WGN America Focus in 2019: More Time for Crime

quotPeople keep banging on the door to approach usquot Bart explainedamp160 quotWe are talking to people about reality series mostly original nothing farout no competition programsamp160 More common stuff and some of it may be crimeorientedamp160 We39re communicating with a lot of people not just the major studios amp160Midlevel and smaller companies are coming to us with ideas amp160They run the gamut from dramas to reality and in some cases comediesquotIn one way it39s not surprising that some of the pitches even a few with crime at the core bring some level of comedy to the table added WGN America Senior Vice President of Research Robin Thomasamp160 Popular offnetwork comedies such as MASH and Last Man Standing surround the primetime crime series in earlyevening and latenight time periods and in recent months primetime ratings have increased with the arrival of Carter the Jerry O39Connellstarring tale of an actor playing a popular TV detectiveamp160who thanks to pubic embarrassment retreats to being a true gumshoe in his hometownCarter from Sony Pictures Television quotbalances the crime element with a bit more levityquot Thomas said amp160quotIt39s a great hybrid bridge between where we39re going with more crime originals and more comedy favoritesamp160 The show performed well and consistently across the seasonamp160 It39s not a situation where you have a big primetime audience then a lull and down the stretch an uptickquotThat39s why Bart and his associates are talking to Sony about a second season of Carter next fall or in 2020amp160 If that happens Carter and Pure would be the first two WGN Americacommissioned series renewed after their initial run since the network adopted its current original series direction in late 2017quotJerry and the production team are very interested in doing a second season and we39re evaluating thatquot Bart saidAs for 2019 the originals agenda is generally set with at least one firstrun series episode playing in primetime 40 out of 52 weeksamp160 Up first inamp160January will be Pure pictured below focusing on a Mennonite pastor out to attack the drug culture in his community a culture fueled by smuggling activity from Mexican cocaine cartelsamp160 The saga will be offered in two sets of six episodesamp160one playing next winter the other next summer or early fallamp160amp160How I Met Your Mother costar Alyson Hannigan will be featured in the second sixepisode runThe abduction of a child is at the center of Gone an FBI investigation saga starring Chris Noth picture at top center as the FBI agent on the caseamp160amp160NBCUniversal39s international studios unit put the series togetheramp160 Another series likely from the same NBCU divisionamp160The Disappearanceamp160will likely begin in the summeramp160 This story tackles a missing person case and its impact on one town39s residents amp160Rectify star Aden Young plays the father of that missing personOne more original series will complete the 2019 crime lineup whether Carter returns for season two or notamp160 Details of that series will be announced in the next few weeks WGN America officials sayThe new originals are mostly expected to play weeknights at 10 pm ETamp160 The current structure of specific nights devoted to movies or an offnet series Last Man Standing on Wednesdays and Thursdays Blue Bloods on the weekends etc will stay in placeamp160 quotWe want to be known for favorites old and new being able to see your favorite shows again and again and creating new favorites in the mind of the viewerquot Thomas explainedamp160 quotThat39s our mantra right nowamp160 We want to keep that in mind as we develop new programming and purchase offnet fare in the futureamp160 This doesn39t limit us one way or the otheramp160 It gives us a litmus test of what might work with our viewersquotamp160 The adults 2554 demo is the network39s target audienceUpfront advertising sales this past summer described as quotextremely strongquot by WGN America Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketingamp160David Rotem will increase the outlook for more original series coming in 2020amp160 quotOur unique focus in our crime original programming has been well received by clients and complements the offnet crime dramas in the rest of our portfolioquot he saidquotOur originals coupled with the comedies and movies have attracted new viewers a more diverse audience that appeals to a broader group of advertisersquot Rotem continuedamp160 New clients in the technology autos telcos electronics financial services and pharma categories contributed to the sales uptickamp160 The network will experiment with commercial placement in its originals throughout 2019 from less episode breaks to unique formats by specific advertisers he addedClick the social buttons above or below to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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WGN America Focus in 2019: More Time for Crime

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Simon Applebaum

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WGN America Focus in 2019: More Time for Crime

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