• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, August 27, 2024

Now that it faces a future without the NBA, Warner Bros. Discovery’s TNT is reportedly pivoting to original scripted dramas -- again.

The new strategy was reported Saturday by The Wall Street Journal. Development of new shows is underway, including “high-adrenaline” dramas aimed chiefly at men, the WSJ said.

The story jogged memories of an era in the not-so-distant past when TNT first ventured into scripted dramas at a time when it was still an NBA-rights holder. 

TNT’s NBA partnership did not survive the latest round of rights negotiations. The WBD-owned basic cable channel will be without lucrative NBA games for the first time since 1989.

TNT’s last push into scripted dramas kicked off at the Turner Networks upfront in 2015. The new strategy was announced by the company’s new head of entertainment, Kevin Reilly, who announced makeovers of both TNT and TBS.

“We’re going to double the number of original series on TNT and TBS over the next three years,” he said.

“We’ll sharpen the point of view to be even more adventurous in our programming. … As we expand our portfolio, you should expect some very daring shows.”

In using words such as “daring” and “adventurous,” Reilly also meant “edgy,” or at the very least, new dramas that one did not see or expect previously on TNT.

He announced three of the new ones at that very upfront -- “The Alienist,” a detective show set in New York in the 1890s adapted from the novel by Caleb Carr; “Will,” a series about the young William Shakespeare in London; and “Animal Kingdom,” a drama about a crime family in a Southern California surfing community.

The three had absolutely nothing in common except their one-hour lengths. Of the three, the TV Blog described the “The Alienist” -- starring Daniel Brühl (above photo, right) -- as “a thrill ride back in time” and “a big win for TNT.” It lasted for two seasons.

By contrast, “Will” emerged as one of the worst new shows of 2017 in the TV Blog, which labeled it “inept” and “lame-brained.” It lasted one season.

“Animal Kingdom” was the one that starred Ellen Barkin (above photo, left) as the mother of macho sons who she raised to be career criminals.

This was the kind of show network executives are talking about when they use words such as “daring” and “edgy.” 

The show pushed the envelope on all the usual fronts -- violence, language, sex and nudity. “It seems at times as if nudity is the whole point of this show,” wrote the TV Blog. The show ran for six seasons.

As far as the TV Blog was concerned, TNT’s 2015 push into edgy, scripted dramas was checkered at best.

A number of the shows covered here were quickly forgotten. “Public Morals” was a cop show about plainclothes vice detectives in New York in the 1960s.

“Good Behavior” starred Michelle Dockery of “Downton Abbey” as a drug-addicted petty criminal.

In “I Am The Night,” Chris Pine starred as a drug-addled stringer for lurid tabloids in Los Angeles in the 1960s.

The only drama series still around from the TNT era of edgy dramas is “Snowpiercer,” the sci-fi series about a runaway train whose passengers are the only survivors after the entire planet freezes over. Or something like that.

TNT dropped the series after three seasons. It was subsequently picked up by AMC for its fourth and final season, which began airing on July 21. 

Today, TNT appears to have at least one original drama still running -- “The Lazarus Project,” which started its second season in June. 

This show is about a secret team of young geniuses who have the power to travel back in time to change the course of history.

But does TNT have the genius to change the course of its own history by pouring money into new scripted dramas?