TNT Slates Mystery Movie Set

Drama Net Re-Enters Film Biz; ‘Closer’ Spinoff Due

By R. THOMAS UMSTEAD -- Multichannel News, 5/23/2011 12:01:00 AM

New York — TNT will jump back into the original movie business with a slate of six mystery movies to debut in November, Turner Broadcasting System executives said at an upfront presentation in New York last week.
The TNT Tuesday Night Mystery will feature contemporary crime dramas from bestselling novelists depicting both true-to-life crimes and fictional mysteries, executives said at the May 18 upfront. Titles include Scott Turow’s Innocent; Richard North Patterson’s Silent Witness; Sandra Brown’s Ricochet; Lisa Gardner’s Hide; April Smith’s Good Morning, Killer; and Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins Clark’s Deck the Halls.
These are the first original movie productions for TNT since 2009’s Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story. During the early to mid-2000s, TNT developed a number of original films — including a package sponsored by Johnson & Johnson — that helped build the network’s audience.
Michael Wright, executive vice president and head of programming for TNT, TBS and Turner Classic Movies told Multichannel News the network would see how well the movies perform before making a long-term commitment to the genre.
“We think mystery-themed movies are a promising complement to our midweek lineup of popular procedurals,” he said. “We’ll wait and see how the movies do this fall before committing to another wheel, but with success we’d love to make them a regular part of the schedule.”
TNT also is bringing closure to hit scripted drama The Closer after seven seasons with 15 episodes to air this summer and an additional six to air in summer 2012. The Kyra Sedgwick starrer — the most-watched scripted series in cable history — will launch a new series spinoff , dubbed Major Crimes, with Mary McDonnell (Battlestar Galactica) reprising her Closer role of Capt. Raydor.
New shows from the Turner camp include TBS’s The Wedding Band, an hourlong comedy set to debut in 2012 about four friends who perform in a band. Slated for TNT in 2012 is Perception, a drama with Eric McCormack (Will & Grace) about a neuroscientist who aids police in solving criminal cases.
TNT had already announced summer launches of the sci-fi series Falling Skies and legal dramedy Franklin & Bash. Turner’s Adult Swim separately announced new shows at a different upfront presentation. The network — which uses Cartoon Network’s channel space between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. — has planned for later this year The Heart, She Holler, a live-action satirical soap opera about the “emotional Hee-Haw-ification of America”; China, IL, about two self-obsessed history teachers at a state college; and the animated Tight Bros, described as about two moronic “clergybros” on a quest for fat beats, hot chicks and tricked out cell phones.
They join previously announced new Adult Swim series NTSF:SD:SUV:: (National Terrorism Strike Force: San Diego: Sport Utility Vehicle) and Black Dynamite.