In Morning Game-Show Slot, ABC Turns to Practical Matters
LEAD: THE camera pans to wooden beams and a roaring fire. This is the setting for ABC's new late-morning television program 'Home.' The network calls it a 'how-to talk show' that will not be discussing life styles of the rich and famous but nitty-gritty subjects like home remodeling, bulk buying, fancy meals under $25, and a thousand uses for a glue gun.
THE camera pans to wooden beams and a roaring fire. This is the setting for ABC's new late-morning television program 'Home.' The network calls it a 'how-to talk show' that will not be discussing life styles of the rich and famous but nitty-gritty subjects like home remodeling, bulk buying, fancy meals under $25, and a thousand uses for a glue gun.
The setting may look laid-back and folksy, but 'Home,' a half-hour weekday program that had its premiere Monday at 11:30 A.M. Eastern time, is the product of 18 months of market research, and more time and money 'than any program in the network's daytime history,' said Mary Alice Dwyer-Dobbin, a vice president of daytime programming for ABC Entertainment.
The hosts are Sandy Hill, a former co-host of 'Good Morning America' and Robb Weller, who is a co-host of 'Entertainment This Week.' 'Home' is being produced by Woody Fraser, whose past credits include 'Good Morning America' and 'The Richard Simmons Show,' among others.
'Home' is moving into a time slot traditionally occupied by game shows, when 83 percent of the viewers are women, according to ABC's research. The concept for the program, Ms. Dwyer-Dobbin said, came out of discussions with small groups of women in New York; Dayton, Ohio, and Tulsa, Okla. This was followed by a national survey and what the network calls 'tell back' groups that used a viewer-reaction meter to measure potential interest. Pilot versions were then tested in 14 cable markets around the country.
'What emerged was a desire for a how-to show,' Ms. Dwyer-Dobbin said. 'The feedback was that women enjoyed being at home but wanted people to understand what it is they do as homemakers and appreciate them. There's a renewed feeling that it's all right to be at home, whether it's as a full-time homemaker or as a career woman deciding to have children and take a few years off.'
The program's subjects include health-care topics like breast self-examination and how to cook a salt-free dinner, as well as home improvement, like how to fix a leaky faucet or a faulty electrical socket. In the case of the socket, Ms. Dwyer-Dobbin noted, 'women have traditionally been conditioned to think that this requires an expensive person coming in to do the work.'
Many topics have come from potential viewers, according to Mr. Fraser, who has held 'idea exchange groups' around the country to discuss household hints, crafts, cooking, entertainment and remodeling.
In one continuing feature, for instance, 'Home' has bought a $167,000 two-bedroom house in need of improvement. It will be remodeled step by step on the air with advice from experts, including a real-estate agent, a contractor referral service and an interior decorator.
Kitty Bartholemew, the interior decorator, confided to viewers on the first program, 'My fingernails are just itching to take the linoleum off the hardwood floors.'
The program also features such examples of know-how as how to clean wooden furniture with a combination of mayonnaise and cigar ash, and how to bake a 63-egg cake.
'Home' is 'not upscale,' Mr. Fraser said. Rather, it is focused on 'the middle of the country.' It is also trying to be in touch with the times. 'Americans have always had so many choices, ' he said. 'Maybe people have decided they've tasted so much and everything is so expensive, that they're going to simplify life.'
Those involved with the program say inspiration came directly from potential viewers. But it also reflects a more general growth of interest in self-improvement, exemplified by videotapes and informational programs on cable television.
On public television, for instance, the half-hour program 'This Old House,' now in its ninth season, is the most popular half-hour program on the Public Broadcasting Service, according to WGBH in Boston, which produces the series. 'It feeds on the desire all of us have to improve our environment,' said Russell Morash, the executive producer and director. Mr. Morash noted that his program 'makes a deliberate attempt to attract male viewers.'
Viewers who tune in to 'Home' next week can learn about the ins and outs of post-office auctions, finding a mortgage, how knitting socks can be turned into a 'big business' and a profile of the recent International Housewares Exposition in Chicago. These are the types of subjects viewers wanted, according to ABC's research.
'The real question,' Ms. Dwyer-Dobbin said, 'is, are these women going to watch what they asked for?'