From USA Today:
http://www.usatoday.com/life/televis...ble-main_x.htm
TV
Updated 8/4/2004 12:41 AM
Reality: Scripted shows give cable an edge
By Gary Levin, USA TODAY
Cable networks' summer bet on scripted dramas — once the exclusive province of their broadcast rivals — is paying off big.
Many have won fan buzz, critical acclaim, Emmy nominations and, most important, viewership that nearly matches fare on the larger networks. With their help, basic cable is drawing an average 49.8 million viewers in prime time, up 10% from last year; 30.5 million are tuned in to the six broadcast networks, down 8%.
The warm-weather months were supposed to herald a push toward "year-round" programming by the networks, which no longer could afford to relax in a sea of repeats. But Fox has mostly stumbled with scripted series, leaning on reality entries The Simple Life and Trading Spouses to prop up summer. NBC is down 14% from last year, suffering through record-low ratings for top shows, including Friends and ER. And CBS is winning, mostly with those supposed turn-off repeats.
Meanwhile, consider the summer cable landscape:
• FX's plastic-surgery series Nip/Tuck on Tuesdays (averaging 3.4 million viewers) and firehouse drama Rescue Me Wednesdays (3.5 million) are both hailed by critics for unconventional treatment of flawed characters. (Related story: Cable series thrive in less restrictive climate)
• USA has three series scoring big cable numbers: Monk (4.9 million), Friday's quirky detective dramedy; and on Sundays, The 4400 (6.5 million), a limited-run drama, ending this weekend, about a crowd of missing people who suddenly reappear all at once, and The Dead Zone (3.2 million), a spinoff of the Stephen King novel.
• Sci Fi has seen its best ratings yet for Friday's Stargate: SG-1 (2.9 million) and Stargate: Atlantis (3.7 million), part of the long-running franchise.
• And TNT's terror-tinged The Grid (ending Monday) has won solid ratings (3.9 million) for its own limited run.
The track record is spurring cable networks to become more ambitious with scripted series — which helps "brand" them in the minds of viewers and advertisers. And they're even diverting attention normally reserved for HBO, which usually eclipses its basic-cable rivals even though its subscriber base is one-third their size.
"We've come of age," says USA and Sci Fi president Bonnie Hammer. Compared with past efforts, "they're better series, and we're going against primarily reality series (on major networks). The audience still wants good drama."
|*|(*)|*|(*)|*|
Morjana
SG1-Spoilergate
http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/SG1-Spoilergate/
Richard Dean Anderson Fans
http://movies.groups.yahoo.com/group/rdandersonfans/
http://www.usatoday.com/life/televis...ble-main_x.htm
TV
Updated 8/4/2004 12:41 AM
Reality: Scripted shows give cable an edge
By Gary Levin, USA TODAY
Cable networks' summer bet on scripted dramas — once the exclusive province of their broadcast rivals — is paying off big.
Many have won fan buzz, critical acclaim, Emmy nominations and, most important, viewership that nearly matches fare on the larger networks. With their help, basic cable is drawing an average 49.8 million viewers in prime time, up 10% from last year; 30.5 million are tuned in to the six broadcast networks, down 8%.
The warm-weather months were supposed to herald a push toward "year-round" programming by the networks, which no longer could afford to relax in a sea of repeats. But Fox has mostly stumbled with scripted series, leaning on reality entries The Simple Life and Trading Spouses to prop up summer. NBC is down 14% from last year, suffering through record-low ratings for top shows, including Friends and ER. And CBS is winning, mostly with those supposed turn-off repeats.
Meanwhile, consider the summer cable landscape:
• FX's plastic-surgery series Nip/Tuck on Tuesdays (averaging 3.4 million viewers) and firehouse drama Rescue Me Wednesdays (3.5 million) are both hailed by critics for unconventional treatment of flawed characters. (Related story: Cable series thrive in less restrictive climate)
• USA has three series scoring big cable numbers: Monk (4.9 million), Friday's quirky detective dramedy; and on Sundays, The 4400 (6.5 million), a limited-run drama, ending this weekend, about a crowd of missing people who suddenly reappear all at once, and The Dead Zone (3.2 million), a spinoff of the Stephen King novel.
• Sci Fi has seen its best ratings yet for Friday's Stargate: SG-1 (2.9 million) and Stargate: Atlantis (3.7 million), part of the long-running franchise.
• And TNT's terror-tinged The Grid (ending Monday) has won solid ratings (3.9 million) for its own limited run.
The track record is spurring cable networks to become more ambitious with scripted series — which helps "brand" them in the minds of viewers and advertisers. And they're even diverting attention normally reserved for HBO, which usually eclipses its basic-cable rivals even though its subscriber base is one-third their size.
"We've come of age," says USA and Sci Fi president Bonnie Hammer. Compared with past efforts, "they're better series, and we're going against primarily reality series (on major networks). The audience still wants good drama."
|*|(*)|*|(*)|*|
Morjana
SG1-Spoilergate
http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/SG1-Spoilergate/
Richard Dean Anderson Fans
http://movies.groups.yahoo.com/group/rdandersonfans/
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