Phase Three for A&E
Having Driven Down Demos, Net Adds Dramas
By Mike Reynolds -- Multichannel News, 5/6/2007 8:00:00 PM
New York — New York— With two-thirds of its plan in place, A&E Network is gearing up to bring a dramatic flourish to act three.
It succeeded in attracting a younger audience and lowering its median age watcher to 48 through its “Real Life” franchise. Then, it expanded its overall viewing base with the addition of off-network fare like The Sopranos and CSI: Miami. Now, A&E has some 14 drama projects in the development pipeline as part of an overall $600 million investment the company will allocate for programming, new media, new technology and new infrastructure in 2007, up from $500 million the prior year.
Tana Nugent Jamieson, senior vice president of drama programming at A&E, told Multichannel News before A&E Television Networks’ upfront presentation to advertisers May 1 that she hopes to bring three or four of the entries to pilot, with an eye toward turning one into a series in 2008. A&E’s last original drama series was 100 Centre Street, which completed its run in 2002.
That would complete another leg in the plan that AETN CEO Abbe Raven and A&E Network executive vice president and general manager Bob DeBitetto began to install several years ago.
The strategy has been well-executed to date, as A&E has bettered its promise of jumping into cable’s top 10: During the first quarter, the service ranked No. 4 in ad-supported cable among adults 25 to 54 and fifth among adults 18 to 49.
After the presentation, DeBitetto said about two-thirds of A&E’s scripted-development slate falls into the police/detective/justice realm, with the intent to build off ratings linchpins CSI: Miami and The Sopranos.
The network’s latest batch of scripted contenders: The Cleaner, in which an unconventional team helps people eradicate their addictions to sex, drugs, alcohol and gambling; The Beast, following an FBI veteran training a new partner while being pursued by a secret team; Homestead, a look at a Los Angeles Police Department program giving cops an incentive to live in the tough neighborhoods they police; Takedown, showing U.S. marshals hunting fugitives after a mass escape in Los Angeles; and Under, putting the spotlight on a young thug who turns his life around after joining the witness-protection program.
A&E has given the green light to a miniseries version of The Andromeda Strain, based on the Michael Crichton bestseller. Production is set to begin in Vancouver in July with Ridley Scott (Gladiator) and Tony Scott (Man on Fire) leading the charge. Originally slated to be four hours, a director’s script could add two more. The miniseries is scheduled to premiere sometime early next year.
A&E’s presentation also touted The Two Coreys, pairing child stars and friends Corey Feldman and Corey Haim under one roof; and Confessions of a Matchmaker, a look at Patti Novak, who brings couples together in Buffalo, N.Y. These shows will bow this summer.
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