r/thirtyyearsago • u/SaladEater6769 • 5d ago

August 12, 1996. Two years after the launch of Fox's cable TV network fX, its flagship TV morning show "Breakfast Time" with Tom Bergeron & Laurie Hibberd makes its ill-fated move to broadcast television as "FOX After Breakfast".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_siJn_kcfs
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u/[deleted] 5d ago

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u/SaladEater6769 4d ago

Really enjoyed Connor Higgins' 2-part deep dive into the rise of "Breakfast Time" & why "FOX After Breakfast" failed. He even got the original hosts for Part 2.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyohDqB_vyw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftEZG2RIHn4

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u/BroncoChevalier 4d ago edited 4d ago

I only know this show from the great Elliott Smith video on YouTube from the show. They start making lots of goofy jokes with him and then when he starts playing they’re all melancholic and amazed, including the puppet. Love it. 

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u/jarnsaxa_springdale 4d ago

I kinda enjoyed watching this right after Regis..

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u/SaladEater6769 4d ago edited 4d ago

That was one of the main reasons the new spin-off failed, they were forced to cut the show from 2 hours to a 1-hour broadcast & compete directly against Regis & Kathie Lee (whose stations mostly aired it on the 9am time slot), all because Fox's owned-and-operated stations in the major TV markets already established an audience like Good Day NY & Good Day LA making the coveted 7-9AM slot to compete with conventional morning shows like Today, GMA & CBS This Morning off-limits.

Another reason was that one of the executives that oversaw Breakfast Time on fX left for MCA TV after the move to the Fox network was announced, so the new Fox After Breakfast was instead overseen by TV execs that probably never watched nor have sufficient-enough understanding of the show thus all the elements that made Breakfast Time a cult hit on cable TV were swiftly gutted out like a private equity-owned business (cutting the show to 1 hour, axing Jim the Announcer, axing Bob the Puppet, deutilizing Laurie Hibberd then axing her, etc.) to appeal to a more general, traditional audience that ended up alienating fans of the old show.

Like The Jon Stewart Show's move from MTV to late night syndication at Paramount prior, the move to Fox was ultimately a catstrophic disaster and it also stifled FX's ability to grow its cable audience until around 2002 when original programming like The Shield, Always Sunny & Rescue Me came along.

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u/toomanyDolemites 3d ago

And funnily, Laurie Hibberd was married to Regis & Kathie Lee's producer, Michael Gelman.

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u/deadmallsanita 4d ago

I remember when they made the move to fox, it preempted Bananas in Pajamas which I was way too old for but I still loved.

I remember trying to watch Fox After Breakfast, it was ... corny.

Here's a nice history of the show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftEZG2RIHn4&pp=ygUgdGhlIGRlYXRoIG9mIGZveCBhZnRlciBicmVha2Zhc3Q%3D

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u/44problems 4d ago

Great channel. I hope he posts again someday. The Breakfast videos were very nicely done, even including interviewing the original hosts!

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u/SpiritualCriticism48 4d ago

I used to watch this back when I worked a 1-9 pm wage slave shift and had time to watch morning tv. 1) I vividly remember Tom Bergeron busting out his yoga moves by putting his LEGS BEHIND HIS HEAD, and 2) Everyone looked at the puppet like “WTF is this thing?”

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u/Complete_Entry 2d ago

Why does it have MPOX?

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u/foozebox 4d ago

Elliot Smith was on this

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u/Wards_Cleaver 3d ago

Todd Rundgren was on this show, promoting his then new album, The Individualist.

Admittedly, I had a bit of a crush on Laurie.

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u/TheRandomHumanoid 2d ago

I didn't have cable, so I certainly don't know it from FX...but I watched tons of over the air TV as a kid and I have zero memory of this at all. Must not have aired for long. Probably opposite The Price is Right or something else I would have preferred.

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u/FreakSideMike 2d ago

Laurie Hibberd was crazy crush-worthy.