More and more Martha, thanks to Dr. Laura’s stumble. Stewart is moving into the on-deck circle – this close to showdown with daytime TV sluggers Judge Judy and Oprah.MARTHA Stewart regards the move of her TV show from mornings to afternoons as so momentous that she called from Tokyo in the middle of the night just to talk about it.
Starting today, “Martha Stewart Living” moves from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m .weekdays on Ch. 2. The switch gets the show out of a morning time period where its ratings suffered from the weak lead-in provided by Bryant Gumbel’s CBS morning show, and places it in an afternoon slot that she feels will be more compatible with her audience’s lifestyle.
On the phone from Japan at 1:10 a.m. (11:10 a.m. here), she said the move was something she fought for, although the opportunity didn’t arise until Ch. 2 banished the struggling “Dr. Laura” to the wee hours of the morning.
“Basically, what I’m trying to do with the show is really get it into a time slot that will reach the right audience,” said Martha, who was in Japan to launch “Martha Stewart Living” on Japanese TV.
“We were working toward that with King World [the CBS-owned syndicator that distributes “Martha Stewart Living”] because, although 9 o’clock in the morning is a nice time slot, many of the people who would watch the show are either standing at the bus stop with the kids, or going off to work, or running out to do their errands, so an afternoon time slot is a dream slot.”
At 9 a.m., “Martha Stewart Living” was ranked fourth, after “Live with Regis and Kathie Lee” on Ch. 7, “Later Today” on Ch. 4, and “Jerry Springer” on Ch. 11.
In her new slot, she’ll face off against first-place “General Hospital” on Ch. 7, “The People’s Court” on Ch. 4, and “Judge Joe Brown” on Ch. 9. Her lead-in will be “As the World Turns” on CBS.
“I’m not a big TV expert,” Martha claimed at one point in our interview, but I let the comment pass. Maybe she was just being modest. She sure sounded like an expert when she assessed the competitive landscape at 9 a.m., describing how her show took a hit when the top-ranked “Today Show” expanded into the 9-10 a.m. hour.
“When we first went into the 9 o’clock [slot], the competition was tough – it was ‘Regis and Kathie Lee’ – but actually our ratings were higher,” she recalled. “Then came the elongation of ‘The Today Show.’ What also hurt us was CBS moving around its [morning show] anchors and losing viewership. Our lead-in was not as strong as it once was. It got weaker.”
As for her prospects at 3 o’clock, she feels her show offers an alternative since it’s the only program of its kind in the time slot. “If people are that interested in judges, they won’t be that interested in me,” she said.
“But I think we have something really wonderful to offer an audience, where they can really learn something. They can get inspired to do something later on in the day like make dinner for their family or do a craft project with the kids.”
Her show’s move to 3 o’clock places her within shouting distance of Oprah Winfrey and Judge Judy – the two most dominant female personalities in daytime TV.
Some observers think the move looks like a prelude to an assault on the 4 o’clock hour, traditionally afternoon television’s most prestigious time period.
So I crafted a question aimed at leading Martha into saying something competitive about Oprah, who, like Martha, presides over her own multifaceted media empire.
But shrewd Martha didn’t take the bait. “Is ‘Martha Stewart Living’ ready to take on ‘Oprah’ and ‘Judge Judy’?” I asked.
Answered Martha, “Judge Judy? Well, maybe. But Oprah? You know, it’s something that I haven’t ever thought about.”