Great Plotlines and Network Stumbles Draw More Viewers to Cable TV

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. _ The Oasis at the Beverly Hilton is a large outdoor courtyard surrounded by sleek hotel towers. It’s decorated with a wide, flat fountain, palm trees, mood lighting. Last Friday night, it was also teeming with big-name stars.

Holly Hunter was there. So was Tim Robbins, Kyra Sedgwick and Tony Curtis. Gloria Reuben, Jane Kaczmarek, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, and big-deal producer Steven Bochco were in the house. Or, technically, the yard.

There were dozens more, nibbling small barbecue sandwiches, sipping drinks, and chatting carefully with TV critics and reporters.

This is the usual play on the TV critics semi-annual press tour. It’s a way for critics to get one-on-one time with the people they cover. What made this different was that it was a party from cable company Turner Broadcasting, not, as usual, something thrown by CBS or ABC.

And earlier last week, a press conference with “Mad Men” from AMC _ until last summer, a quiet little movie channel _ electrified critics here, because of the quality of the cast and of the show (including the first episodes of the new season that starts July 27.)

This press tour so far has demonstrated exactly what’s happening to TV, and to the entire entertainment world. Money, quality and attention is spreading everywhere, and for TV, the first proof is that lots of cable shows _ basic cable, not just stuff from the HBOs and Showtimes _ are as good as network TV. Or in some cases, better.

For many viewers, particularly younger viewers, that’s hardly a news flash.

“I have a 21-year-old and an 18-year-old,” Steve Koonin, president of Turner Entertainment Networks, told me Friday night. “They don’t even know what broadcast TV or cable TV are. To them, it’s just television.”

This week is a bit of a showcase for what you can find on cable. Monday night, TNT was opening new seasons for “The Closer” (at 9 p.m.) and “Saving Grace” (at 10 p.m.).

“The Closer,” staring Sedgwick, is basic cable’s top-rated series and drew around 8 million viewers last year, numbers equal to almost anything on network TV in the summer. “Grace” stars Hunter as a hard-living Oklahoma cop trying to fix her life with the help of a hard-living angel, and is decidedly edgy stuff.

Tuesday, A&E gets back in the quality game with “The Cleaner” (at 10 p.m.), a solid drama starring Benjamin Bratt as an “extreme interventionist” who’s kicking his own addictions by helping people fix their lives.

On Friday, USA brings back “Monk” (at 9 p.m.) and “Pysch” (at 10 p.m.), two charming, old-school-style whodunits.

And that’s just this week. Here’s a partial list of other good and great basic cable dramas: USA’s “Burn Notice,”"In Plain Sight,” and “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” Lifetime’s “Army Wives,” Sci Fi’s “Battlestar Gallactica” and “Eureka,” AMC’s “Breaking Bad,” TNT’s “Damages,” and nearly everything on FX, including “The Shield” and “Rescue Me.”

In terms of numbers and merit, that gives the world of cable dramas at least a draw with the dramas from broadcasters ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox and CW.

So, what’s happened over the past few years to cause all this?

Part of it is that point about TV, and every other medium, changing and spreading out because of technology.

And more viewers for cable brings more money and more demand for good shows. That reached a critical mass in the last two or three years, when, boom, suddenly everyone was trying to be great.

But there’s more to it. Here are few other factors.

_Broadcast networks have to program 24/7. That costs lots and lots of money. So they need lots and lots of viewers. To lure them, they have to do what politicians do, move toward the middle and run shows with broad appeal.

That translates to few edges, shows that don’t offend most sensibilities, nothing too “out there.” (It’s not that the nets don’t try those things, it’s that “out there, edgy” shows rarely bring in the big, big ratings.)

_Cable nets operate on a less-expensive business model, which includes spending smaller on production. That means they can live with fewer original shows and smaller audiences.

Most of those good cable shows draw 2 to 4 million, and their channels are thrilled. Some get around 1 million. A broadcast hit is 10-12 million-plus, and they’d really like it to be 20 million. Last week, NBC’s “Celebrity Circus” attracted 4.9 million apparently-entertainment-starved people, which is a ratings disaster for the network.

_Cable channels can amortize their costs by repeating their shows, during the week and during the year, another reason they can live with lower ratings. The networks can’t risk too many repeats, or they’ll lose viewers to _ say it with me _ cable.

_Because they don’t need massive ratings, cable shows can take more risks or appeal to niche audiences. So, an “Amazing Grace” can venture into unsentimental, angel-infested territory, “Rescue Me” can be raw and harsh, or “Psych” can be sweetly silly and risk being uncool.

_They can go niche with characters, too, which includes women leads and complex anti-heroes. That’s why cable can attract stars like Sedgwick, Hunter, Reuben, or “Damages’” Glenn Close.

“Cable has the opportunity to stretch the boundaries,” Reuben told me at the party. She’s starring in the new Bochco-produced TNT series, “Raising the Bar,” coming in September. “It doesn’t surprise me that’s where we can find so much good material.”

_Stars are also attracted to the 13-week seasons of most cable series, instead of the 22- to 24-week needs of the broadcast nets. “That lets me live a real life,” Reuben said.

_Cable shows still need to stand out to get noticed, and a good way to do that is to be original. Throw in good writing and acting (see above) and you’ve got the definition of great TV.

_HBO’s successful creative approach _ on shows ranging from “The Sopranos,”"Deadwood” and “The Wire,” to “Sex and the City” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm” _ taught cable nets like FX, TNT, USA, and now, AMC, to let their writers write, and not to dictate to them. They don’t force changes to meet a network style, or to satisfy broad audiences. That trust leads to wholly original ideas, and it attracts talented people on both sides of the camera, including writers like “Mad Men’s” Matthew Weiner.

_Broadcast networks almost abandon scripted programming in the summer (when TV viewing is lower). That leaves big openings for cable.

“If a (shopping) mall put up a sign that said ‘Closed ’till September,’ people would go find the boutiques,” Koonin said. “And they might keep shopping there. The broadcast nets let us build up momentum that goes into their fall season.”

There is, of course, a lot more to it, because the media world grows more complicated by the minute. But the lesson is that, despite the usual mindless complaining about TV from some quarters, and the mindless programming from some nets and cable channels, there’s plenty of truly good television to be found. It’s just that it could be anywhere.

___

Since we’ve covered most of what’s coming this week, today’s edition of What to Watch (or Not) will have just a few extras:

Wednesday:

“Project Runway” (9 p.m. on Bravo): The surprisingly addicting fashion contest returns for season five of all that fabulousness.

Thursday:

“The Gong Show with Dave Attell” (10 p.m. on Comedy Central): Uh-huh, they’re bringing back “The Gong Show.” Attell swears it’s not your father’s “Gong Show.” For what it’s worth, my father hated the old one. One stroke of brilliance: the judges will include Triumph, the Insult Dog.

Sunday:

“High School Musical: Get in the Picture” (8 p.m. on Channel 10): The Disney empire has turned the tween and teen hit into a competition show. Musical 16-22-year-olds compete to be in a video at the end of “High School Musical 3.”

___

Rick Kushman: rkushman@sacbee.com

___

(c) 2008, The Sacramento Bee (Sacramento, Calif.).

Visit The Sacramento Bee online at http://www.sacbee.com/

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.