The CW Daytime


The CW Daytime is the former official branding for an afternoon programming block that broadcasts on The CW. It was originally known as Daytime WB, which aired on one of its predecessors, The WB Television Network, from January 2, 2006 to September 15, 2006.
Officially, the network prefers the reruns of the talk show featured in the block, The Jerry Springer Show, replacing the canceled talk show The Robert Irvine Show, to be aired 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. in each time zone, though some affiliates air it in differing timeslots. CW Plus stations in the Central and Mountain time zones also air the show an hour earlier or later, depending on the local time zone.

History

Origins

The CW Daytime originated as a block on The WB Television Network called Daytime WB, which launched on January 2, 2006. The block's creation traces back to the former holder of its timeslot, Kids' WB, which began sharing several of its programs with Cartoon Network following the Turner Broadcasting System's 1996 merger with Time Warner. Eventually, Cartoon Network began beating Fox Kids in the ratings, and airing Kids' WB became financially unattractive for The WB as broadcast stations started airing only live-action talk shows and sitcom reruns in the afternoon hours to target adult audiences, figuring that the viewing habits of children in the afterschool hours had migrated to cable channels.
On May 31, 2005, The WB announced the discontinuation of the weekday Kids' WB block effective December 31, 2005. Kids' WB continued to air weekdays after this, but with redundant programming and theme weeks until January, and more promotion of Cartoon Network's afternoon Miguzi block and the Saturday morning Kids' WB lineup during the transition. After Daytime WB debuted, Kids' WB's Saturday block was expanded by one hour, running from 7:00 a.m. to Noon in all time zones.

Move to the CW

The block moved to The CW, which replaced The WB in its merger with UPN on September 18, 2006, under the unofficial brand The CW Daytime. On-air promotions for the afternoon block did not refer to the block by a formal brand name. The only description given by the network's in the past was that it was a "Monday-Friday afternoon block from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. as well as a Sunday encore block from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. outside of prime time." The Sunday block was discontinued in September 2009 when the network gave back the five-hour evening lineup on Sundays to its affiliates in order for them to carry syndicated programs and feature films after the failure of Media Rights Capital's time brokerage agreement with the network for its Sunday primetime lineup during the 2008-09 season. Today, the majority of The CW's stations air NBCUniversal-syndicated talk shows such as Jerry Springer, The Steve Wilkos Show and Maury during daytime hours outside of The Bill Cunningham Show, along with court shows and other talk programming from either CBS Television Distribution, Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution, Disney-ABC Home Entertainment and Television Distribution, 20th Television, Trifecta Entertainment and Media and Entertainment Studios. Currently, The CW's website and social media channels make no mention of The CW Daytime in any form, and outside of promos distributed to the network's affiliates and occasional network promotions in primetime, the responsibilities and burden of promotion are largely held by the producers of the program featured in the timeslot, and is asserted by the network to be only a minor, yet compulsory element of the network's schedule for affiliates to carry.
Starting in the fall of 2008, Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution began holding the program responsibilities for the block. At that point, when The CW4Kids block premiered, 4Kids broadcast annual fall preview specials prior to the launch of the new schedule in September. A premiere episode of from the CW4Kids block aired in early September 2009 to promote the series. Another preview special aired in 2010 upon the rename of the block to Toonzai, as well as the pilot for Tai Chi Chasers in 2011, promoted as a 'sneak peek'.

Reduction to one hour

On September 7, 2009, the Warner Bros.-distributed The Tyra Banks Show moved from first-run syndication exclusively to The CW Daytime, with a repeat "best-of" episode airing in the first hour of the block, while a new episode aired in the second hour. Banks announced the discontinuation of the series in December 2009, with the program ending its run in May 2010.
For the 2010–2011 season, the network aired one repeat "best-of" episode of Banks' show each day until September 16, 2011 – as The CW had cut its weekday daytime down to one hour that season, retaining the 3:00 p.m. start time. For the 2011–2012 television season, Dr. Drew's Lifechangers, a daytime talk show produced by Warner Bros. subsidiary Telepictures, aired an original episode in the first half-hour, and an encore in the second until September 14, 2012, following the show's cancellation due to Pinsky focusing more on his program on HLN. Since that point, the "CW Daytime" branding has ceased to be referred to in any on-air form by the network and the show airing in the slot is referred as ', on The CW'.

Tribune Broadcasting offerings

The Bill Cunningham Show, which had been airing mainly on Tribune's stations during the 2011–2012 season, replaced Lifechangers on September 17, 2012.
On May 27, 2016, in interviews with local Cincinnati media, Cunningham stated that he would no longer continue with The Bill Cunningham Show into the 2016-17 season due to a grinding taping schedule and a three-year extension that he could not agree to, leaving the fate of the network's daytime slot in doubt.
On June 20, 2016, the replacement series for Cunningham was named. The Robert Irvine Show, featuring Food Network personality Robert Irvine, will also be produced by Tribune, this time in association with Irwin Entertainment, and debuted on September 12, 2016. Tribune's current agreement to program the timeslot runs concurrent with its CW affiliation agreement, which currently expires in September 2021. However, the show had very low ratings and almost no promotion, and Tribune decided not to continue production of the series in the 2018-19 season.

Current

On June 13, 2018, an article from Broadcasting & Cable named the replacement for Irvine; reruns and unaired episodes of The Jerry Springer Show, which stopped producing new episodes in spring 2018. The CW also had a contractual right to ask for newly-produced episodes, though this was never executed. It is unknown what arrangements Tribune Media made with NBCUniversal Television Distribution and The CW to allow the Springer reruns to air. At the time of the agreement, Tribune was in the process of an acquisition by Sinclair Broadcast Group ; both broadcast chains had concurrently served as the largest syndicated group of stations carrying Springer. The same arrangement continued for the 2019-20 season, with those repeats often serving as a complement to Springer's new syndicated courtroom series Judge Jerry, and after Tribune's merger with Nexstar Media Group, which now makes up the largest affiliate base for the network.

Current programming