A handful of factors contributed to the staying power of Primetime Live. Generally speaking, reality programming was recognized as a cost-effective alternative in comparison with the expense and risk of developing fictional series. But despite trailing its competition, Primetime Live was rated considerably higher than the traditional entertainment previously scheduled in its time slot. Furthermore, programming a newsmagazine improved the audience draw for network affiliates that followed the broadcasts with their local news.

More specifically, and perhaps most pivotal to the eventual success of the show, was ABC’s stated commitment to stand by the show for at least two years. This allowed executive producer Richard Kaplan to modify the program and reshape the still-emerging newsmagazine genre. First to disappear was the studio audience. Ironically, Primetime Live then phased out the “live” aspects of the program. Following its recognized coverage of the crash of Pan American Flight 103 and the fall of the Berlin Wall, the show’s producers reduced the number of segments for each episode and focused instead on more in-depth journalism. Primetime Live evolved into an award-winning news-magazine with its own distinct signature. Central to establishing this distinctiveness was the use of undercover investigations and hidden cameras that documented everything from racial discrimination to political scandal and corporate corruption.

Although their formats and often their content can be similar, Primetime Live was distinguished as a news rather than a tabloid magazine show because it was produced under the umbrella of the ABC News division. But as a prime-time show the entertainment value of the program was at least as important as its information value, inspiring the critical label “infotainment.” Rather than reporting facts, newsmagazine journalists were expected to be on-air personalities or celebrities for audience members to identify with. They packaged segments of dramatic narrative, but also needed to communicate professional legitimacy. Therefore, coanchors Diane Sawyer and Sam Donaldson were vital to Primetime Live. Both were praised as talented and well-respected journalists when they joined the show. Donaldson, a White House correspondent, and Sawyer, lured to ABC following five years as a reporter for 60 Minutes, lent an air of credibility to the fledgling newsmagazine.

For the 1998 season ABC merged Primetime Live with the more preferred 20/20, which expanded to three (and eventually four) nights a week. The strategy was in keeping with the trend toward stripping one recognizable brand across the network’s weekly schedule. The Wednesday, 10:00 P.M. broadcast was planned to maintain the flavor of Primetime Live. Sawyer remained as coanchor of 20/20 on Wednesday night, along with Charles Gibson, who had replaced Donaldson. David Westin, president of ABC News, revealed this was part of his hope to expand 20/20 to run seven nights a week. Economic concerns motivated the increased pervasiveness of newsmagazine programming, which cost as much as 50 percent less to produce than an episode of scripted comedy or drama. Additionally, newsmagazine content, though rarely syndicated, could be repurposed for other ABC news programming and for media outlets aligned through corporate synergies.

Soon, however, network executives decided that stripping their newsmagazines as one franchise reduced audience anticipation. To generate more demand for a product perceived as uniform ABC separated the multiple broadcasts of 20/20 into independently titled shows. For the 2000 season the Wednesday broadcast of 20/20 was moved to Thursday night, reincarnating Primetime Live as Primetime Thursday. Sawyer and Gibson remained coanchors of the program. The goal was to reassociate the show with its previous success.

ABC News’s metamorphosis over the years can be traced through the history of Primetime Thursday. The unsuccessful attempt to expand the 20/20 franchise has resulted instead in a deeper branding of ABC News when it becomes clear that it is the organizational franchise, rather than a program franchise, that has been most strengthened. In the process, the way network news is produced has also changed. Today, Primetime Thursday is able to draw on the resources of the entire ABC News organization. And as the show’s staffers, from producers to correspondents, are no longer to dedicated to one show, they now contribute to an array of the news division’s programming. Rather than following an entrenched formula, the spirit and legacy of Primetime Live endure precisely because the concept has been so adaptable to change.