ST. LOUIS — As the broadcast networks announce their
fall schedules this week, their cable competitors already have a jump on
them. For the past few weeks, cable networks have been holding their
“upfronts,” gathering advertisers in the hope of selling them on shows
in the pipeline.
Unlike the broadcast networks, which will launch most
of their new shows the same week in September, cable networks don’t
have seasons as such. Clusters of shows arrive in fall, winter, spring
and summer; some inexpensive, unscripted shows air practically
year-round, while original dramas often produce as few as 13 episodes a
year, sometimes split into two miniseasons.
All this coming and going can be confusing for cable
viewers, who spend a lot of time wondering when this show or the other
will return. But the strategy allows cable networks like AMC and
A&E, whose audiences and budgets don’t approach those of the Big 4
broadcasters, to put high-quality shows on the air and build viewership.
(Premium cable networks don’t sell advertising, so they don’t have
upfronts.)
Unscripted shows are the bread and butter of many
cable networks, and program announcements so far have been typically
heavy on reality. But here are some of the comedies and dramas we can
look for on various cable networks next fall and beyond. (If casts
aren’t mentioned, they haven’t been announced.)
—A&E
“Big Mike” will star Greg Grunberg (“Heroes”) as a
“gentle giant” of a detective in San Diego. The cast also includes
Nicole Ari Parker and Ken Leung.
“Longmire,” based on the Craig Johnson mystery
series, stars Robert Taylor as a newly widowed Wyoming sheriff forced to
suck it up and get on with the job. Katee Sackhoff, Bailey Chase,
Cassidy Freeman and Lou Diamond Phillips are also in the cast.
A&E also announced “Coma,” a miniseries based on the Robin Cook best seller, for spring next year.
—ABC Family
“Switched at Birth” stars Katie Leclerc and Vanessa
Marano (“Gilmore Girls”) as teens who discover they were accidentally
switched in the hospital and grew up with the wrong families — one
wealthy, one a poor single mother. Lea Thompson, D.W. Moffett and
Constance Marie also star.
In “The Nine Lives of Chloe King,” a teenage girl
“starts developing heightened abilities and discovers she’s being
pursued by a mysterious figure.” Skyler Samuels stars in the thriller,
from the book by Celia Thomson, with Amy Pietz as her mother.
Popular novelist Jennifer Weiner wrote and is
executive producer of “State of Georgia,” a comedy starring Raven-Symone
as aspiring actress Georgia, trying to make it in New York.
In “The Lying Game,” from the novel by Sara Shepard
(“Pretty Little Liars”), a foster child (Alexandra Chando) learns she
has an identical twin sister, who was adopted by wealthy parents. Things
go crazy after they agree to switch lives for a few days.
—AMC
After grabbing the spotlight with scripted shows
including “Mad Men,” “Breaking Bad” and “The Walking Dead” (all
returning), AMC is reportedly looking at getting into the unscripted
business.
Meanwhile, “Hell on Wheels,” a Western drama about
the building of the transcontinental railway, has just begun production.
Anson Mount stars.
—BET
“Reed Between the Lines” stars Tracee Ellis Ross and
Malcolm-Jamal Warner as heads of “quite the contemporary blended black
family.”
—Bravo
Bravo is developing its first scripted series, “Face
Down,” a dramedy that follows “a charming and irresistibly flawed makeup
artist” (as yet uncast) and his clients.
—Lifetime
“The Protector,” arriving this summer, stars Ally Walker as a detective and single mother.
“Against the Wall,” also for summer, stars Treat
Williams and Kathy Baker as the heads of a family of Chicago cops. Nancy
Miller (“Saving Grace”) is executive producer.
Lifetime also announced a long list of TV movies and
many new hours of unscripted programming, including the spin-offs
“Project Runway All-Stars” and “Project Accessory” and “Roseanne’s
Nuts,” following Roseanne Barr as a macadamia farmer in Hawaii.
—Syfy
“Alphas,” with David Straithairn heading a team of
ordinary citizens with unusual abilities, launches in July, along with
the return of “Warehouse 13,” “Eureka” and “Haven.”
“Battlestar: Blood and Chrome,” is a prequel set in
the 10th year of the First Cylon War, with Luke Pasqualino as “rash
rookie viper pilot” William Adama.
“Me and Lee,” from Jenji Cohan (“Weeds”), imagines Lee Majors (as himself) as mentor to a down-on-his luck young man.
“In the Dark” follows misfit ghost hunters.
“Three Inches,” a half-hour comedy, is about an
underachiever who is struck by lightning and gets the ability to move
any object, but only three inches.
—TBS
The Turner networks’ upfronts are this week, but TBS
has already announced “Tyler Perry’s For Better or Worse,” a dramedy
based on Perry’s hit “Why Did I Get Married?” films. Michael Jai White
(“The Dark Knight”) and Tasha Smith (“Couples Retreat”) are set to
reprise the roles of television anchor Marcus and salon owner Angela.
(Perry’s “House of Payne” is ending its run.)
—TNT
“Falling Skies,” from executive producer Steven Spielberg and starring Noah Wyle, premieres June 19.
Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Malcolm McDowell are among the cast of “Franklin & Bash,” a lawyer drama premiering June 1.
—USA
“Silent Partner,” from the creator of “Leverage,”
features an ambulance-chasing lawyer and his idealistic young paralegal.
The twist: He’s in Florida; she’s in India. The cast hasn’t been
announced.
“On We Go,” a half-hour comedy, stars Nathan Lane
(also an executive producer) as an actor who resembles — but is not —
Nathan Lane.
“M. Diety,” described as an unconventional medical drama, is the story of a doctor fighting hospital bureaucracy.
“The Special” follows an L.A. police detective who
suffers from “hypomania” — he’s always happy and enthusiastic, even
euphoric. But “despite his high clearance rate, he remains an enigma to
his colleagues.”
“Big in Japan,” a comedy with Kara DioGuardi (the
former “American Idol” judge as a consulting producer), has a boy band
reuniting 20 years after their last, disastrous concert.
“We the Jury” is a comedy about a group of jurors sequestered for an indefinite time.
“TGIM,” which stands for “Thank God It’s Monday,” looks at life on a suburban cul-de-sac over a weekend.
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