| America Alive! | |
|---|---|
| Created by | Woody Fraser |
| Presented by | Jack Linkletter Bruce Jenner Janet Langhart Pat Mitchell |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| Production | |
| Production locations | 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York City NBC Studios, Burbank, California |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | NBC |
| Release | July 24, 1978 – January 5, 1979 |
America Alive! was an American talk-variety program created by Woody Fraser. The show had a brief run on the NBC television network, which aired it as part of its weekday daytime programming schedule from July 24, 1978, until January 5, 1979.
Overview edit
After helping to develop Good Morning America for ABC, producer Woody Fraser was recuited by then-NBC entertainment president Fred Silverman to create America Alive!. The show was developed to be a programming alternative for female viewers who wanted a reprieve from the standard daytime fare presented by the three broadcast networks and local stations—usually comprised of soap operas, game shows, lifestyle shows aimed at homemakers, and news programs. NBC made a hefty financial investment in the show, which contained live in-studio and satellite remote segments, and was produced in front of a live audience at NBC's New York City studios at 30 Rockefeller Plaza.
Jack Linkletter was hired as the show's primary host, and was based in the New York studios. Janet Langhart (hired away from her co-hosting position on Good Day! on WCVB-TV in Boston) and Bruce Jenner (fresh off of his gold medal-winning performance at the 1976 Summer Olympics) were added as co-hosts and would present remote segments, with Langhart reporting from various Eastern locations and Jenner from Los Angeles. The trio would be joined by regular contributors including correspondent Pat Mitchell; celebrity gossip from veteran television personality Virginia Graham; Los Angeles entertainment critic David Sheehan, consumer reporter David Horowitz; and comedians Dick Orkin and Bert Berdis. A regular segment on women's health, featuring research from Masters and Johnson, was also included.
Scheduling edit
America Alive! aired live at Noon Eastern/11:00 am Central (tape-delayed in the Mountain and Pacific time zones, where it was scheduled at 11:00 am), replacing Sanford and Son reruns and The Gong Show in NBC's daytime schedule. This placement caused problems as many NBC affiliates on the East Coast aired local newscasts at Noon, thus resulting in some stations pre-empting all or part of the program.
NBC stations of note which did not carry America Alive! included WSB-TV in Atlanta; WBZ-TV in Boston; WCIV in Charleston, South Carolina; WTLV in Jacksonville; WAVE-TV in Louisville; WCKT in Miami; WSYR-TV in Syracuse, New York; WFLA-TV in Tampa; and WPTV in West Palm Beach. Additionally, three NBC affiliates in Ohio–WLWT in Cincinnati; WCMH-TV in Columbus; and WDTN in Dayton–declined to clear America Alive! and opted to continue with The Bob Braun Show, a long-running, regionally-distributed program which originated from Cincinnati. Other NBC affiliates, such as WBAL-TV in Baltimore; WIS-TV in Columbia, South Carolina; WSM-TV in Nashville; KYW-TV in Philadelphia; WAVY-TV in Portsmouth, Virginia; WJAR-TV in Providence, Rhode Island; and KSD-TV in St. Louis, aired only a half-hour of the show.
Critical reception was mixed to negative.
The combination of poor reviews and pre-emptions doomed America Alive! perhaps from the start, as the program suffered from anemic ratings from the outset. After a last-ditch effort to revamp the show with the addition of a weekly celebrity co-host (a device used by other variety talk shows of the era, such as The Mike Douglas Show, The Merv Griffin Show and Dinah!) failed, NBC made the decision in December 1978 to cancel America Alive!. The program aired its final episode on January 5, 1979. NBC filled the hour with two new game shows, Password Plus and the short-lived All Star Secrets; both of these shows premiered on January 8, 1979.