Cable Rolls Out Summer Funny

Networks Favor DramediesOver Darkness This Season

By Thomas Umstead -- Multichannel News, 6/7/2010 12:01:00 AM

Cable networks are serious about fun this summer.

More than a dozen new scripted series are expected to roll out this summer as the industry looks to continue its yearly ratings momentum against its broadcast rivals.

While several of the season’s crop of scripted series will take on weighty issues such as obesity (ABC Family’s Huge) and corporate and government malfeasance (AMC’s Rubicon), most of the shows are lighthearted dramedies that network executives say audiences are seeking in these troubled financial times.

“These are tough economic times and people have enough to worry about,” said Michael Wright, executive vice president and head of programming for TBS, TNT and Turner Classic Movies (TCM). “The summer is about fun, so you want your TV to be entertaining and viewers want to have a good time, and I think this summer’s shows refl ect that.”

This year, TV Land, A&E Network and MTV will join such summer scripted series veterans USA Network, FX, TNT, AMC, Syfy and ABC Family in the scripted arena, which has proven to be a sizzlinghot ratings producer during the months of June, July and August. In 2009, the five most-watched new summer shows were all non-reality shows, led by USA Network’s medical show Royal Pains, which drew 7.1 million viewers. That was good for third place behind returning juggernauts The Closer (7.9 million viewers) and Burn Notice (7.6 million), among the most-watched shows last summer.

The new scripted originals in 2009 helped cable average a 65 household share for the year, compared to the broadcast networks’ 23 share for the summer. TV historian Tim Brooks said this year’s crop of new and returning series should continue to push cable’s march toward a 70 household share, despite a more competitive summer lineup from ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox which includes several scripted shows along with a slew of reality fare.

“The cable networks should continue their dominance over broadcast, but the industry has to remain aggressive in developing new and original shows,” Brooks said. “It certainly won’t happen overnight, but if cable’s not careful, the broadcast networks could turn this around and make some inroads into cable’s share lead.”

Cable-network executives said they’re armed and ready to serve audiences with quality scripted fare.

“The broadcast networks have gotten much more aggressive in programming summer months, but they’re still somewhat constrained by their business model in that they still have to repeat a lot of their regular season programming to properly monetize it,” Wright said. “You want to give these new shows every chance in the world to be sampled, so it just makes sense to put these shows on in the summer.”

For many networks launching new scripted shows, the fiercest competition may come not from the broadcast networks but from elsewhere on cable. New series will have to build an audience in the face of an unprecedented number of returning scripted series. Series such as crime drama Memphis Beat (TNT) and CIA based drama Covert Affairs (USA), will go up against some of cable’s most popular shows in TNT’s The Closer and USA Network’s White Collar and FX’s Rescue Me.

Despite the internal and external competition, A&E Network president and general manager Bob DeBitetto believes the summer remains the best time for cable networks to launch original scripted fare.

“Summer still provides cable networks less competition for viewers than the fall or winter, when the broadcast networks come back with their shows and marketing,” he said. “However, when it comes to winning the hearts and minds of viewers, there’s a lot more competition during the summer, which means we have to be more clever and more aggressive on the marketing and promotional side.”

To that end, A&E has partnered with book retailer Barnes & Noble to promote its new scripted series The Glades, which stars actor Matt Passmore as a Chicago detective who finds himself involved in solving atypical crimes within the supposed quiet confines of the Florida Everglades. The summer-long campaign includes an in-store promotion for the series as well as the development of a paperback novel based on the show’s pilot.

“It’s one of the things that we were able to find in an effort to break out of the summer series clutter,” he said.

For networks like TNT and USA, returning series actually help rather than hurt their freshman counterparts. USA president Bonnie Hammer said the network will use veteran shows like Burn Notice, Psych and White Collar to market and promote Covert Affairs. White Collar will serve as a lead-in to Covert beginning in July.

“We have the bulk of our returning series launching in the summer, so we believe the success from the existing series creates a halo effect for our new series,” she said. “To us, it’s really free marketing for the new show — if you like [the lead-in show], then most likely you’ll like what follows.”

TNT used its National Basketball Association playoffs coverage in May to help promote its summer lineup, which it hopes will yield strong returns for its new scripted shows Memphis Beat, starring Jason Lee as a quirky Memphis police detective with an intimate connection to the city, and Rizzoli & Isles, which follows the exploits of two Boston- based female friends — one’s a detective and the other a medical examiner.

“We have a lot of audience flow coming to the network, so your own programming is typically your best marketing platform,” Wright said. “There’s a lot out there and a lot to break through, but we have The Closer to lead into Rizzoli & Isles and HawthoRNe as lead-in to Memphis Heat, so the combination of strong marketing and great platforms is helpful.”

AMC will look to build on the success of its Emmy-Award winning drama Mad Men to help launch its latest scripted thriller series, Rubicon. The series, which explores the drama-filled life of a New York City think-tank analyst, will lead into Mad Men on Sunday nights beginning in July, according to AMC president Charlie Collier.

The dark nature of Rubicon and its conspiracy-theory look and feel will appeal to AMC’s core viewers, Collier added.

“If you look at what’s going on in the world today, it is absolutely relevant,” he said. “This is a moment in time where the cultural imperative is pointing toward themes of who can you trust and who’s actually running things … trust in government and big business has never been more relevant.”

Other cable networks have moved in the other direction, choosing to emphasize lighter, more humorous fare this summer to appeal to consumers weary from the unpredictable economy and turmoil in world affairs.

“I believe, in this economy and this environment, people really want more upbeat, aspirational, fun escapism shows,” USA’s Hammer said. “It’s become harder for some of the well-written, dark critically acclaimed series in cable to get a big commercial audience for it.”

Several networks will venture into the comedy space — FX (Louie); MTV (The Hard Times of R.J. Beger and Warren the Ape); ABC Family (Melissa & Joey); TBS (Are We There Yet?), Comedy Central (Big Lake) and TV Land (Hot in Cleveland) will look to tickle audience funny bones during a period dominated by serial cop dramas and police dramedies.

“We know from our audience that there is a pent-up demand for comedies in the marketplace, and we think that it’s an alternative to what’s out there,” TV Land president Larry Jones said. “We see a lot of reality shows and the scripted is really more drama and dramedies, so from a traditional, multi-camera sitcom comedy standpoint we will definitely be unique in the environment.”