Cable series rule in summer

Summer viewership in 2005 fell only 3 percent below the rest of the year.

By DAVID BAUDER

AP TELEVISION WRITER

NEW YORK — Anyone who considers mid-August a dead time for anything original on television definitely doesn’t have an elementary-school-aged girl at home.

This week’s Disney Channel premiere of “High School Musical 2” is a Friday night date for millions of youngsters, and the latest example of how cable has stolen the buzz from its broadcast big brothers this summer.

There’s been a run of attention-getting series with big stars on cable, like Holly Hunter in TNT’s “Saving Grace,” Glenn Close in “Damages” on FX and Debra Messing in “The Starter Wife” on USA.

TNT’s “The Closer” routinely beats most of what the broadcasters offer Monday nights. “Army Wives” became Lifetime’s most popular series ever and “Ice Road Truckers” did the same for The History Channel. “Mad Men” on AMC, “Burn Notice” on USA and “House of Payne” on TNT were other intriguing new offerings.

Add in returning favorites like “Monk,” and there are nearly 30 scripted cable series offering original episodes from June to September, according to Multichannel News.

“It’s a summer to remember,” said Tim Brooks, a television historian and Lifetime executive. “It’s kind of a game-changer in a way.”

On broadcast? Well, there’s always “Big Brother 8.” Or is it 14?

‘High School Musical’

The original “High School Musical” premiered to 7.8 million viewers in January 2006. August felt right for the sequel because it is set in the summertime, said Scott Garner, Disney Channel’s senior vice president for programming. By the 17th, summer camp is generally over and school hasn’t started yet.

The new movie features the original cast working and having fun at a country club, with the relationships of its main characters sorely tested. Plenty of new songs are lined up for the youthful audience to sing along to.

“If I was a betting man, I would say it would probably be a [ratings] milestone in cable television this year,” Garner said.

Cable networks see an opportunity to snap up bored viewers while ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox essentially shift to autopilot in the summer. This year the trend has gone into overdrive, and it’s having an impact.

Through midsummer, young viewership was down 14 percent from last year on broadcast schedules clogged with repeats, talent and reality programs. Cable was up slightly, Nielsen Media Research said.

Summer viewership

The assumption that so many TV sets are turned off during the summer is becoming obsolete, said Jack Wakshlag, chief researcher at Turner Networks. In 1975, with fewer networks to choose from and fewer homes with air conditioners, summer viewership was 15 percent lower than the rest of the year, he said.

In 2005, that difference was only 3 percent — and it’s moving toward a day when there will be just as much TV-watching in July as January, he said.

Another factor in the summertime bounty of choice is the recognition by cable networks that their success increasingly depends upon having signature series that viewers will seek out. That’s why AMC, normally a movie channel, developed “Mad Men.”

The competition is keen. In 2000, the average home in the United States had access to 61 channels, Nielsen said. By last year, the typical home got 104 channels.

Until the “who shot J.R.?” phenomenon 27 years ago, broadcast networks more often than not drew little attention to the end of the season in May.