New twists on some popular formats emerge this winter and spring
Ask any cable programming executive about the No. 1 influence on their work these days and you'll probably get the same single-word answer: competition. With scores of entertainment options trying to win viewer attention, the job of standing out has never been more challenging.
For viewers and advertisers, this doesn't just mean a bigger field of new shows from which to choose. Today's white-hot competition for the audience's attention has spawned a renaissance in creativity on the small screen.
Competition "liberates" the development process, says Mark Stern, exec VP of original programming at the
Sci Fi Channel 
. "When you are forced to be
innovative to cut above the clutter, you make some interesting
choices," he says. "You don't just go with what's safe, and you can't be complacent."
Choices emerging over the next few months include some new twists on popular formats.
National Geographic Channel's "Crittercam"
updates the wildlife series by attaching small,
lightweight cameras to animals to get a look at places not usually seen by humans; Outdoor
Life Network's "Samurai Sportsman," brings a martial arts expert's skills to hunting, fishing
and timber sports; and Tech TV's
"Nerd Nation" spotlights people who have taken obsessions to
unusual extremes. All three shows premiered in January.
Another format getting some alternative spin is the makeover. E! Entertainment's "Brini Maxwell Show," a spin-off of a popular New York-area cable access show, features a cross-dressing domestic diva helping people with decorating and entertaining, It premiered Jan. 23, while TLC's "In a Fix," debuted Feb. 2, rescues do-it-yourselfers from failed projects.
Card games will see some new incarnations, with "The World Series of Blackjack" debuting on
GSN
(formerly the Game Show Network) in March and the Travel Channel's "World Poker Tour"
premiering this spring. More card action comes on April 4 in
History Channel's docudrama,
"Breaking Vegas," which examines the world of card counters.
Fans of crime solving won't be left out in the cold this winter and spring. On Feb. 18, Court TV debuts "Psychic Detectives" and in the second quarter, adds "Trace Evidence: The Case Files of Henry Lee," featuring one of the country's top forensic scientists retracing baffling cases on which he has worked.
New reality shows will include ESPN's
"Dream Job," featuring "SportsCenter" anchor
wannabes in a competition kicking off Feb. 22, and
Sci Fi Channel's "Mad Mad House,"
a reality/variety/game series that puts ordinary people in a mansion with a vampire,
a Voodoo priestess , among others, to see who can hang in the longest. A&E's "Dearly
Departed" follows a San Diego family of undertakers; FX's "Todd TV" lets the audience
decide the twists and turns in the life of its star; and VH1's "Surviving Nugent"
features rock music veteran/outdoorsman Ted Nugent and his family testing the survival
skills of suburbanites transplanted to his ranch in the wilds of central Texas.
Many cable programmers believe their medium has become the home of TV innovation
because its networks are smaller and more nimble than their broadcast counterparts.
"We can turn ideas around more quickly than larger networks," says Stephen Hill,
BET's senior
VP-music programming and talent. "The audience's tastes change more
quickly today than they did years ago, and cable is in a better position to change
rapidly with them."
Cable networks also tend to do more research into what their audiences are thinking about, and they tend to reinvent themselves more often, says Roger Marmet, senior VP-programming and general manager of TLC. "People aren't just sitting still. You have to keep reinventing yourself and you have to keep innovating. That's part of the reason why the shift in audience went from broadcast to cable."
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