Cowboy Comeback

Can A New Posse Of Westerns Spur Viewers?

Thomas Umstead -- Multichannel News, 9/12/2011 12:01:00 AM

Head ’em up and move ’em out!

A staple of broadcast television some 50 years ago, the Western genre eventually went the way of the buggy whip — fading from television lineups by the mid 1970s and considered ancient history by today’s television viewers.

Until now. A Western renaissance of sorts, led primarily by the big-screen success of the 2010 Academy Award nominated film True Grit and this summer’s $96 million box-office hit Cowboys and Aliens, has helped lead several cable networks to saddle up to the Western genre with new series and shows.

POSSE OF SERIES


On the movie side, Hallmark Movie Channel will devote at least a quarter of its 2012 original schedule to Westerns with two sequels from its most watched movie ever, Goodnight For Justice, said network officials.

Starz Entertainment is also looking at Western-themed original projects to compliment its popular Encore Westerns multiplex channel.

Cable programmers say younger and older viewers are embracing Westernthemed programming for its nostalgic nature, as well as its often simplistic but universal message of good versus evil, which resonates with viewers living in today’s troubled and complicated world.

“There’s still a nostalgic element [with Western programming] that resonates with viewers even if it wasn’t targeted to them specifically,” Starz Entertainment executive vice president of programming Stephan Shelanski said.

Hallmark Channels CEO Bill Abbott added: “I think Westerns have always offered good storytelling, and, at the end of the day, there’s still something very much appealing about good versus bad.”

Cable is no stranger to the old West — a number of genre-based projects struck ratings gold for cable networks in the early 2000s. Original movies like TNT’s Crossfire Trail (2001) and AMC’s Broken Trail (2006) both remain among the most-watched cable films of all time, according to Nielsen.

Series like HBO’s 2004 drama Deadwood and TNT’s Steven Spielbergproduced 2005 miniseries Into the West also found loyal viewers despite heavy competition from more prolific TV genres, such as police procedurals, dramas and comedies.

Still, few Westerns have been produced for cable in recent years. Hallmark’s Abbott says much of that is due to the perception that the genre’s shows tend to draw audiences older than the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic.

AUDIENCES SPAN GENERATIONS

Indeed, it’s common for Starz’s Encore Western channel to draw an audience with an average age of 50 or older, according to Shelanski. But the network’s audience is also multi-generational, he added — grandmothers often watch with their kids and grandkids, so younger viewers get exposed to the genre.

On a 24-hour basis, according to Starz, the Western channel has an audience that’s on par with HBO and surpasses all other pay channels. The heaviest viewing occurs in the afternoon, according to the programmer.

“Initially, we were concerned about the [Western genre’s] older demographic and were afraid that over time the audience would diminish, but it’s actually gotten stronger over time,” Shelanski said. “It is older, but it’s not just a 50-plus audience, but rather a multigenerational one, because the grandparents are watching the channel with their children and grandchildren.”

Hallmark Movie Channel’s Goodnight for Justice — starring Luke Perry and directed by his former Beverly Hills 90210 castmate Jason Priestley — drew a network record 1.5 million viewers for its Jan. 29 premiere. More importantly for the network, the movie — about a Western Territories judge seeking to protect the innocent but longing to avenge the death of his family — drew more upscale and younger viewers than the typical Hallmark Movie Channel film, according to Abbott.

“The perception is that Westerns maybe more downscale or skew older, but the reality is quite different,” Abbott said. “There’s a big section of the country between New York and Los Angeles, and it’s not just land — there’s still a big part of the country out there that’s interested in horses and cattle and what you would typically think of as Western fare.”

The network has already green-lighted a second and third installment of Goodnight for Justice to air in 2012. It’s looking at other Western-themed scripts to potentially fill out next year’s schedule of 12 original telefilms.

“Our network is still emerging, so to be able to deliver that critical mass with limited marketing and limited amount of promotion was really a tribute to not only Jason Priestley and Luke Perry, but also to the genre itself — it’s really a destination for viewers in many ways,” Abbott said.

Both AMC and TNT will go west again with new series projects. AMC’s Hell on Wheels, which stars Anson Mount (Crossroads) as a Confederate solider whose quest for vengeance for the death of his wife leads him to the construction of the first transcontinental railroad, brings a contemporary drama feel to the Western experience, which has made the genre increasingly more appealing to younger viewers, according to Joel Stillerman, AMC’s senior vice president of original programming, production and digital content.

“I think the Western genre gets reinvented every few years whether it’s Dances With Wolves, Unforgiven or True Grit,” he said. “For people who love the genre, it never really goes away, and there always seem to be some good Westerns in the pipeline somewhere, even if it’s a big popcorn take like Cowboys and Aliens.”

He added that the Western genre is still an important part of the network’s programming strategy — AMC airs such films as Seraphim Falls, Lonesome Dove and Jeremiah Johnson throughout the year. The network’s first original project, the 2006 two-part movie Broken Trail, remains its most-watched original program ever, averaging nearly 10 million viewers for each installment.

TNT, which drew more than 12 million viewers a decade ago with the Tom Selleck-starrer Crossfire Trail, will also look to build on its Westerns pedigree with the pilot development of Gateway.

“It’s a classic good-guys-and-bad-guys Western that respects the tradition of the genre while also adding a few twists of its own,” Michael Wright, executive vice president and head of programming for TNT, TBS and TCM. “While we love our procedural dramas, we’re also enthused about adding a few more smart, escapist genre shows to the mix — and Gateway has the potential to do that.”

While it’s unclear if more networks will hitch their programming wagons to the Western genre, Starz’s Shelanski said the current run of genre-specific projects is more trend than an isolated shot in the programming dark.

“I don’t know if it’s truly a full renaissance, but there’s definitely an appetite in the marketplace for some new, original Western series,” he said. “Having a few Western series out there that are done well will give the genre a very good chance of long-term success.”