As expected, the number of new first-run syndicated options vying for time periods in 2009-10 is puny. Of the six potential strips in development, only two at present -- Dr. Mehmet Oz, from Sony Pictures Television, and The Wendy Williams Show, from Debmar-Mercury-have officially been confirmed. In today's troubled economy, stations are not lining up to acquire new product. The bottom line: It's cheaper to showcase what they already have and rely heavily on double-runs.

Also causing ripples are the recent rumors of Oprah Winfrey's pending departure from her CBS Television Distribution talker in 2011. She has, after all, hinted at exiting for over 10 years. But this time, Oprah's potential departure could be from first-run syndication, not her talk show. According to published reports, the Queen of Daytime may be taking the show exclusively to OWN (a.k.a. the Oprah Winfrey Network), which Winfrey's production company, Harpo, is creating in conjunction with Discovery Communications.

"I have a contract until 2011, so right now that's what I have until someone writes me another one," said Oprah at a recent benefit for Essence magazine in New York. "I'm going to fulfill my contractual obligations and fulfill them happily."

In better economic times, just the thought of Oprah's departure would have given any station carrying the show sleepless nights. But according to one station programmer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, tough times make it particularly difficult to cover the license fees.

"What I pay for Oprah is about triple what I pay for anything else," says the station exec. "So, it could be a blessing if she does leave. Even if the show replacing her loses half the audience, just the cost savings alone could make it beneficial."

While competing distributors would, of course, jump at the chance to program an available hour in early fringe (4 p.m. in particular, which is difficult to find clearances in), this valuable block of real estate is unlikely to free up anytime soon.

"There was never any conversation of Oprah leaving first-run syndication when she owned a stake in the Oxygen Network," explains Bill Carroll, vp and director of the Katz Media Group. "So, it is highly unlikely she would do so now." At the time, original highlights from Oprah's show were packaged separately on Oxygen in a daily half hour called Oprah After the Show, which gave the cable network a boost without compromising the overall value of the franchise. It was a win-win situation for both.

Oprah's possible exit from syndie isn't the only alarm bell ringing in the industry's hallways -- it got louder after newspaper and TV station owner Tribune filed for bankruptcy.  While it remains unclear what that will mean for the individual stations (Tribune is in a temporary holding period right now), it could eventually negatively impact established talkers like NBC Universal's Maury, The Jerry Springer Show and The Steve Wilkos Show, which are heavily cleared on the Tribune stations when the licensing deals are up. And it did not benefit the proposed new talk show from CBS Television Distribution hosted by bishop T.D. Jakes, which had been sold to the Tribune and Fox stations but has been put on hold until fall 2010.

"T.D. Jakes is a powerful leader in our community, and I am just as convinced as ever that he will impact millions through daytime television," says Jay McGraw, president of Stage 29 Productions in a prepared statement. "We have already started working on making sure 2010 is a successful launch year for T.D. Jakes."

If the economy does not improve, however, T.D. Jakes is likely to remain a long-shot. In fact, one look at the syndicated marketplace reveals that signs of our financially crunched times are everywhere.



Many of the established first-run strips (which traditionally produce 39 weeks of originals) have cut their output to fewer weeks. Warner Bros. will pull four year-old The Tyra Banks Show out of syndication and into daytime on The CW (with two scheduled hours, repeat and original, from 3-5 p.m.). Twentieth Television will end production of sophomore The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet in June. And Family Court with Judge Penny from Program Partners, Trivial Pursuit: America Plays from Debmar-Mercury, and Sony Pictures Television's Judge David Young and/or Judge Karen are all rumored to be ending after this season.

"For the first time I can remember, the number of new syndicated series likely to get on the air could fall short of the number of series that may be exiting," notes Bob Cook, Twentieth Television's president and COO, who is hoping the familiarity of Fox game show Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?, which is being pitched in first-run daytime, will give it an advantage against a thinner-than-usual field of new rivals. "Challenging times economically have resulted in fewer original programs in development." (Read our interview with Mark Burnett.)

Many of the major syndicators, including CBS Television Distribution, Disney-ABC and NBC Universal, have nothing new to offer in first-run syndication for next season. Comedian George Lopez was in conversations with Warner Bros. to host a late night talk show, but the reception from stations was chilly. The distributor is, however, looking to clear current CW daytime court show Judge Jeanine Pirro, which is losing its real estate for the upcoming Tyra move.

Another casualty of the tanking economy is the once-common practice of stations renewing established first-run series for multiple seasons. "Stations are no longer financially prepared to commit to anything for years into the future," says Brad Adgate, senior vp, director of research at Horizon Media. "But if we can look past the current economic woes, there are some promising new first-run options in development for either next fall or a later time."

The three syndicated talkers in development are hours hosted by Marie Osmond (Program Partners), the aforementioned Wendy Williams (which previewed for several weeks this past summer on the Fox owned stations in New York, Los Angeles, Dallas and Detroit), and Dr. Mehmet Oz, (which, to date, is cleared on 147 markets representing 88 percent of the country). The Wendy Williams Show has racked up commitments in 45 of the top 50 markets, representing approximately 70 percent. But a lack of major-market clearances at press time could jeopardize the launch of Osmond's hour.

"This is a cautious market that is moving very slowly now," says Josh Raphaelson, co-founder of Program Partners. "But we are still optimistic about Marie."

There is no word, meanwhile, on rumored talk shows hosted by Valerie Bertinelli and Leah Remini, both from CBS Television Distribution, Kirstie Alley from Harpo Productions, Food Network personality Paula Deen from Warner Bros, and recent Dancing With the Stars contestant Marisa Jaret Winokur from Sony Pictures Television. Planned court shows presided over by Al D'Amato and Jesse Ventura have also faded from view.

Elsewhere, there is a solitary game show in development: Twentieth's aforementioned Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?

As for the court genre, Litton Entertainment has a new twist on the traditional court show formula with Street Court, which trades a traditional stuffy court setting for real locations throughout the country. No confirmed clearances to date have been announced for 5th Grader, but Street Court has snagged slots on WPIX in New York and WCIU in Chicago as well as affiliates in more than a dozen station groups.

There's a wider slate of off-network syndication offerings for next fall than in first-run. But the ongoing sitcom drought in prime time continues to limit the future potential of humorous off-network entrants.



Scheduled to debut in the comedy genre this fall are The Office from NBC Universal, My Name is Earl from Twentieth Television, Weeds from Lions Gate and CBS Television Distribution's Everybody Hates Chris. Two half-hour, nonscripted, off-net strips, The Hills and Laguna Beach, will enter the marketplace positioned as a one hour block from Trifecta Entertainment & Media.

In the category of hourlong off-net strips are NBC Universal's Law & Order: SVU (which currently airs on weekends), CBS Television Distribution classic Star Trek: The Next Generation, The E! True Hollywood Story from Debmar-Mercury, and Trifecta's Cold Case Files, which currently airs on A&E.

The success of Disney-ABC's Legend of the Seeker. has not generated much in the way of imitators in new first-run scripted hours for the weekend. But American Latino Syndication is trying to revive the once-prosperous first-run weekly sitcom care of Trevino, the story of a young couple (Steve Trevino and Jessica Caban) and their attempts to fit into a new community.

Scheduled to debut among the off-network weeklies are Bones and Prison Break from Twentieth Television; Grey's Anatomy and Ghost Whisperer from Disney-ABC; CBS' Criminal Minds; Deadliest Catch from Debmar-Mercury and Warner Bros.' Supernatural.

"Even in a recession, there are still new offerings in syndication to choose from," explains Horizon Media's Adgate. "But more of the product is off-network, and many of those projects are nonscripted because of the rise of reality programming. It's a changing environment in broadcasting, and syndication is clearly no exception."

NATPE 2009 PROGRAM CAPSULES

Daytime Talk (Key Target Demographics: Women 18-49, 25-54)

Marie (One hour)
Program Partners / Cash plus barter
(3.5 minutes national/10.5
minutes local)
Entertainer extraordinaire Marie Osmond is back (minus Donny) in a familiar format in this daily hour of talk and entertainment
targeted to the available female audience. 

Dr. Mehmet Oz (One hour)
Sony Pictures Television / Cash plus barter (3.5 minutes national/10.5
minutes local)
Versatile Dr. Oz-best-selling author, chief medical consultant at Discovery Communications and frequent guest on Oprah-has a new challenge, daytime talk show host, in this hour developed by Oprah's Harpo Productions.

The Wendy Williams Show ** (One hour)
Debmar Mercury / Cash plus barter (4 minutes national/10 minutes local)
Following a multiweek preview on Fox owned stations in New York, Los Angeles, Dallas and Detroit, the outspoken DJ, radio host and author heads to full blown daytime talk. 

Daytime Court (Women 18-49, 25-54; Adults 18-49, 25-54)

Judge Jeanine Pirro (Half hour)
Warner Bros./Telepictures /
Cash plus barter (1.5 minutes
national/5.5 minutes local)
Following its one year run on The CW in daytime, the fiery New York-based lawyer, prosecutor, politician and former judge moves into the cluttered first-run court show genre. 

Street Court (Half hour)
Litton Entertainment / Cash plus barter
(3.5 minutes national/3.5 minutes local)
Former Brooklyn district attorney Michael Mazzariello (a.k.a. "Judge Mazz") heads to the streets to take litigants back to the scene of their disputes.

Daytime Game (Women 18-49, 25-54; Adults 18-49, 25-54)

Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (Half hour)
Twentieth Television / Cash plus barter
(1.5 minutes national/5.5 minutes local)
The current older skewing prime-time hit is heading to daytime in a faster-paced, half-hour version. Jeff Foxworthy still hosts. 

First-Run Weeklies (Adults 18-34, 18-49, 25-54, Teens, Kids)

The Brian McKnight Show (One hour)
Litton Entertainment / Barter (Terms to be announced)
The multiplatinum award-winning singer, musician, producer and arranger will head to weekend late night in a live variety hour packed with comedy and music.

Dragonfly TV (Half hour)
Telco Productions / Cash plus barter
(3.5 minutes national/3.5 minutes local)
Kids investigating science on their own is the focus of this half-hour weekly that promises to engage the pre-adult audience while they learn.

Johnnie High's Country Music Revue (One hour)
Entertainment Concepts Int'l / Barter
(7 minutes national/7 minutes local)
Entertainment is the ticket for this show taped at the Arlington (Texas) Music Hall.

1000cc Raw Thrill (Half hour)
Entertainment Concepts Int'l / Barter
(3.5 minutes national/3.5 minutes local)
Super bike racing and riding is the focus of this half hour featuring race coverage, style, fashion and championship highlights from around the world.

Swap TV (Half hour)
Telco Productions / Cash plus barter
(3.5 minutes national/3.5 minutes local)
Two kids will swap lives for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity where contemporaries from different backgrounds are exposed to various lifestyles.

Trevino (Half hour)
American Latino Syndication / Barter (3.5 minutes national/3.5 minutes local)
A young couple find life in their new middle-class neighborhood a challenge. Twenty episodes have been ordered.

What's in a Kid's World (Half hour)
Entertainment Concepts Int'l / Barter
(3.5 minutes national/3.5 minutes local)
Created and produced for kids, the focus is on life from a non-adult perspective. 

*Proposed September 2009 launch unless otherwise noted.
**July 2009