Most of the frenetic hype about new TV shows is coming from the six major broadcast networks, complete with optimistic buzz and teasers that seem to announce the second coming.
But in case you haven’t noticed, cable’s new season of programming is already under way. Paced more sanely, more sedately, cable has no “roll out” season at all, but rather it gives viewers a steady stream of creative, well-made television movies, specials and series year ’round.
In fact, this push to offer a regular diet of new shows to television audiences is one of the reasons cable has made huge strides in its ongoing battle with the broadcast networks for viewers.
This is especially true in the summer when the networks are in hibernation. Cable has so much new and varied programming, that for the last few years basic cable ratings have been higher than those of the networks during the summer months.
“You want to premiere some of your strongest programming when there’s a bit less competition from the broadcasters,” says Ed Carroll, executive vice president and general manager of Bravo.
“It’s easier to get your viewers to come unglued from their regular viewing patterns when you’re up against sweeps and you’re up against summer reruns.”
Cable’s mindset is that theirs is a year-round business. They feel that by offering new programming all the time, they are best serving their subscribers.
“We have a 12-month business. We have to expect to survive on the basis of people buying our product month after month and being satisfied month after month,” says David Baldwin, senior vice president of program planning for HBO and Cinemax.
Adds Tim Brooks of USA Networks: “Every month of the year, in fact every week of the year, we want to have something to yell about, whether its a movie, or a series launch, or a series going back into original episodes, or whether its a special of some sort.”
Brooks, USA’s senior vice president for research, says the goal is “mapping out every week of the year and saying what’s the event this week.” In fact, USA’s event for this week is the two-part “Journey to the Center of the Earth.”
One part of cable’s game plan is essentially to have lots of new programming when the networks don’t, to bypass the networks’ huge marketing and promotional campaigns that cable can’t match.
For instance, Comedy Central has several new things coming up just before Christmas, a time when the networks take a break from new shows for the holidays.
“The reason that we are launching in December is that it’s traditionally a time when the networks are in repeats and viewers are looking for something new and fresh,” says Michele Ganeless, vice president of programming for the all-comedy cable channel.
You looked at the calendar year and you took all of your premieres and you tried to spread them out evenly over a year, which, when you think about, is actually a rational way to schedule,” adds Brooke Johnson, executive vice president and general manager for A&E.
It’s fine with cable if the networks want to program for just part of the year.
“For us, I hope they (broadcast networks) never wake up from this idiocy,” says Jerry Offsay, Showtime”s president of programming.
“I know that this summer, from the first of June through the end of August, no network had better original television programming than we did. So, maybe I can’t be No. 1 12 months out of the year, but I’m very happy to be No.1 for three months out of the year.”
Cable doesn’t shy away from any part of the year, and the new fall season is no exception. What follows is a sampling of some of the broad and targeted offerings that will be available on cable in the next two months.
September
On Sept. 19 at 9 p.m., TNT premieres “A Slight Case of Murder,” an original film with Adam Arkin, William H. Macy and Macy’s real-life wife, Felicity Huffman. Macy plays a minor film critic whose behavior — adultery, larceny, possibly murder — starts to catch up with him when a persistent detective gets on his case.
Also on the 19th, the Cartoon Network will introduce “Steven Spielberg Presents Tiny Toon Adventures” with an eight-hour marathon of “Tiny Toons” starting at 11 a.m. The series features a cast of animated teen characters who seem to have inherited some of their Loony Toons predecessors’ lovable, irreverant characteristics.
A&E checks in at 7 p.m. that same day with “It’s Only Talk: The Real Story of America’s Talk Shows,” a look at the genre that has generated both praise and criticism.
On Sept. 20, The History Channel will begin “Fire and Ice: The Korean War,” which will air at 8 p.m. over four consecutive days. The mini-series takes a GI’s view of the three-year war, which started when North Korean troops crossed the border into South Korea on June 25, 1950, nearly 50 years ago. It includes interviews with more than 50 veterans as well as details about the conflict and how it set the rules for East/West relations in the new nuclear age.
Organ transplant policies are a hot topic in the Midwest and at 6 p.m. Sept. 23, HBO presents “The Kindness of Strangers,” a documentary that tells the stories of four transplant patients and two victims whose deaths made it possible for others to live.
New and returning series that are picking up steam are:
– “Oh Baby,” starring Cynthia Stevenson, Joanna Gleason and Jessica Walter about the travails of Tracy (Stevenson), a single working mother raising her newborn son. It airs at 9 p.m. Saturdays on Lifetime.
– “Reverb,” the weekly HBO music series featuring superstar and new talent, begins its third season at 10:30 p.m. Sept. 21 with Alanis Morissette and Everlast. The following week Hole, Imperial Teen and Marvelous 3 star.
– “On the Inside,” which goes to “Marine Corps Boot Camp” at 7 p.m. Sept. 21 and follows drill instructors, officers and recruits as they sweat through 12 weeks of training on Parris Island, S.C.
– Another Discovery Channel series, “Sci-Trek,” takes the form of a weekly science anthology. At 8 p.m. Sept. 20, “Frozen Hearts” investigates various methods of preserving brain function during heart surgery.
October
One of the most elaborate — and expensive — TV productions ever is “Animal Farm,” TNT’s retelling of George Orwell’s 1945 classic novel. The production, which was filmed in Ireland, is rich with state-of-the-art animatronics from the Jim Henson Creature Show, plus hundreds of live animals. The allegorical tale of a group of neglected animals who overthrow the abusive farmer who is mistreating them, take over the farm, and ultimately assemble a ruthless system of their own, airs at 7 p.m. Oct. 3.
Another ambitious undertaking is CNN’s “Millennium,” a global reminiscence inspired by a book of the same name by Felipe Fernandez-Armesto. The 10-hour series will air at 9 p.m. Sundays beginning Oct. 10 and will focus on defining moments, dynamic people and cultural shifts that shaped each of the last 10 centuries.
“Millennium” will be complemented by an on-line companion, CNN.com/1000, which will expand on the series’ material and let people interact and learn. The site launches Oct. 4 and will include a preview of the series.
The same night “Millennium” debuts, Discovery Channel will premiere “Riddle of the Desert Mummies” at 8 p.m. With the discovery of a huge group of mummies in Egypt and the recent film “The Mummy,” interest in the secrets of these ancient dead is high.
John Malkovich narrates “Riddle,” which investigates what might be the greatest mystery in the history of Eurasia: Scores of human mummies with Caucasian features — some with red or blond hair — who were exhumed from the deserts of western China. The show follows the DNA trail from the Gobi Desert to labs in Sardinia, Italy, where DNA analysis, carbon dating and scanning electron microscopy begin to unlock the secrets of the 4,000-year-old mummies.
For the fourth consecutive year (this year is “The Year of the Whale”), Animal Planet will celebrate the international World Animal Day holiday Oct. 3 with special programming. From 8 a.m. to 2 a.m. the network sill air world premiere and encore episodes of “The Crocodile Hunter,” “The Planet’s Funniest Animals,” O’Shea’s Big Adventure” and “Vets in the Wild.”
