Summer is for cable TV

While the networks feed us summer reruns and not-ready-for-prime-time series, cable channels showcase new, innovative programming.

By ERIC DEGGANS

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 7, 2000

[Photo: Showtime] Resurrection Blvd., a drama about a Hispanic family trying to make it in the boxing world, is part of Showtime’s 10 Sharp series.

For TV critics -- and some viewers, no doubt -- cable TV too often is like a desert mirage; a lush land full of promise that only grows more ordinary the closer you get.

As evidence, consider this: Despite all the talk about cable channels taking viewers from the big broadcast networks, the highest rated cable shows remain WWF and WCW pro wrestling matches, with a few kid-friendly Nickelodeon series sprinkled in between.

Still, this week marks the beginning of cable's biggest season -- the summer.

In years past, broadcast networks seemed to hang a Gone Fishin' sign on their channels during the summer months, deluging viewers with reruns and new series too weak for the regular season.

There's a lot of that still going around (take a gander at ABC's painfully unfunny new Clerks cartoon tonight for proof), but smash summer series such as Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and CBS' Survivor also show there's still some life left in the big broadcasters' warm-weather fare, further buoyed this year by coverage of the Summer Olympics on NBC.

Cable programmers have taken the hint. More than half of cable's top 40 networks will debut at least one new series over the next few months -- the most new original series launches in history, according to Electronic Media magazine.

It's a win-win for the nation's couch potatoes, as cable steps up to the plate with higher-quality series and original movies, no longer content to let Brady Bunch reruns and WWF stars such as The Rock determine their future.

Here's a look at some notable cable channels worth watching.

The Sci-Fi Channel

[Photo: Sci-Fi Channel] Vincent Ventresca is The Invisible Man in a Sci-Fi Channel summer series with lots of attitude.

I'll admit it. When I heard the channel that brought back Fox-TV's lame-o Sliders was considering an irony-laden remake of The Invisible Man, I was prepared for lots of pens and pencils hanging by wires and bad blue-screen effects lifted from The Weather Channel.

What viewers will get, once the series begins Friday at 8 p.m., is a well-built show centered on computer-generated visuals and lots of attitude.

Tapping cable's subversive, underdog spirit, the Sci-Fi Channel has crafted a wry story about a petty thief roped into a risky government experiment (is there any other kind?) by his brother.

The scientists implant a gland that allows hero Darien Fawkes (Vincent Ventresca) to secrete a substance that can make any part of his body -- or small objects outside his body -- invisible. After tragedy strikes, Fawkes winds up working for a government agency so short on cash that it's temporarily funded under the auspices of the Fish and Game Commission.

Best of all, this ambitious series perfects a formula bigger rivals such as USA Network and Comedy Central have tried with less success -- using deft writing and likable, if barely known, actors to make up for reduced production values.

The Invisible Man will serve as the linchpin for a Sci Fi Summer filled with new episodes of series such as Lexx, First Wave and a psychic reality series, Crossing Over With John Edward in July. Most won't be nearly as much fun as The Invisible Man.

Comedy Central

[Photo: Comedy Central] Mark Curry (Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper) hosts the game show Don’t Forget Your Toothbrush on Comedy Central. The catch? Winners must leave directly from the studio for a trip to an exotic locale.

Give this channel credit: Last year it came to summer with a grab bag full of tricks, introducing $87-million in programming, including the widely criticized game show VS and shameless bastion of sexism, The Man Show.

This year, Comedy Central keeps up the pressure, moving The Man Show to Sundays and pairing it with Julie Brown's new series, Strip Mall, to create a new night of original programming. The channel kicks off its Premiere Week 2000 with new shows and new episodes of returning series during the week of June 18.

In all, Comedy Central presents three new series this time around, including a game show, Don't Forget Your Toothbrush, and episodes of the BBC's series The League of Gentlemen.

Unfortunately, there's no South Park or Daily Show hidden here -- both signature series that rode an abundance of attitude and creativity to help define Comedy Central's subversive spirit. There's isn't even a Man Show, which wallowed in anti-female attitudes last year while pretending to satirize them.

[Photo: Comedy Central] Julie Brown stars in Strip Mall, where murder, mayhem and a little pornography are the norm.

Instead, Brown's Strip Mall (10:30 p.m. Sundays) is a hopelessly tacky look at the people running businesses in a California strip mall, where killings, porn film productions and armed robberies are the norm. American audiences will be hard-pressed to follow the humor in 14 episodes from The League of Gentlemen (10:30 p.m. Mondays), a BBC series featuring three comedians playing more than 60 characters in a fictional town.

Don't Forget Your Toothbrush (10 p.m. Tuesdays) features former Hangin' With Mr. Cooper star Mark Curry as the host of a game show where winners must leave on an exotic trip directly from the TV studios. A sample videocassette showed one of the "contests" featuring a blindfolded woman reaching underneath men's kilts to identify strange objects. Ugh.

Combined with returning fare such as The Man Show (featuring a coterie of scantily clad women dubbed the Juggy Dancers) and South Park, it all adds up to a persistently low-brow schedule of 10 p.m. entertainment -- perfect for the viewer that finds WWF Smackdown! an exercise in wit and restraint.

Showtime

Rival HBO may get all the ink for new summertime episodes of Sex and the City, Arli$$ and Oz -- to say nothing of second season Sopranos reruns starting at 10 p.m. tonight! -- but keep your eye on Showtime.

Ever mindful of its second-banana status, this premimum cable channel has scheduled an ambitious slate of new shows beginning June 26 under the moniker 10 Sharp (the time each series begins).

Mondays feature Resurrection Blvd., a new drama about a Hispanic family seeking the American dream in the boxing ring. Tuesdays showcase Beggars and Choosers, a comedy about the network TV business that emerged, surprisingly, as Showtime's funniest original series last season.

On Wednesday, the channel debuts a series version of the movie Soul Food, featuring Melrose Place veteran Vanessa Williams. New Jack City's Mario Van Peebles joins the Thursday comedy Rude Awakening, a downbeat exercise starring Sherilyn Fenn as a promiscuous alcoholic. And Fridays bring ex-MacGyver star Richard Dean Anderson in the channel's series version of the Sci-Fi action film Stargate SG-1.

None of these shows will likely equal the substance or quality of groundbreaking HBO series such as The Sopranos or The Larry Sanders Show. Still, they raise the bar at a cable channel previously known as a haven for movies no one else would show (anybody remember last year's Lolita update?).

Indeed, a look at the first Resurrection Blvd. episode reveals a show with lots of heart and good intentions, with the added benefit of bringing great Hispanic actors to TV at a time when the networks seem to have forgotten them.

Hmmm . . . smart new shows that target everything the networks have overlooked? Maybe cable has learned its summertime lesson, after all.

-- To reach Eric Deggans call (727) 893-8521, e-mail deggans@sptimes.com.



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