LOS ANGELES — Cable dramas continue to be the richest source of complex stories, three-dimensional characters and adult (not necessarily raunchy but serious) TV content. Looking toward the 2011-12 season, there’s still reason to believe the most challenging work is being done away from the broadcast networks.
But, now what?
Cable dramas, having achieved phenomenal success in their early years, face a dilemma as they achieve a sort of maturity.
Like any whiz kids, early cable overachievers such as “The Sopranos,” “Mad Men” and “The Wire” were often brash and rule-bending. They won attention partly by being vulgar, partly by showing off their smarts.
More recently, as cable’s quirky dramas came into adolescence, series like “The Killing” overreached in both those areas and got in trouble.
As the best cable series have refined the form, they’ve trained viewers to become more demanding. We’ve seen the lovable sociopath; what can you give us now? We understand that historical accuracy is important in slick costuming and design, but what more can the story offer? We appreciate the stretch into novel forms of storytelling that take chances with the audience’s trust, but we still want our time investment to be respected.
This season, as cable networks endeavor to move the programming forward and sustain audience interest, they’ve learned a few lessons:
• Modeling upcoming shows on past efforts, the way the more conservative broadcast networks do, isn’t such a bad idea. “Hell on Wheels,” a gritty drama about the building of the transcontinental railroad due Nov. 6 from AMC, takes more than a few pages from “Deadwood.”
• Too-tricky storytelling methods can incur the wrath of viewers. The first-season finale of “The Killing” was divisive: Some viewers were furious that the killer was not revealed, and the cliffhanger felt like a double- cross. AMC told critics gathered in Los Angeles that the network didn’t set out to pull a fast one, will provide a satisfying answer rather quickly in the second season and fully intends to grant “The Killing” a third season if the market will bear. (AMC also announced a sixth season for “Mad Men.”)
• The allure of period pieces continues. The visual appeal of “Mad Men” is being copied around what we used to call the dial, including on the broadcast networks. Bouffant 1960s chic is turning up in stories about Chicago Playboy bunnies and Pan Am stewardesses. On cable, the best of the period lot is “The Hour,” coming to BBC America in October, a spy thriller about the creation of an investigative newsmagazine at the BBC in the 1950s. “The Hour” stars Dominic West of “The Wire” as the face of the new broadcast.
An addition announced for 2012, BBC America’s first scripted original series, “The Copper,” features a young Irish cop in early 19th-century New York, co-created by Tom Fontana (“Oz,” “Homicide: Life on the Street,” “St. Elsewhere”) and Will Rokos (“Monster’s Ball,” “Southland”).
It seems the 1850s-60s are going to be the rage on cable in the coming year, with “The Copper” in New York and “Hell on Wheels” in the West, taking viewers back to a dirty, dusty, politically incorrect time. Encore dives into “Moby Dick” Aug. 1, starring William Hurt and set in 1850s Nantucket.
We’ll see if period details are supported by well-drawn plots and characters.
As cable dramas continue to score critical acclaim, Emmy nominations and loyal audiences, the programmers face new challenges. Audiences are primed to expect greatness — a tall order.
HBO continues to deliver with the hilarious, scary and magically weird “True Blood” and “Game of Thrones,” but the network doesn’t have an earth-shaking new drama on the horizon for fall.
“Building on our success is a high- class problem to have,” said HBO president Richard Plepler.
Showtime will premiere a contemporary drama, with Claire Danes and Damian Lewis starring in “Homeland,” a thriller about domestic terrorism and a rogue CIA agent.
The networks know it: The bar has been raised.
Joanne Ostrow: 303-954-1830 or jostrow@denverpost.com
