‘Harry’ Move Could Boost Fledgling Talker

Harry Connick’s syndicated afternoon talk show just might get a second chance at success following a timeslot switch to 2 p.m. in four major markets.

Connick’s show, Harry — produced and distributed by NBCUniversal and cleared on the Fox O&Os in major markets — has been struggling in these first few months of its inaugural season. And some say it’s because the show was scheduled in one of daytime’s most competitive time periods — 4-5 p.m. — on some of the Fox stations.

This week, the show was moved to 2 p.m. on three of those stations, with a fourth planning to move it starting next Monday. The three stations making the move this week were WNYW New York, WFLD Chicago and KTTV Los Angeles. The fourth station moving the show next week is KTVU San Francisco.

Rather than seeing the timeslot switch as a demotion for the show, programming analyst Bill Carroll, SVP and director of content strategy for Katz Television Group, views the moves as possibly breathing new life into the show after a slow start.

“For a new show, by scheduling it in a very competitive time period, it put the show in a very difficult position because it had to achieve success almost immediately,” Carroll said of the Harry’s initial scheduling at 4. “I think the show, particularly in the four markets we’re talking about, has a better chance of succeeding at 2 o’clock because the expectations will be different than at 4 o’clock, and also the competition. Although it has competition [at 2], the competition may not be as established as it is at 4 o’clock going against Judge Judy or news or other established programs,” he said.

The stations in New York, L.A. and Chicago have moved TMZ Live into the 4-5 p.m. slot vacated by Harry. “TMZ Live is a much more compatible show with their news,” says Carroll, lauding the move. In San Francisco, an hour of local news will replace Harry at 4 next week.

For several weeks, some observers — and some competitors — in the syndication business have wondered in private conversations about the viability of Harry. More to the point, they have questioned whether Harry will have the staying power to earn a renewal for a second season.

Carroll thinks the scheduling moves in these four markets are a step in the right direction. And he feels the odds favor Harry getting a second season.

While it’s too soon to tell if the timeslot switches this week and next will boost Harry over the long term, the overnights for Monday’s show from New York, L.A. and Chicago were encouraging.

In New York, Harry did better in day one at 2 than it was doing at 4. In the 4-5 p.m. slot, Harry had a season-to-date rating in households of 0.68. The show’s household rating at 2 p.m. Monday on WNYW was 0.82, a 21% increase. In the demo — women 25-54 — Harry went from a 0.33 season-to-date at 4 to 1.21 in the demo at 2 p.m. on Monday.

In L.A., the show improved in households from 0.39 to 0.66 and in the demo from 0.16 to 0.38 on KTTV.

In Chicago, the show was down in households — a 0.64 rating down to a 0.50 on WFLD – but up in the demo, according to the overnights — growing from a 0.27 season-to-date to 0.34.