Editor’s Letter: Autumn Arguments

By John P. Ourand

Each September, I get into arguments with Seth Arenstein and Paul Maxwell. That's the time when the three of us first start putting together the CableFAX 100 list. We have meetings where we each bring our own industry views to the table.

This year was no different, with the most spirited debate centering on where to place HBO's executives. One argument was that HBO should drop significantly. After all, Sex and the City is over; The Sopranos is on hiatus; and newer series like Deadwood and Carnivàle haven't matched the critical and popular acclaim of older series like Six Feet Under and Curb Your Enthusiasm.

The counterargument was that HBO should be near the top because it still has the best programming on television by far. Consider the network's 124 Emmy nominations this year. The network wound up collecting 32 Emmy Awards last month, three times more than the next-most-honored network. (We should all have such down years!)

Check out the CableFAX 100 this December to see which argument wins out.

A distant No. 2 to HBO, Showtime is using HBO's playbook in the hopes of beating them in the premium game. That means creating an environment that appeals to the creative community and leads to high-quality programming. Showtime Networks chairman Matt Blank, himself a former HBO exec, hired Bob Greenblatt (a TV legend who developed The Sopranos and Six Feet Under) to transform the network from a purveyor of late-night soft-core schlock (like Red Shoe Diaries) to a home for potential Emmy winners.

Time will tell if the network's development slate (including drama pilots Hate, Brotherhood and The Cell) is radically different from such "No Limits" staples as Queer as Folk (which returns for its final season next year). But Greenblatt's first effort at changing this perception, the drama series Huff, is a great start. Shirley Brady, who screened the first eight episodes, describes the series as "heartbreaking, hilarious, whip-smart and addictive."

This kind of high-quality original programming should attract new subscribers and bring more attention to the entire pay cable category. And that's good news for cable.

On another topic, we got a lot of feedback from our Sept. 20 issue listing cable's top 50 minorities, including people who questioned why we would have a horse on the cover. (It was an ad!) The most significant complaint came from Starz SVP corporate communications, Tom Southwick, who e-mailed: "Top 50 most influential minorities in cable doesn't include John Sie?" (Next year, we'll add a "Top 50 Retired" issue just for him...)