Welcoming All Characters: Lunch at Michael's with USA and Sci Fi's Bonnie Hammer

As president of USA Network and Sci Fi Channel Bonnie Hammer works in a wild world of intergalactic adventurers quirky detectives wrestlers wizards ghosthunting plumbers and wouldbe country music superstars to name just a few of the characters in her programsBut her first big job in television couldn39t have been more simple or straightforward She worked with carpenters Hammer was part of the original production team that brought to life the venerable home renovation series This Old HouseUpon graduating from Boston University Hammer began her career at public television powerhouse WGBH in that city quotI loved itquot she told Jack Myers and me over Lunch at Michael39samp174 in New York City quotI had amazing mentorsquot she says Hammer39s time at WGBH actually began with work on the series The Infinity Factory and Zoom Then she moved to a project that was just beginning to take shape This Old House one of the most popular and enduring television series of the last 30 years She laughed when she recalled that original host Bob Vila quotknew nothing about construction He was a journalist He had never done TV but he was so animated and natural he was hiredquotAfter several years at WGBH Hammer left for ABC affiliate WCVB in Boston which she described as quotone of the best local stations in the country in terms of original programmingquot At WCVB she worked on a pioneering live morning talk show titled Good Day quotI went from 39We don39t care if anyone watches as long as it39s quality39 to 39We don39t care if it39s quality as long as everyone watches39quot she sighed Development work in Los Angeles and a programming position at Lifetime followed before Hammer joined USA Network and Sci Fi ChannelWhile This Old House is one of the most down to earth series on television the series and specials Hammer oversees today on Sci Fi and USA are anything but ordinary They include Sci Fi39s intellectually engaging outerspace adventure Battlestar Galactica a Peabody Award winner that is routinely included on major critics39 ten best lists Eureka a fantasy about a community of geniuses that enjoyed the highest rated series launch in Sci Fi39s history the upcoming remake of the classic Flash Gordon set to debut on Sci Fi this summer and The Dresden Files Sci Fi39s new Sunday night drama about a private detective who is also a wizard Over on USA Hammer39s eclectic show mix includes the humorous detective dramas Psych and Monk the latter starring Tony Shalhoub a threetime Emmy winner for his work on this show and a series that might seem more at home on its sister network The 4400 about thousands of people abducted over a period of several decades and later returned to Earth without having aged a day Set to begin its fourth season this summer The 4400 earned a place in history books by being the highest rated basic cable series premiere of all time when it debuted in July 2004Just for good measure Hammer deals in farreaching reality projects as well including Who Wants to Be a Superhero and Ghost Hunters on Sci Fi and World Wrestling Entertainment programming and the country music competition Nashville Star on USAAs Danny DeVito Al Roker Ron Perelman Marlo Thomas Variety editor Peter Bart NATAS39 Peter Price and Cosmopolitan39s Donna Kalajian lunched nearby Hammer excitedly talked about the success of USA Network quotWe39re clearly the No 1 cable network in the first quarter across all demosquot she said quotWe39re No 1 by the largest margins everquot Hammer who was named president of Sci Fi in April 2001 revealed that in May 2004 when she became president of USA Network as well there were three things she wanted to do quotBrand USA for the first time bring back World Wrestling Entertainment programming and bring USA back to its status as the No 1 cable networkquotHer desire to brand the network resulted in the well received Characters Welcome campaign quotThe perception was there was no way you can brand a general interest entertainment channel but with Characters Welcome USA has been successfulquot Hammer noted as she enjoyed Michael39s famed Cobb salad quotWe changed the network39s logo and connected to viewers Characters Welcome is a connection between real people watching and the characters on our airquotAs for creating and nurturing an identity for Sci Fi Channel Hammer admitted that science fiction as a genre quothas a stigma attached to itquot Because of that quotadvertisers think it39s all male geeksquot The crossover success of such franchises as Harry Potter Superman and some of Sci Fi Channel39s own programming including Battlestar Galactica proves them wrong she insisted noting that the move of Galactica this past season from Friday to Sunday night exposed the show to new younger viewers and brought in more female viewers overallGalactica is underserved by traditional audience measurement Hammer suggested That39s due in part to the way young people choose to watch the show including Hammer39s 13yearold son quotOne of every four Galactica viewers watch it on a DVR or download itquot she revealed quotIf we could cume its numbers including the 25 percent who watch that way its numbers would be outrageously highquotAs might be expected Galactica is a source of particular pride for Hammer quotI39m not surprised by how successful it is but I am surprised by how executive producers Ron Moore and David Eick twist and turn to get it therequot she said quotI39ve never read a script for an episode without sitting back and thinking 39That39s incredible39quot She acknowledged that its dense storytelling could be intimidating to new viewers quotIt39s not unlike The West Wingquot Hammer mused quotIt is provocative If you39re choosing to think about it it39s fabulous It raises issues Is there a God Terrorism Fundamentalism Some people are afraid to tune in because they don39t want one more thing to be connected toquotBattlestar Galactica won39t return until early in 2008 but Hammer announced last week that a standalone twohour Galactica movie event would debut on the network later this year Universal Studios Home Entertainment will release it on DVD shortly thereafterHammer a native of Queens New York who refers to herself as a quot718 galquot now resides in suburban Connecticut with her husband Dale Heussner and son Jesse Her stepdaughter is currently pursuing a graduate degree in journalism at Northwestern University She regards Jesse39s consumption of media as quota perfect example of where the industry and the audience is going He39s a huge fan of everything downloadedquot Jesse watches only basketball in 39real time39 she saidLooking forward Hammer believes quotthe business will drastically change for all of us We are moving away from a Cost Per Thousand advertising business to a holistic marketing business The whole model will change and whoever can get there first will be a hero Commercial ratings are a shortterm solution Creativity of the commercials is more important than everquotIndeed Hammer feels that creativity in all forms of advertising marketing and promotion is key as evidenced by USA39s development of the upcoming sixhour limited series The Starter Wife a project about which she is especially excited Unilever Pond39s Face Care Brand is the sponsor of this production and has been involved in all facets of it from the start including point of purchase materials promotions contests and magazine tieins quotSales marketing and production did an amazing job working hand in handquot Hammer said The Starter Wife stars Debra Messing Joe Mantegna and Judy Davis and will premiere in MayAlso coming in the months ahead from USA a new series titled Burn Notice starring Jeffrey Donovan as a CIA operative who inexplicably loses his job and has his identity stripped away He travels around the country solving crimes in local communities as he tries to solve the mystery of why his identity was suddenly taken from him Hammer describes it as quotmore MacGyver than The FugitivequotTo contact Bonnie Hammer write contactmediavillagecomLunch at Michael39s is a registered trademark of Jack Myers

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Welcoming All Characters: Lunch at Michael's with USA and Sci Fi's Bonnie Hammer

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