False Starts Raise Questions About TNT’s Series Strategy

From Gardner Stern’s perspective, TNT picked a rather odd time to inaugurate an ad campaign employing the slogan “We know drama.”

Stern, previously a writer-producer on “NYPD Blue” and “Chicago Hope,” would beg to differ after enduring what for a television producer amounts to a waking nightmare, watching the network delay his new dramatic series “Breaking News” multiple times before deciding not to air the project.

What’s notable is that the decision came after New Line Television (like TNT, a subsidiary of AOL Time Warner) had completed 13 episodes of the series, at a total cost of roughly $20 million. TNT paid about $1 million per hour, with the studio covering the difference.

New Line is currently shopping the program to other buyers, though its chances of finding a home at this stage appear remote. In fact, some cast members--including Tim Matheson, who has joined the CBS series “Wolf Lake,” and Lisa Ann Walter, part of the NBC comedy “Emeril”--have already moved on to other projects.

While TNT has fared well with made-for-TV movies, the network’s goal has been to expand into original series--following in the footsteps of Home Box Office, which has garnered a deluge of critical acclaim with “The Sopranos” and “Sex and the City.”

“When I first went to them, they said, ‘We want to compete with HBO,’ ” Stern recalled.

Now, however, the producer is unsure precisely what the network’s strategy is in light of its false starts, which may serve as a cautionary tale for cable networks as they seek to play in the series arena.

“Breaking News” is set behind the scenes of a 24-hour news channel. In addition to Matheson and Walter, the program features Clancy Brown (“The Shawshank Redemption”), Scott Bairstow (“Party of Five”) and Jeffrey Sams (“Soul Food”). Actor-director Ken Olin functioned as another executive producer, and his wife and former “thirtysomething” co-star Patricia Wettig also appears in the show.

Some involved with the project speculated TNT was leery of trying to launch another character-driven drama after “Bull,” a program set on Wall Street that premiered last August to mostly positive reviews but mediocre ratings. TNT yanked the show but ordered additional episodes, announcing plans to bring it back in January. That project has now been shelved as well.

“Bull” creator Michael Chernuchin feels equally mystified regarding what happened. “I have 11 [episodes] in the can, and I have no idea why they’re not airing them. It’s bizarre,” he said, noting that the cast--including Elisabeth Rohm, who will become the new assistant district attorney on NBC’s “Law & Order”--has scattered to new projects.

Robert DeBitetto, president of original programming at TNT, said both decisions were made based on “a subjective determination. We felt our resources are better allocated elsewhere . . . [and that ‘Breaking News’] would not be a breakout hit on the network.”

As for dropping a program so far down the road in terms of time and money, DeBitetto maintained the channel has limited resources and didn’t see any benefit in scheduling “Breaking News” or, for that matter, reintroducing “Bull.”

“There would have been enormous additional costs in terms of marketing, promotion, everything that you have to do to launch a new show,” he explained.

All of this is confusing to Stern, who said he received positive feedback along the way, having delivered the prototype more than a year ago. TNT officials were still upbeat, he said, when they postponed the premiere from January to June--the rationale being that the delay would allow them to capitalize on tune-in for the NBA playoffs and newly acquired “Law & Order” reruns.

After a period of uncertainty, Stern was given a fixed airdate, July 17, before that was pushed to August. He was then told the show would wait until January 2002 due to the soft advertising market, even though the actors’ contracts expire in December, meaning TNT wouldn’t know if the public was responding to the series until after losing its hold on the stars.

A few weeks later, his agent was told the project was dead. “I think it’s a good show, it’s an incredibly timely topic, and they haven’t given us a chance,” Stern said.

So timely, it turns out, that last week ABC premiered its own project about an all-news network, “The Beast.” Stern noted his episodes were completed well before it was clear when or if that series would be scheduled.

Despite the millions of dollars squandered on “Breaking News,” it is hardly unprecedented for networks to kill programs after sinking considerable investments in them. Fox, for example, recently scuttled a series from “Moonlighting” creator Glenn Gordon Caron after shooting seven of the 13 episodes the network had ordered.

Yet given that series mark relatively new terrain for TNT, the setback raises questions about where the network is heading. DeBitetto stressed the goal remains to find projects that offer a clear alterative to the major networks, conceding that a western may be in the channel’s future given its success with western-themed films, among them “Conagher” and “Purgatory.”

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Last week, TNT also premiered the comic book-inspired fantasy “Witchblade,” scoring respectable ratings by cable standards. The WB network--which is now under the same management team as TNT--helped out by broadcasting the movie that gave rise to the series before its debut, part of a still-evolving strategy that calls for sharing some programs among various Time Warner networks.

Perhaps foremost, insiders say the feeling is for a basic cable program to work it must be distinctive and highly promotable, since such channels don’t generate as much traffic among viewers as ABC, CBS or NBC. Other basic cable channels, such as Lifetime, A&E; and FX, are advancing tentatively into original dramatic series by selectively seeking concepts that play to their specific audience niche.

For the producers of “Breaking News,” meanwhile, the drawn-out experience has been an exercise in frustration--one even officials at New Line, who declined comment, were reportedly hard-pressed to understand.

“I’m objective enough, and I’ve done enough television, to know that this is a hell of a lot better than a lot of other stuff that’s on,” Stern said.