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Mike Reynolds
In sizing up the prospects for Queer as Folk and The Chris Isaak Show, Showtime's Jerry Offsay is upbeat.
Showtime is importing Queer as Folk, a new dramatic series debuting in December, the idea for which is based on a controversial show that aired on Britain's Channel 4. Stateside, the Showtime series will examine the lives and relationships of a group of gay men and lesbians living in Pittsburgh.
"You know we didn't want to the 40th doctor series or the 30th lawyer series," says Offsay, the network's president-programming. "We want to present viewers with something they haven't seen before and that they can't see anywhere else but Showtime."
Still, tackling such subject matter doesn't come without risks. "I don't know if the American audience is going to be up to it; the English are much more accustomed to gay performers and accepting of gay lifestyles," says Offsay. "On the flip side, I think viewers are going to be a little bit curious about gays living in society. We think viewers are interested in seeing how colleagues, neighbors and friends go about their business and spend their weekends."
Meanwhile, The Chris Isaak Show, slated for a March 2001 premiere, will take viewers behind the scenes of the rock star's life. The series features Isaak portraying himself, along with his band, who will mix with an ensemble of created characters.
"The show will meld fact with fiction, whatever works best," explains Offsay. "It will be a case where people will be saying, 'Did he really go out with that woman,' or 'Did Isaak have an affair with that one when he was filming that video.' I've seen three scripts, and they are just hilarious. The show has a certain Northern Exposure-type of sensibility and humor to it."
Offsay says Isaak, perhaps best-known for his steamy single and video Wicked Game, has quite a built-in following. "His albums sell 500,000 600,000 copies, so he's within that record-hanging-on-the-wall category, and people know him from various television appearances. We could have had Chris Isaak playing rock star Jack Schwartz. That a lot of people recognize and know Chris isn't a bad thing."
HBO DOCU HBO Sports will serve up a half-dozen of its award-winning "Sports of the 20th Century" documentaries in July and August. The premium network will air the six films Mondays at 7 p.m. beginning July 24 with Sports of the Silver Screen. Fists of Freedom: The Story of the '68 Summer Games, winner of a 2000 Sports Emmy and George F. Peabody Award, airs July 31 followed by: Reflections of Ice: A Day of Ladies Figure Skating, Aug. 7; Spirit of the Game, Aug. 14; the Emmy Award-winning Howard Cosell: Telling It Like It Is, Aug. 21; and Rebels with a Cause: The Story of the American Football League, Aug. 28.
HISTORY IQ The History Channel will launch History IQ, a daily half-hour quiz show, Oct. 2 at 7:30 p.m. Hosted by Marc Summers, the show follows the network's quarterly special The Great American History Quiz. More intellectually-challenging than game shows of recent ilk, viewers can play along via the Internet in real time and also have the opportunity to win prizes.
GAME SHOW GROWTH Adding nearly 900,000 subscribers in June, Game Show Network's universe has reached 26.7M households, according to Nielsen Media Research. On a full-year basis - July 1999 through June - GSN added 8.85M households, making it the fifth-fastest growing cable network.
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