WGN America Scores with Americana Past and Present

Theamp160original drama series on WGN all either offering a unique take on American history or a slice of present American culture have boosted the network39s reputation as a topshelf programmer close or near par with other acclaimed sources of ongoing quality content As the channel begins its third year as a basic service on December 14 more than 80 million US television households can see the service by cable or satellite Overall revenues are up advertising sales are up and if the timing39s right Cherniss39 enterprise will travel to New York and hold its first Upfront season event next springSalem pictured below derived from the infamous Salem witch trials opened WGN39s push into original drama in April 2014 eight months before the network officially declared that its longrun as a quotsuperstationquot was behind it With that action the network formally broke away from the Chicago television station that since 1978amp160was distributed coasttocoast by United Video then other factions and finally WGN owner Tribune Media As a superstation millions around the US could watch Chicago Cubs baseball every summer and Bulls basketball every winter while children could check out bigtop studio antics weekends on Bozo39s Circus Tribune renamed its superstation feed WGN America eight years ago then started the separation effort in 2013Manhattan the network39s acclaimed drama about the people whoamp160builtamp160the first atomic bomb near a remote town in New Mexico circa 194344amp160followed a few months after Salem This year WGN America launched two original hours amp160Outsiders about the struggle between a mountain community and residents of a nearby town inamp160presentday Appalachia and Underground the first drama series exploring the creation and operation of the Underground Railroad that gave slaves their ticket to freedom in the 1800s Alano Miller Aldis Hodge and Theodus Crane of Underground are pictured left to right at top Manhattan won an Emmy award last fall for its opening title sequence by Imaginary Forces but was cancelled after two seasons due to a drop in viewership Salem is the midst of season three Wednesday nights and Outsiders and Underground will return for their second seasons during the first half of 2017quotI don39t think we set out to be a home for Americanaquot says Cherniss who was a history major in college quotWe just found and greenlighted projects dealing with instances people may have heard of but not intimately They turned out to be unique touchpoints of American history or of our present day In all these cases thanks to creators with vision each of these series are entertaining for the audience and have something to say about our nation today Also they ask questions about the country we live in or they have the audience face those questionsquotIn particular Underground raises issues about the road to a free diverse society where people of any race are accepted In its first season the program scored widespread raves from critics and was screened at The White House and the new Oprah Winfrey Theater at the Smithsonian Institution quotThe series reminds you of The Great Escape a film where people got a great story not a dry history lessonquot Cherniss suggests quotBoth that series and Outsiders make a big effort to show all angles of their subject Often with Outsiders you wonder who the protagonists are at any timequotIn his thinking these two series together were the most impactful development for WGN America this year More than 20 new advertisers including several automobile suppliers made Upfront commitments for this fall excited by the early fortunes of Outsidersamp160pictured above and UndergroundAlso this year WGN America converted its primetime schedule featuring exclusive offCBS presentations of Elementary and Person of Interest from the classic weeknight strip approach to a multihour block format After Salem debuts an episode Wednesday nights at 9 pm that episode repeats at 10 11 and midnight and sometimes later Another night can be allElementary or a set of movies with a connecting themeFor 2017 the network plans to launch another pair of new series chosen either fromamp160pilots currently in production or projects made and under review by Cherniss and his programming department Roadside Picnic would be WGN39s first attempt at science fiction incorporating you guessed it an examination of future times for the US Sony is behind this production Mixing a crime tale with life on an American Indian reservation Scalp brings the popular DCVertigo comic to life via Warner Brothers like DC a unit of parent Time Warner quotWe will have a Native American cast and populate this series with as many Native Americans behind the camera as possiblequot Cherniss declaresAt least two other projects continue in series development weekly anthology The Ten Commandments from The Weinstein Company where a different writer and director examine one biblical commandment per episode in modern day and a depiction of AfricanAmericans economic leadership on Wall Street during the early 20th centuryCherniss anticipates the network will expand its development strategy over the next year exploring talent from the television festival circuit in places from New York to Denver and the number of efforts launched since last winter to create series produced written and directed by women and women of color such as We For She We Did It Together The Alice Institute and Women in Film39s partnership with The Blacklist the online collective of movie and TV scriptsquotPeople like us and our competitors aren39t looking for the obvious anymorequot he says quotWe39re seeking talent with a solid viewpoint I39m not worrying about our ability to find more original programming There39s more opportunity out therequotOn a scale of 1 to 10 zero being just that and 10 being that zone of metaphysical servitude John McLaughlin used to delight about Cherniss puts the evolution of this channel from its superstation roots to fulfilling its full potential for original programmingamp160at a 3amp160quotThere39s a lot of upside in our futurequot he concludes quotYou go by leaps and bounds and your fortune rests on how you operate when the big moments come alongquotClick the social buttons above or below to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this article are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated bloggers amp160

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WGN America Scores with Americana Past and Present

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