-host in a consensual adult relationship that Robach and Holmes were denied.
And the fact remains that as long as LIVE! continues to perform and ABC demonstrates daily that they can do a lot better during the afternoon with other shows besides GMA3 the argument to keep this squirrel-chasing effort going gets weaker. Tamron Hall has done well enough in syndication to get a renewal for its own eighth season–in a lot of cases being cleared in the same deal with LIVE!. GENERAL HOSPITAL continues to outperform it as well, although at a significantly higher cost.
So yeah, I’m kinda looking at Bell’s second Nostradumbass call with a lot more respect than I had been. And with this being the golden anniversary of what game show nuts are remembering as ABC’s last big shift in their daytime line-up–the introduction of no less than three shiny-floor shows–not to mention the eventually long-running soap RYAN’S HOPE–maybe it’s time for them to think about that legacy as perhaps a way to deal with the problems they continue to have?
As we’ve recently mused, the genre seems to work in prime time just fine for them, let alone competitiors. And no, you don’t need big bucks, let alone no whammies, to fill weekday afternoons. The fine folks at Sony and Fremantle are sitting on dozens of titles that someone creative could rejigger. As the folks at GSN just demonstrated, some don’t even need actual sets any more. And heaven forbid they might actually want to take a flyer on something truly original given the risk vs. reward ratio. After all, it’s not like GMA3 has covered itself with praise.
The only other option would be to truly make GMA3 as seamless as NBC has made TODAY THIRD HOUR. Make damn sure every affiliate carries it in pattern and head-to-head with Al Roker et al. Indeed, use Strahan, Roberts and “Slopodoupalos” as threatened. Tell Kelly and Mark to sleep in an extra hour and make them the actual lead-in to THE VIEW, a show it tends to have more in common with structurally. You can even mandate that your syndication division prioritize selling the show to its affiliates where options are otherwise equal. The new studio digs reportedly has enough spa services and matcha varieties to calm her even in the ways hubby can’t.
But see, that would actually involve some downside risk and some determination. Some actual strategy. Not the slip-shot and half-assed approach that made news yesterday and will more than likely not do a damn thing over time. My sincere apologies, Ginger and Gio. But facts speak volumes.
So Alvin, you know what you are doing and now you know what I at least I think you should do. It might be a good time to take the counsel of the few that remain on your staff to help you figure out what your audience is doing or saying. And if they’re overworked or otherwise ignorant, plenty of us are out there for a relative song to help. Your news programming needs to report, not be the story itself.
Until next time…
1 thought on “A Waste Of Time And Emotion, If Not Money”
I can’t believe 1 person watches any of that drivel. You would think with the plethora of options available on air and online, that they could find something better to watch or do with their limited time on planet Earth.