For TBS, the strategy is simple: keep ’em laughing.
The Atlanta-based cable channel, which a year ago announced a makeover as the “very funny” network, said Tuesday it would build on its successful format by launching two original comedy series and sponsoring the Las Vegas “Comedy Festival” in November.
More than 1,000 people attended the network’s “Upfront” presentation for advertisers at a Madison Square Garden theater. Steve Koonin, executive vice president and chief operating officer for TBS and sister network TNT, told the crowd that TBS had kept its promise to better connect with viewers.
“We designed our network for a young, comedy-loving audience,” Koonin said. “Our brand, TBS Very Funny, is really resonating.”
That’s no joke. TBS has been on a ratings roll since it shed its amorphous programming of sports and movies and donned the funny hat. It expanded the lineup of top sitcom reruns like “Friends” and “Seinfeld” with “Everybody Loves Raymond,” a toned-down “Sex and the City” and a handful of lighthearted reality shows.
In this year’s first quarter, TBS ranked No. 1 for basic cable among prime-time viewers 18 to 34.
TBS said its plans for this year include:
– An original half-hour fall series called “Minding the Store” in which “down-but-not-out comedian Pauly Shore tries to get his mother’s world-famous Comedy Store back on track, while also giving his own career a boost.”
– “Daisy Does America,” a fall show starring British comedian Daisy Donovan, who travels the U.S. in an often hapless pursuit of the American dream.
– A second season this June of the reality show “The Real Gilligan’s Island,” in which two teams representing the original sitcom’s characters compete to be rescued and rewarded.
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– “The Comedy Festival” in Las Vegas, climaxing in a two-hour comedy and music special called “Earth to America” meant to raise environmental awareness. Celebrities slated to appear include Tom Hanks, Steve Martin, Cameron Diaz and Ben Stiller.
TNT, basic cable’s ratings leader, announced three new original movies in development, including “Pleading Guilty,” based on the book by Scott Turow, and “Avenger,” based on the Frederick Forsyth novel. New original crime dramas coming this summer are “The Closer” and “Wanted.”
The network also previewed the limited series for 2006 called “Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King,” with episodes based on a collection of the author’s short works.
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Edited by Cara DiPasquale ([email protected]) and Victoria Rodriguez ([email protected])