American channels Starz, Cinemax, Sundance TV and others are cranking out quality dramas right under your nose
There’s something of an original scripted programming arms race going on right now, with each stop on the cable dial trying to find its breakout hit. Even Bravo, the home of every reality show you hate to love, is trying its hand at its first scripted fare. And as each channel is trying to set itself apart, they’re all going for the biggest lynchpin in the plan to become a home for discerning viewers: the prestige drama.
Hey, AMC was a dumping ground for second-run movies before Mad Men’s Emmy run turned them into the place where everyone with a screenwriting degree wanted to set up shop. Now they have The Walking Dead, the highest-rated show on television.That means that this summer some of the hottest premieres are on channels you have never heard of, don’t know where to find, or might not even get. Here are five shows on smaller networks that critics and other television cognoscenti want you to love.
The Knick on Cinemax
No, this is has nothing to do with buxom co-eds having softcore sex at a bikini carwash. “Skinemax” is officially dead and HBO’s sister channel started its own originals in 2011 and had some success with Banshee last year. This period drama directed by Steven Soderbergh is their biggest stab (pun intended) at the limelight yet. Clive Owen stars as an opium- and cocaine-addicted surgeon at New York’s Knickerbocker hospital at the turn of the 20th century, who has to battle his demons and what would now be considered ghastly medical practices while researching new techniques. The show debuts on Friday night and so far reviews have been rapturous. The good news is that if you have HBO you might already get Cinemax and don’t even know it.
Outlander on Starz
That third premium movie channel has been trying to get attention since they turned Oscar-winner Crash into a series back in 2008. They launched the Kelsey Grammer political drama Boss, the genius and before-its-time comedy Party Down, and even the delightfully pulptastic Spartacus. Outlander might be the crossover hit they’ve been looking for. This story of a second world war nurse (Caitriona Balfe) who is transported back in time to medieval Scotland is part sci-fi, part love story, and all charm. If it can grow past its fangirl roots to take hold in the culture at large, a lot of people might be calling their cable provider to get Starz on their bill every month.Manhattan on WGN America
The problem with WGN America is that no one even knows what the hell it is. It’s a “superstation” that is essentially a nationally syndicated version of Chicago’s WGN-TV which is available in more than 70m homes (including yours, probably). This period drama – why are they all period dramas? – is about the families that move to New Mexico in the 1940s to try to make the first atomic bomb (codenamed the Manhattan project). Heavily touted by critics, Manhattan tops 2 million viewers, which is just a fraction of those 70 million, but it’s a whole lot more than Mad Men started out with.
