As the cable universe grows, seemingly daily, an event like Earth significantly ups HBO's profile. And its cable neighbors are rising to the challenge, bankrolling top-drawer projects: both USA's Moby Dick and TNT's upcoming Lewis and Clark mini, Undaunted Courage, cost a reported $20 million.
The broadcast nets complain they can't compete with cable's bloated budgets. "That's a load of crap," says Brad Seigel, prez of TNT and Turner Classic Movies. "The networks have no problem finding tons of money for ER or The X-Files. There was plenty to do [NBC's] Gulliver's Travels. When the networks want to put money behind something, they do."
Indeed, while your average network two-parter comes in at around $8 million, NBC's upcoming four-hour May sweeps entry Merlin carries a hefty $30 million price tag. But as Joan Harrison, CBS' VP of miniseries, points out: "The issue isn't cost. It's risk." To present more than two parts of a mini--especially a highbrow affair--means interrupting the schedule with an unknown quantity. "Would NBC preempt their Thursday lineup? I don't think so," says Harrison. As a result, the Big Three stick with easily digestible, bite-size servings of what some call popcorn: F/X-driven sci-fi, creature features, and Mafia retreads certain to titillate shrinking attention spans.
"To get people to make a commitment to 8 or 10 hours is a tough proposition," says Barbara Lieberman, ABC's outgoing VP of minis. "Nobody, frankly, is doing it right now. I would say anything that isn't a guilty pleasure like [CBS'] Bella Mafia is a risk. Other than a Stephen King [project], I'm hard-pressed to think of what [would merit six hours]."
And even King is fallible, as last year's disappointingly rated three-parter The Shining proved. Nevertheless, he is one of the few best-selling authors who still considers the small screen an option. Laments Lindy DeKoven, NBC's exec VP of minis and movies: "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil--would I have liked to have done that? You bet. Or any Grisham book. But we almost never get a peek" at manuscripts.
Occasionally, the networks luck out. CBS snagged James Redfield's The Celestine Prophecy for a reported $500,000 because Harrison was able to persuade the author that broadcast television "was the best medium to spread the gospel." More often, though, A-list talent prefers cable. And bigger budgets aren't necessarily the carrot. People like Hanks, Oliver Stone (who is exec-producing HBO's Patriot), and Jodie Foster (producing for Showtime) are drawn by creative possibilities. As TNT exec VP of original programming Julie Weitz points out, in having to appeal to the most mainstream audience possible, the Nielsen-driven nets can rarely gamble on potentially alienating or demo-specific material. "They wouldn't have done [TNT's]George Wallace," she says. "It wasn't pure entertainment. It was pretty hard-edged, and it [skewed] male." Subscriber-based channels offer even more creative freedom, says HBO's Albrecht, because "we don't have to worry about sponsors."
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