Daytime television is the general term for television programs produced for broadcast during the daytime hours on weekdays; programs broadcast in the daypart historically (though not necessarily exclusively) have been programmed to appeal to a female audience.
In the United States, the daytime slot follows the early morning daypart (typically dedicated mainly to local and network morning shows), usually running Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. local time. (A broader definition of the daypart includes the designated "early morning," "early access" and "prime access" dayparts as well as weekends, encompassing programs aired between 6:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. ET/PT; under the alternate definition, daytime programming ends one hour early outside of the Eastern and Pacific Time Zones due to regional adjustments to the start of network prime time schedules.)
This article focuses on television programs and genres common in American daytime television, primarily focusing on programs typically shown on national over-the-air television networks and in syndication.
Types of daytime programming There are several different genres or formats of daytime programming that are produced. Most of these shows can be produced on a low budget, as these shows have to be able to make at least five new episodes per week (sometimes more) for most of the year. Most daytime shows are syndicated, meaning local stations buy the rights to air them.
Court shows There are currently many different court shows produced in United States daytime television. Most of these shows usually deal with one, sometimes two small claims court cases per episode. Other shows deal with family law or reenactments of more serious cases. The cases are typically a form of binding arbitration between two litigating parties who agree to drop their conventional lawsuit to appear on television (with any monetary payments from a decision being paid out of a fund set up by the production company). They are generally unscripted, feature actual litigants with cases pending in court, and decisions are handed down by real judges or attorneys. All of the following court shows are syndicated. Court shows usually occupy the morning and late-afternoon time slots.Titan TV
Current Adam's Law America's Court with Judge Ross Cutlers Court Divorce Court Equal Justice with Judge Eboni K. Williams Hot Bench Judy Justice Justice for All with Judge Cristina Perez Justice for the People with Judge Milian Justice with Judge Mablean Mathis Court with Judge Mathis Supreme Justice with Judge Karen Tribunal Justice The Verdict with Judge Hatchett We the People with Judge Lauren Lake
Soap operas A staple of daytime television since the 1950s, soap operas continue to be among the most popular programs among daytime audiences. Soap operas are dramatic serials that tell ongoing stories of the day-to-day lives of large casts of characters, each still having its own identity. The term "soap opera" is somewhat of a misnomer, dating to the early days of radio and television when purveyors of detergents and soaps such as Procter & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive and Unilever generally sponsored, financed and produced these shows individually. Soap operas usually occupy the afternoon time slots in daytime programming (especially from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. local time).
Current Broadcast Beyond the Gates (CBS; 2025–) The Bold and the Beautiful (CBS; 1987–) General Hospital (ABC; 1963–) The Young and the Restless (CBS; 1973–)
Streaming Days of Our Lives (NBC; 1965–2022, Peacock; 2022–)
Game shows Game shows, another long-time mainstay of daytime television, involve real people playing a game, or a series of games, as contestants like the title suggests, with the ultimate goal of winning a prize (usually a large amount of money or an expensive luxury item, such as a new car or a trip).
The period from 1972 to 1985 could be considered the "Golden Age of Game Shows," as all three of the major broadcast networks carried several game shows during their daytime lineups, usually occupying the mid/late-morning and late-afternoon time slots. ABC Daytime ended their block in 1985 (with occasional stand-alone game shows such as Bargain Hunters in 1987 and Match Game in 1990 airing in the years that followed) followed by NBC Daytime in 1991 (with a brief revival in 1993) and CBS Daytime in 1993. CBS still carries two daytime game shows, the long-running The Price Is Right and a revival of Let's Make a Deal. CBS currently allows both daytime game shows to be arranged as a two-hour block by affiliates (10AM ET) if preferred instead of bookending the schedule (11 AM and 3 PM ET).
Of the current daytime game shows, The Price Is Right began as part of CBS's daytime game show block in 1972 and is the only show to have aired continuously on daytime network television since the end of that era. Family Feud, Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune all transitioned from network daytime shows to syndication, while Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (which ended in 2019 after a total of 20 seasons) was a network prime time program that transitioned to syndication, then transitioned back to network prime time in 2020. Both current CBS Daytime game shows began as 30-minute game shows that transitioned into one-hour formats (Price in 1975 and Deal in 2009).
Current Network
Daytime Let's Make a Deal (CBS; 2009–, aired in various forms on NBC, ABC and syndication from 1963 to 1981, 1984 to 1986, 1990, and 2003) The Price Is Right (CBS; 1972–, aired on NBC from 1956 to 1963 and ABC from 1963 to 1965) Primetime The $100,000 Pyramid – originally aired on CBS and ABC from 1973 to 1981 as The $10,000/$20,000 Pyramid; aired on CBS from 1982 to 1988 as The (New) $25,000 Pyramid; primetime revival began airing on ABC in 2016 Hollywood Squares – originally aired in various form on NBC and syndication from 1966 to 1981, 1986 to 1989 and 1998 to 2004; primetime revival began airing on CBS in 2025 Name That Tune - originally aired in various forms on NBC, CBS and syndication from 1952 to 1959, 1970 to 1971, 1974 to 1981, and 1984 to 1985; primetime revival began airing on Fox in 2021 Password - originally aired on CBS from 1961 to 1967, then on ABC from 1971 to 1975; primetime revival began airing on NBC in 2022 Press Your Luck – originally aired on CBS from 1983 to 1986; primetime revival began airing on ABC in 2019 The Floor – debuted on Fox in 2024 Late Night Funny You Should Ask – Aired in syndication from 2017 to 2026, moved to CBS late nights at 12:35 a.m. in May 2026.
Syndicated Family Feud (formerly on ABC from 1976 to 1985, and on CBS from 1988 to 1993) Flip Side Jeopardy! (formerly on NBC from 1964 to 1975 and 1978 to 1979) The Perfect Line Scrabble – originally aired on NBC from 1984 to 1990, and briefly revived in 1993; primetime revival began airing on The CW in 2024, with a daily syndicated version debuting in 2026. Scrambled Up Trivial Pursuit – originally aired on The Family Channel (now Freeform) from 1993 to 1994; primetime revival began airing on The CW in 2024, with a daily syndicated version debuting in 2026. 25 Words or Less Wheel of Fortune (formerly on NBC from 1975 to 1989 and 1991, and on CBS from 1989 to 1991)
News programs
Daytime network news programs, due to their longer timeslots, provide more in-depth coverage of news and current events than evening newscasts, which are 30-minute programs. These programs may also feature cooking segments, health/lifestyle information, celebrity guests, and concert performances by popular music acts (usually on Friday). Most morning shows follow a basic format of hard news and interviews with newsmakers and correspondents in the first half-hour, true crime stories in the second, and lighter fare such as celebrity and lifestyle stories in the second hour (with the concert, if any, closing out the show in the last half-hour). Network morning news programs usually occupy 7:00 to 9:00 a.m. time slot, with local affiliates usually having their own morning newscasts preceding them, as well as brief updates (on most affiliates) towards the end of each half-hour during the network show.
In the 2020s, ABC and NBC began to schedule national midday newscasts in the early-afternoon, both of which produced by their respective news division's streaming news channels. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, ABC replaced GMA3: Strahan, Sara & Keke—a spin-off of its morning show Good Morning America hosted by Sara Haines and Michael Strahan—in March 2020 by Pandemic: What You Need to Know, an ABC News Live-produced newscast covering the pandemic's early stages. While billed as a temporary replacement, ABC quietly cancelled Strahan & Sara (which had later added Keke Palmer) and made the What You Need to Know format permanent under the GMA3 branding, becoming more of a general newscast. By 2025, the series had been reintegrated into GMA's main production. In 2022, NBC moved Days of Our Lives exclusively to its streaming platform Peacock in favor of NBC News Daily—a block of rolling news coverage produced by NBC News Now.
Current Mornings Good Morning America (ABC; 1975–) The Today Show (NBC; 1952–) CBS Mornings (CBS; 2021–)
Midday GMA3 (ABC) NBC News Daily (NBC)
Early evenings ABC World News Tonight CBS Evening News NBC Nightly News
Newsmagazines In their earliest incarnations in the 1970s and 1980s, half-hour newsmagazines originally featured general news, human interest stories, and lighthearted celebrity news. In the late 1980s and through the 1990s and 2000s, programs became more focused on celebrity gossip/tabloid coverage, with stories seen as more scandalous in nature. In the late 2010s through the 2020s, true crime stories became more prevalent, with programs being centered solely around them. Newsmagazine programs usually air during the late-afternoon or fringe time hour.
Note - all programs listed air in syndication
Current Traditional The Good Side Inside Edition InvestigateTV+
Celebrity news/tabloid Entertainment Tonight Extra TMZ
True crime Crime Exposé with Nancy O'Dell iCrime with Elizabeth Vargas
Sports Front Office Sports Tonight In Depth with Graham Bensinger SportsWrap with Jason Page
Sunday morning news programs
On Sundays, most networks devote at least part of their Sunday morning schedule to news and political discussion programming. These programs review news events that occurred in the previous week and cover events expected to make national headlines in the coming week.
Current Network Face the Nation (CBS) Fox News Sunday (Fox) The Hill (CW and Nexstar statons) Meet the Press (NBC) This Week (ABC)
Talk shows
In their early years NBC and ABC added daytime talk shows to their lineups. In the 1960s daytime soap operas became more prevalent on the networks, with talk shows moving to (and thriving in) syndication during the 1970s and 1980s. Since the 1990s, both NBC and ABC have added talk shows to their network lineups, while CBS had a single talk show - The Talk - from 2010 to 2024. Talk shows typically last one hour, and are more often than not hosted by already known celebrities and can take various forms - from a traditional single host, to a duo (usually a man and woman), to multiple hosts in a panel format. Talk shows deal with a variety of topics, like educational/self-help subjects, celebrity interviews, comedic monologues, stage performances, and tabloid/conflict oriented programs. Talk shows usually air in the morning and afternoon hours.
A form of locally-produced daytime talk show is aired by some television stations, which usually focus primarily on lifestyle topics and other soft features. However, their main purpose is to serve as a vehicle for advertorial segments paid for by advertisers, such as local businesses.
Current Network The 3rd (NBC) Today with Jenna & Sheinelle (NBC) The View (ABC)
Syndicated The Drew Barrymore Show The Jason Show The Jennifer Hudson Show