As I reported earlier this year, Adult Swim has seen some success picking up quirky British sitcoms that didn't quite work anywhere else on cable except for brief plays on BBC America. The fact that they aren't cartoons meant little to Adult Swim head honcho Mike Lazzo, who felt they hit the same part of the funnybone as "Robot Chicken" (and for that matter, the non-animated "Tim and Eric's").
Well, now Cartoon Network is in the swim, so to speak. And they're picking up original, hourlong series. My my. Read on ...
Cartoon Network Picks Up First Two Live-Action Series
Tower Prep and Unnatural History Greenlit to One Hour Series
Cartoon Network has picked up thirteen episodes of two hour-long original, scripted live-action series, Tower Prep and Warner Horizon Television’s Unnatural History. Production on the network’s first-ever hour-long action series is slated to begin in January 2010. Tower Prep is an action thriller telling the story of a rebellious teen, Ian (Drew Van Acker), who wakes up one morning to find himself trapped at a mysterious prep school focused on tapping into the "unique potential" of its students. Ian forms a secret group with fellow students CJ (Elise Gatien), Gabe (Ryan Pinkston) and Suki (Dyana Liu) as they search for answers to where they are and how to get home. The pilot was executive-produced and written by Paul Dini (Lost, Batman: Arkham Asylum), with Terry McDonough (Breaking Bad, The Street) directing. The series will be produced out of Cartoon Network Studios in Burbank, CA, in association with Dolphin Entertainment.
Unnatural History is an action-packed mystery series centering on Henry Griffin (Kevin G. Schmidt), a teenager with exceptional skills acquired through years of globe-trotting with his anthropologist parents. Shipped off to a high school in Washington D.C., Henry and his smooth-talking cousin Jasper (Jordan Gavaris) find themselves wrapped up in mysteries revolving around the national museum. Mike Werb (Face/Off, The Mask) created the series and wrote the pilot, which was directed by Emmy® Award winner Mikael Salomon (Band of Brothers, The Andromeda Strain, The Company). The series will be executive produced by Mike Werb and produced by Warner Horizon Television.
“These new series will offer our viewers a type of action-packed event entertainment not found anywhere else,” said Rob Sorcher, chief content officer of Cartoon Network. “We are looking forward to working with all of the great talent involved in these exciting new ventures, which we believe will be a powerful complement to our diverse and expanding array of original programming.”
Warner Horizon Television (WHTV) is one of the entertainment industry’s fastest-growing television companies, specializing in the creation of scripted series for the cable marketplace, and primetime reality series for both network and cable. Founded in 2006, this second production entity allows the Warner Bros. Television Group to expand its programming offerings and explore creative options made possible under a new business model. WHTV is producing more than a dozen series for broadcast and cable networks in 2009–2010.
Cartoon Network (CartoonNetwork.com), currently seen in more than 97 million U.S. homes and 166 countries around the world, is Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.’s ad-supported cable service now available in HD offering the best in original, acquired and classic entertainment for youth and families. Nightly from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. (ET, PT), Cartoon Network shares its channel space with Adult Swim, a late-night destination showcasing original and acquired animation for young adults 18-34.
Seems to be the case with a lot of the cable channels - they were started and were built on a specific niche format, and then years later, they abandon that format and dumb things down so they can chase wider demographics and new advertisers. Just think back to how different these channels used to be…
MTV - no music
TLC - no learning, just makeovers.
Bravo - used to show ballets - now has shows about housewives and models.
A&E - no arts - just Law & Order
OLN - now called Vs. mostly teams sports, and little about outdoor life.
AMC - very few "classics"
TNN - went from country music to the "man channel" - SPIKE
VHI - no video hits
CourtTV - now TruTV (no more "elite" talk about the law!)
Cartoon Network - fewer cartoons
Also, the channels are becoming homogenized. Sometimes I can't tell if a show on the history of french wines is on Food Network, Travel Channel, Discovery, NatGeo or the History Channel! Odds are, a show like that would be created so it could be shown on all of the above channels - allowing the corporate entity who owns them to save money.
Posted by: CM | November 09, 2009 at 01:10 PM