TV Stats: 'Better Call Saul' Ends What 'Breaking Bad' Started
This week, AMC aired the final episode of the hit series “Better Call Saul” to much fanfare. The series ran for six seasons, and was a spinoff of the genre-defining “Breaking Bad” that premiered in 2008 and ended in 2013. During the run of both shows, the TV marketplace has transformed and delivered more new shows year over year than have ever been seen before.
OWN's 'Queen Sugar' Has Been Sweet for All-Female Crews
The all-female-directed show, "Queen Sugar," which airs on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), presented a special session earlier this week during the Television Critics Association's virtual summer press tour. "Queen Sugar," which has won two NAACP Image Awards and received praise from critics for its racially progressive themes, revolves around the lives of three siblings who move back to rural Louisiana after their father passes away and leaves his sugarcane farm behind. As the series heads into its seventh and final season, the CTAM-hosted panel explored the show's commitment to exclusively
Cable TV Networks Focus on Breaking Gender Stereotypes
Television has always played an important role in helping to move the needle on societal issues, and challenging female inequality and harmful gender stereotypes is one of them. Cable TV networks have been and continue to come out with powerful programming that spotlight women in unique ways, casting them not only in leading roles but in ones that defy the conventional norms that audiences were once used to seeing on the screen. From AMC's "Killing Eve," which featured an Asian American woman (Sandra Oh) in the leading role as an MI5 agent opposite another powerful female lead, to HBO's "Big
TV Stats: Excellence in Cable Programming
Last week, the Television Academy announced the nominees for the upcoming 74th Primetime Emmy Awards. Taking place on September 12, 2022, the Emmys will showcase excellence on the small screen, reflecting the wide variety of viewing platforms and options available to consumers. As more and more TV shows are created, this means more job opportunities are available at all levels, from key grip to head writer.
National Geographic's 10th 'SharkFest' Brings Diverse Voices to the Table
July brings with it hot summer weather, swimming pools, beaches, and … SHARKS! Thanks to cable TV networks like Warner Bros. Discovery and National Geographic, people around the world have learned more about these fascinating underwater creatures and dispelled many myths that have given them a bad reputation. Warner Bros. Discovery was a pioneer when it began its robust programming around sharks over three decades ago with its production of SHARK WEEK, which has turned into a cultural phenomenon. SHARK WEEK premieres its 34th annual production on July 24, and Warner Bros. Discovery continues
AMC’s “Dark Winds” Features Native American Perspectives, On and Off the Screen
This summer, AMC and AMC+ premiered “Dark Winds,” an adaptation of the Leaphorn & Chee novel series written by Tony Hillerman. The series follows two Navajo police officers, Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee, in the 1970s southwest as they investigate a series of crimes plaguing Navajo Nation. At the Television Critics Association (TCA) press tour earlier this year, the team behind AMC’s latest hit talked about what the series meant to them and how they hoped the project would resonate with audiences in a way that westerns hadn’t before. “Dark Winds” has been decades in the making as Robert Redford
'All Rise' Finds a New Beginning on OWN
For two seasons, the legal drama series, "All Rise," which is based around Los Angeles judges, prosecutors, and public defenders working for justice, aired on CBS before its cancellation last year. But earlier this month, the show found a new home on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) when season three premiered, much to the delight of the show's loyal fan base and its new audience on OWN. With a Black female lead starring as a judge and former deputy district attorney, the show already had a lot of promise to push gender boundaries and to challenge social injustice. Now on a cable network, the
Honoring Juneteenth on TV
This Sunday, America will come together to celebrate Juneteenth, the second federal observance of the holiday that commemorates the emancipation of enslaved African Americans from Galveston Texas—the last state in the country with enslaved people—and which dates back to 1865, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued by President Abraham Lincoln. In honor of the holiday, cable TV networks have produced powerful programming to not only educate viewers about what this moment in history meant for America, but to spotlight and celebrate African American culture in
TV Stats: LGBTQ+ Representation on TV
Pride Month celebrations are underway, and as LGBTQ+ communities find themselves up against new waves of homophobia and transphobia, their stories remain as vital and valuable as ever. For decades, cable TV has been an important platform to tell LGBTQ+ stories. From the creation of the first LGBTQ+ focused network (Logo), to featuring groundbreaking series like “The L Word” and “Pose,” cable has been at the forefront of inclusive programming even at times when many other platforms were hesitant to feature these stories. Given its strong track record, let’s take a look at where the cable TV
TV Networks Focus on LGBTQ+ History for Pride Month and Beyond
Pride Month is here, and TV networks are celebrating the LGBTQ+ community with special programs, documentaries, and new shows that not only spotlight people who identify as LGBTQ+, but that explore how this community has been treated throughout history, in the media, and in today's culture. TV networks are offering curated programming, including AMC+'s "Stream with Pride," HBO Max's "LGBTQ+ voices" collection, and NBCUniversal's "Pride Is Universal: Better Together" campaign, that feature breakthrough shows for the LGBTQ+ community over the last couple of decades. And one programming event to