Using the incubator strategy
Twentieth TV plans limited-launch approach for Good Day Live
By Joe Schlosser -- Broadcasting & Cable, 11/25/2001 7:00:00 PM
Twentieth Television is turning to its incubator strategy for the second time. Starting next month, the News Corp.-owned syndication unit will use five of the Fox-owned and operated stations to launch its Good Day Live strip, a news and entertainment magazine series based on KTTV-TV Los Angeles's successful morning news program Good Day LA.
Good Day Live will get rolling on Dec. 3 on WAGA-TV Atlanta, KSAZ-TV Phoenix, KTVI-TV St. Louis, KTBC-TV Austin, Texas, and KTTV-TV Los Angeles.
The move comes less than a year after Twentieth TV executives brought court series Texas Justice out in a similar controlled launch. Last March, Texas Justice debuted on nine Fox stations around the country and, by January, will be seen in more than 80% of the U.S.
"Texas Justice was the first of many shows we plan to bring to the marketplace in this fashion," says Twentieth TV President Bob Cook. "Our stations provide a tremendous opportunity to test and hone a show. We hope to duplicate the success of Texas Justice with this modified version of Good Day LA."
The magazine show will likely get a 13-week test on the five stations and, if it works in those markets, will probably go into a full-national syndication rollout next fall.
Good Day LA, which has produced strong ratings on the Fox-owned Los Angeles station, is an off-the-wall, joke-filled morning news show with a Hollywood bent. Anchors Steve Edwards, Dorothy Lucy and Jillian Barberie (who is also on Fox Sports' Sunday NFL pregame show and was formerly host of FX's The Test) go about things in their own way. The three anchors will continue to host Good Day LA each weekday morning from 7 to 9 a.m. PT and then move to a newly designed set at KTTV to host the one-hour Good Day Live.
"The chemistry between the three of them is unique and different," Cook says. "I think this comes with a West Coast entertainment sensibility and perspective. It's an entertainment and lifestyle show that isn't out there right now. You sort of get the East Coast perspective with Regis and Kelly, but no one is really representing the West Coast."
Good Day Live will mix in celebrity interviews, topical news and reports from around the country with correspondents from other Fox stations pitching in stories to give it a national feel, Cook says.
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