TNT's poor call gives Bravo dynamite programming

MomSeattle · DadSeattle · SPI · MySeattlePix · My account

Local

US/World

Sports

Business

A&E

Life

Comics

Photos

Opinion

Blogs

Buy Ads

NWsource

TNT's poor call gives Bravo dynamite programming

Thursday, May 2, 2002

By JOHN LEVESQUE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER TELEVISION CRITIC

Bravo, the cable channel that isn't afraid of intelligent programming, has picked up a series called "Breaking News."

You probably never heard of "Breaking News" unless you were visiting this space last summer when I was deploring the fact that TNT, the cable channel whose ironic slogan is "We Know Drama," paid about 20 million bucks for 13 episodes of "Breaking News" and then decided not to air it.

Here's what I wrote at the time in a jab at network execs who were too in love with "reality" programming to notice quality drama when it passed under their noses:

"This doesn't mean it's not good, or that it wouldn't attract an audience of appreciative fans. It's exceptionally well-crafted, with performances that are still rattling around in my memory more than two weeks after I managed to cadge a tape containing three episodes. It's just that 'Breaking News' probably would not become a phenomenon -- can you say 'Sopranos'? -- so TNT ... has put it on the shelf and locked the cupboard door. (TNT did the same thing with 'Bull,' a Wall Street drama that got good reviews but was benched after half a season.)

"The problem is that there isn't a clear-cut hero in 'Breaking News.' It's about journalists who work at a CNN-style cable-news channel called I-24. Sometimes they do incredibly heroic things, sometimes they do the sorts of things that cause us to loathe TV news. The irony is that the series is compelling, authentic and beautifully written. The characters are flawed, the dialogue is wholly believable and the women don't dress like hookers. In short: a fat slice of reality, packaged as fiction."

It's been almost 10 months since I saw those episodes, so the images are a little fuzzy. I do remember an appealing ensemble -- including Tim Matheson, Lisa Ann Walter, Jeffrey Sams, Clancy Brown, Patricia Wettig, Scott Bairstow -- and honest scripts willing to take viewers beyond the white hat/black hat dramatic construct.


	The cast of "Breaking News": Clancy Brown, Rowena King, Paul Adelstein, Tim Matheson, Mindy Crist (standing front), Gabrielle Miller (standing back center), Lisa Ann Walter, Scott Bairstow (seated front), Jeffrey D. Sams, Vincent Gale (New Line Television/Christain Landry). Click for larger photo

Gardner Stern, one of the show's creators, reconfirmed this in a brief chat Tuesday.

"Is there a character who's always right?" he said. "No. Which is why, ironically enough, Bravo is a better fit for this show than TNT. A lot of TNT's programming falls into a simpler sort of structure. There are good guys and bad guys, and the good guys always win. This is a little more thought-provoking."

Bravo will show "Breaking News" on Wednesdays at 8 p.m., beginning July 17. That's great news, but would it consider putting the series back into production?

"From what I've heard, Bravo is open to the idea," Stern said. "I would be thrilled. I've spoken to a few cast members and they've expressed interest in re-upping if that were to occur. ... Who knows? Wackier things have happened."

Stern heard right. Frances Berwick, senior vice president of programming and production at Bravo, says Bravo will consider producing new episodes "if the series is a big hit."

No indication what "big hit" means, but Berwick is clearly hoping to draw viewers who are engaged and informed.

"Smart, inquisitive audiences who are naturally drawn to the day's events will also be drawn to this captivating drama," Berwick said. "It's compelling, dramatic television at its realistic best, and we're pleased that viewers will see it first on Bravo."

Stern admits the events of Sept. 11 may have helped "Breaking News" get a second look.

"In the last six months the topicality of the news business is more pervasive than ever," he said. "There is an increased interest in the news media and not just because of momentous events that have taken place. ... There's interest in people who report the news, not just the news itself."

Truth is, the timeliness is eerie. Stern says one episode features a character whose appearance was patterned after Osama bin Laden. This, on a series that began production in October 2000 and wrapped a year ago this month.

While it's easy to dismiss TV newspeople as narcissistic knuckleheads when they say or do something stupid on the air, "Breaking News" offers ample evidence that they're not all so one-dimensional.

"Our characters are after telling the truth," Stern said, "but they're in a profession that demands an incredible amount of their time and their personal lives, and they're trying to keep up with that treadmill as it goes faster and faster."

You'd think the ethical wrestling match that arises when journalism collides with urgency would make for poignant programming. Obviously, TNT thought otherwise.

But New Line Television, a division of New Line Cinema, kept looking for a home and, to the delight of this viewer who's tired of the narcissistic knuckleheads looking to become famous on "reality" shows, it found one.

Bravo for Bravo.

John Levesque is the P-I's television critic. Call him at 206-448-8330 or send e-mail to tvguy@seattlepi.com.

Add P-I TV headlines to