TV One Goes Old School

‘Life After’ Is Network’s Latest Nostalgia-Themed Reality Offering

By Thomas Umstead -- Multichannel News, 7/19/2010 12:01:00 AM

Radio One and Comcast Cable-owned TV One, long a home for comedians, gospel- music shows and sitcoms aimed at African-Americans, is relying on celebrity profile and where-are-they-now reality shows to build its original programming business.

Through reality documentary series like Unsung, which showcases African-American musical artists who never broke into the mainstream; Life After, which profiles famous personalities who have had major turning points in their lives; and LisaRaye: The Real McCoy, which profiles celebrities on the comeback trail, TV One is hoping to appeal to its target 25-54 African-American viewer with original fare that off ers stories about familiar personalities that its audience grew up with and often idolized.

“People like nostalgia, and for the last couple of decades, between shows like A&E’s Biography, Lifetime’s Intimate Portraits and VH1’s Behind the Music, viewers have been able to see career profiles and retrospectives targeted for the general market,” said Toni Judkins, TV One senior vice president of original programming. “For us, there have been so many great contributions African-Americans have made in entertainment that have been are overlooked or scarcely included. Between our reality shows, we pretty much take care of every aspect of African- American culture.”

Those shows have certainly struck a chord with African- American audiences and have provided the six-year-old TV One with popular original content to supplement acquired, off-network fare like A Different World and Lincoln Heights.

LisaRaye: The Real McCoy, which follows the life of the actress and former First Lady of the Turks and Caicos, is the network’s most-watched series, averaging a 0.8 household rating and nearly 500,000 viewers. The show’s April 8 premiere set a network record, averaging a 1.2 household rating and delivering 608,000 households.

Life After launches its second season today (July 19) as TV One’s third-most-watched series, just behind the music-themed Unsung. Judkins is bullish that the series’ sophomore campaign will build on the 0.5 rating and 304,000 subscribers the series generated in its inaugural season — well above the network’s primetime average rating of 0.3 and viewership of 151,000.

This season’s profiles include such entertainment celebrities as Malcolm-Jamal Warner (The Cosby Show), Mark Curry (Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper) and Janet Hubert (Fresh Prince of Bel-Air), and Ruben Studdard (American Idol), as well as sports figures like National Basketball Association star Ron Artest.

Series producer Robert Katz said unlike a lot of cable-based celebrity documentary series, Life After actually works with the actors rather than around them to get a more complete picture of their plight.

“We wanted to know their story as they lived it,” said Katz, who was also behind the development of the music-themed Behind the Music documentary series for VH1. “The audiences know these people, and Life After gives them an opportunity for them to catch up with these personalities.”

The network will move Life After to Monday nights from Sundays in an effort to draw more viewers to the show. With the network traditionally airing syndicated sitcoms such as Martin, Living Single and Eve during the 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. time slot, Judkins said Life After’s lineup of former sitcom stars should take advantage of its lead-in programming.

Judkins said the network’s personality-driven reality lineup — which also includes Donald J. Trump Presents The Ultimate Merger — will return this fall with the last nine episodes of its 13- episode third season of Unsung, featuring profiles of such musical artists as the O’Jays and Teddy Pendergrass. Also on tap for the fall is K-Ci and Jo Jo … Come Clean, a reality series focusing on the comeback of musical brothers who were hit makers in the 1990s as a duo, as well as with the R&B group Jodeci.