Right now it is re-runs of Celebrity Family Feud, but is that their permanent solution? What , if anything, is slated to fill that hole? What should be there?
For the purpose of this thread, Kimmel himself is not an option, although I am definitely hoping that happens instead.
I’d be surprised by “Encore performances” with most people able to record or stream. News is possible, though it won’t draw those precious younger viewers of course.
I could see turning it back to the local affiliates, that is probably a pretty cheap move.
I think that they do care – at least a little bit – about running stuff which is as inexpensive to them as possible, while still having control over the ad space and resulting revenue (which they lose if they turn the slot back over to the affiliates).
I’m pretty sure that they realize that nothing they air in that slot is going to attract large numbers of younger viewers, who aren’t on linear TV anymore anyway.
“Good evening and welcome to the ABC Old Old Movie. Tonight’s feature stars Forrest Tucker, Phil Harris and Vera Hruba Ralston in the 1951 favorite “The Wild Blue Yonder…”
This is guaranteed to offend no one and cost no money whatsoever.
After Pat Sajak’s late-night talk show was mercifully put to death in 1991, CBS ran a package of low-budget crime shows collectively titled Crimetime After Primetime. Wiseguy eventually graduated to the network’s prime time lineup, but the others are lost in the mists of time. Despite the low-rent nature of the programming CTAPT ran for 2 1/2 years until it was replaced by David Letterman.
Wiseguy actually predated those (premiering in 1987), and was originally a prime-time series; according to Wikipedia, it eventually got re-run in that late-night slot in 1993, several years after it had ceased production.
My wife really liked one of those series, Forever Knight, about a modern-day vampire in Toronto.
Wiseguy was actually originally a primetime program in the late ‘Eighties which was well-regarded but the original star, Ken Wahl, ended up having to leave due to substance abuse problems (attributed to injuries acquired during filming) and the show floundered in the third series. It also starred Jonathan Banks (later playing ‘Mike Ehrmantraut’ on Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul as well as literally almost a couple hundred other roles over his career) as the handler of the main character who was an undercover agent.
Silk Stalkings kept going on the USA Network and racked up well beyond the 100 episode cutoff for syndication, and kept showing up on cable through the early 2000s. It was probably the least camp of any of the Crimetime After Primetime shows but I’m sure it would be pretty dated today. The other shows were basically pastiches of other, better shows including a Magnum, p.i. ripoff called Sweating Bullets with a main character named ‘Nick Slaughter’ which I so wanted to be watchable but…it just wasn’t.
My personal favorite was “Dark Justice”. It ran for three seasons, but it isn’t being streamed anywhere, free or otherwise, and it isn’t available on tape or disc.
I’ll have you know that I have boxed sets for Forever Knight. So not forgotten by all. Nor am I saying it was exceptional TV, but I enjoyed the first two seasons immensely. Much respect to Lady Kenobi!
Back to the OP, I’d think ABC could pull through the archives and go for a “Nick-at-Night” (dating myself) option of old, inoffensive (to certain people of a certain age) well aged (and therefore cheap) sitcoms that should not challenge older/conservative TV watchers. As stated upthread, I don’t think there’s much market for younger, non-traditional watchers, so you’re getting people up later who might want something on for noise while they try to fall asleep. And it’ll be quite cheap.