Commentary

Cable Cleans up with New Original Programming

While The Sopranos, Sex and the City, and Queer As Folk may have set the standard for a new level of original programming on cable, basic channels are not taking HBO and Showtime’s lead.

As any perusal of recent Emmy nominees will quickly show, cable has moved from the periphery to the red-hot center of original television content. Cable’s newest shows (witness The Osbournes and Monk in spring and summer 2002) now consistently equal or better those of the nets in critical acclaim and/or buzz, and, perhaps even more importantly, in audience loyalty.

Although even the most popular cable programs still reach relatively small audiences by the standards of the networks, those numbers are growing fast. What’s more, the quality of cable’s younger, educated, affluent demographics makes the unveiling of new programming a crucial event for cost-conscious advertisers, especially those looking to home in on specific segments of the 18–49 and 25–54 age group market. With cable’s newfound visibility, it’s not surprising that many cable programmers have ramped up their plans for the 2002–2003 season with an increased array of original movies, series, and miniseries.

USA Finding Crime Pays Having found out that crime pays with the success of its "Crime Friday" concept, led by the summer hit series Monk, USA Network will follow up that show’s October season finale with two original mystery/crime movies in late fall. Case of Evil will star Vincent D’Onofrio (Law & Order: Criminal Intent) as Sherlock Holmes, while Murder in Greenwich, a dramatization of the Martha Moxley murder case, will debut in November. Other original movies in preparation are Stealing Christmas, a December holiday special, and an epic movie, Helen of Troy, slated to air in April 2003.

Expanding on its "Crime Friday" and "Action Wednesday" franchises, USA also plans to debut "Comedy Tuesday" in 2003, a mix of comedy movies, syndicated TV shows, and originals. "The idea," says Sarah Beatty, SVP of USA Network marketing, "is to make USA a special destination every night for interesting, quality work in a specific genre." The concept is said to be still in planning. USA also plans a major promotional push for the second season premiere of its huge hit The Dead Zone in January.

MTV Tries to Keep Post-Osbournes Edge With Humor Flush from the highest-rating quarter in its history in spring 2002, led by The Osbournes, MTV faces the challenge of maintaining its edge and dominance in the 18–34 male demographic. To that purpose it will debut five new series this autumn. One, The Bomb-Itty of Errors, is a comedy series in which each episode will feature a "satirical" music video and sketches skewering pop culture, politics, and religion. Another, FM Nation, will follow on a weekly basis the Saturday night exploits and adventures of three groups of young adults. In mid-October the network will get into the real-life crime genre with Suspect — True Crime Stories. Two new animated comedies, Clone High, featuring four high school students cloned from famous historical characters, and The Freshmen, a satire of college life, will premiere in October as well.

Turner Skewing Younger "We see the coming year as a time when all the big investments we’ve made in original content are coming to fruition," says Linda Yaccarino, SVP and sales manager of Turner Broadcasting. "We think we’ve got a unique venue to reach the very hard to get 18–49 age group, with an emphasis on the younger, skewing segment."

TBS will also run two original movies this winter. Christmas Rush, an action movie about a hostage-taking at a shopping mall starring Dean Cain, will debut December 8. In January 2003 the station will premiere a high-budget biopic about the life of John Kennedy Jr. entitled America’s Prince. Though the cast was not finalized at press time, the movie will star Jacqueline Bisset as Jackie Kennedy.

In addition, TNT will be the exclusive home of NBA basketball on Thursday nights from November through April and will cover the NBA All-Star game and the Western conference finals in May and early June.

Hallmark Celebrates Seasons, and Family "People can go to cable for Anna Nicole Smith, or sex, violence, and profanity if they want, but that’s not us," explains David Kenin, Hallmark Channel’s EVP of programming. "Our brand is about creating entertainment everyone in the family can watch together." Hallmark, according to Kenin, will put a stronger emphasis than ever on seasonal celebrations. This will include four original holiday-themed movies for the Christmas season running throughout December and a Tony Bennett holiday special slated for November 27. Hallmark will also devote the month of February to romance-related features and films for Valentine’s Day, and will offer an original Mother’s Day movie in May. In addition Hallmark will air the second national telecast of the ABC hit Dinotopia in November, and will begin airing Touched by an Angel this fall. The company also plans to air regular blocks of M*A*S*H beginning in mid-2003.

Lifetime Brings on Erin Brockovich "Lifetime TV," explains EVP Rick Haskins, "is about honest, true-life stories that deal with important issues in women’s lives." Epitomizing this commitment, Haskins believes, is the new series Final Justice, slated to air in early 2003 and hosted by Erin Brockovich. Each episode of the series will feature the real-life story of ordinary women bringing victimizers to justice through the legal system. Lifetime will also feature original dramatic movies throughout the fall and winter, including The Pact, a film about two families whose lives are torn apart by a suicide pact, in November. In recognition of the campaign to Stop Violence Against Women the station will also devote major blocks of programming in February to the issue. That month Lifetime will air an original movie, Intimate Partners, and television specials exploring the problems of spousal and child abuse.

Discovery Promotes Parent/Child "Co-Viewing" Discovery Network is trying to reach out to the 18–49 demographic with a wide range of new programming, some geared to parents, some emphasizing parent and child co-viewing. This fall Animal Planet will revive Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom and debut Dog Days, a reality show documenting the daily lives of dogs and their owners in New York City. The Discovery Channel will add several new series to its signature mix of history, adventure, and mystery. In the fourth quarter of 2002, the station will debut Unsolved History, addressing questions such as "Who Shot the Red Baron?" and "Where Was Hitler’s Bunker?" as well as a James Cameron special on the sinking of the Bismarck and Tutankamen, A Murder Mystery. Two other Egypt-oriented series, The Lost Pharaohs, slated for a first quarter 2003 airing, and The Great Pyramid, a spring series featuring the special effects team of Gladiator, will also debut. In an attempt to strengthen its connection with the 18–49 male demographic, Discover this fall will launch a series called Monster Garage, featuring teams of designers, technicians, and metal workers transforming common vehicles into "supermachines." Court TV Becomes the "Investigation" Channel

"The key word in the evolution of our programming is investigation," says Art Bell, CourtTV executive vice president of programming. "Our audience, particularly the demographic of 18–49 and 25–54 women, responds to shows that go behind the headlines of cases to the science and forensics used in criminal justice." Pursuing the theme of “Join the Investigation”, Court TV programming in 2002–2003 will include an original dramatic film in December, The Interrogation of Michael Crow, based on the story of a 14-year-old boy coerced into a murder confession by corrupt cops. On Saturday nights Court TV will feature what Bell describes as "our version of Dinner and a Movie" called The Saturday Night Solution. Hosted by Andrea Thomas, the show will feature Forensics File documentaries and other films, along with interviews with experts on the case. Another highlight, due in December, will be Forensics Week, featuring all-new episodes of Forensic Science. In December and January the station will premiere new episodes of Dominick Dunne’s Power, Privilege and Justice.

Sci-Fi Brings On Spielberg, Sarandon As an innovator in "genre-centric" programming, the 10-year-old Sci-Fi Channel is responding to increasing competition with what spokesperson Lisa DelColle describes as "our most ambitious season of original programming yet." Topping the list is Taken, a 10-night, 20-hour miniseries presented by Steven Spielberg and DreamWorks. Airing through most of December, the series will explore "alien lore" through five decades’ worth of personal accounts of alien encounters.

Sci-Fi will also launch an offbeat new series in January called Scare Tactics, starring Shannen Doherty. The series is described as "an edgy sci-fi twist on the candid camera concept," with pranks involving mock alien encounters, haunted houses, and other exotic sci-fi related jokes. In March, Sci-Fi will extend its popular Dune franchise with a six-hour miniseries, Children of Dune, featuring Susan Sarandon.

Scripps Expands Programming on Fine Living channel With their established cable properties The Food Network and HGTV devoted to home and lifestyle, Scripps hopes to continue its strong performance both with families and women 25–54. Scripps’s newest cable property, the Fine Living channel, introduced last year, will debut two new series in fall 2002. Simplify Your Life will introduce viewers to both experts and regular people about methods and processes designed to better organize and simplify their lives. Born American is described as a wide-ranging weekly look at Americana as seen through its artifacts, from Wonder Bread to Fender guitars.

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