NBC Stations Look Lively

Adding live shows ‘Access Hollywood Live,' ‘Daily Connection' to line-ups

By Paige Albiniak -- Broadcasting & Cable, 3/2/2010 1:21:28 PM

NBC is looking to rejuvenate its daytime line-up with live programming.

As first reported by B&C on Feb. 8, 2010, the group is adding a new live one-hour entertainment talk show Access Hollywood Live to six stations. It's also trying another live show, Daily Connection, on WRC Washington, D.C. That show is expected to start airing on WNBC New York's daytime line-up this month.

Access Hollywood Live will be broadcast live and premiere on WNBC New York, KNBC Los Angeles, WMAQ Chicago, KNTV San Francisco, KNSD San Diego and WVIT Hartford, Conn. Access Hollywood Executive Producer Rob Silverstein will produce the show from Los Angeles.

"The show is the latest investment we've made in daytime for our stations, and we look forward to its launch," says John Wallace, president of NBC Local Media, in a statement.

The show fills a hole left by the departure of Martha Stewart, which is moving to the Hallmark Channel come fall. NBC's daytime line-up for next season is now complete, with the group's acquisition of Sony's Nate Berkus, the renewal of Warner Bros.' Ellen DeGeneres, and a one-year deal to air Bravo's Real Housewives franchise.

Besides Martha, Warner Bros.' Bonnie Hunt and NBCU's Deal or No Deal are also departing NBC's daytime line-up.

Daily Connection is currently produced out of New York and has been airing on WRC Washington, D.C., since September. The producers of Daily Connection discuss and gather the day's hottest video clips from across NBCU's assets - including The Today Show, MSNBC, Bravo - and then they are sent down to WRC. The producers then create a show with the station's anchors chatting about the clips.

"We put together a show that's live, very chatty, and very fun," says Matt Glassman, WRC's senior producer of content. The anchors, who rotate in and out on different days, "are encouraged to chat about things. The show is very loose."

WRC this week moved Daily Connection to 2 p.m. ET from 3 p.m. ET, where it faced stiff competition against CBS Television Distribution's Dr. Phil, ABC's General Hospital and Sony's Dr. Oz.

"It's still too early to tell" whether Daily Connection will be expanded to other NBC stations, said NBC spokeswoman Lauren Kapp.