Buzz is building that Lifetime Entertainment Services is moving closer to settling on its post-Carole Black management team. Sources said that Rick Haskins, executive vp and general manager at Lifetime, is expected to advance to a new post overseeing programming. Lifetime has been without a programming chief since Barbara Fisher exited her post as executive vp and head of programming at the female-targeted cable network in June. Haskins is understood to have already assumed some of Fisher's duties during the past few months. Meanwhile, sources say that the board of directors that oversees Lifetime, jointly owned by the Walt Disney Co. and Hearst Corp., is winnowing its search for a new president and CEO to replace Black, who last year announced her plan to exit at the end of her contract in March (HR 11/9). Deborah Blackwell, general manager of the Disney-owned SOAPnet cabler, is understood to be on the Lifetime board's shortlist of candidates to succeed Black. Lifetime declined comment Thursday.
Lifetime will deal a second season of Wild Card, one of two drama series in the femme-targeted network's primetime Saturday block. Starring Joely Fisher, Card will return to its 9 p.m. time slot this summer, where it averaged over 2.1 million total viewers--on par with the two-hour movie block it replaced. Lifetime ordered 18 episodes. "We are extremely excited to bring back 'Wild Card' as part of our Saturday night line-up," said Barbara Fisher, executive VP, entertainment. "Our viewers have told us that they connect and respond to these very identifiable characters by coming back each and every Saturday." Still to be determined is the fate of 10 p.m. drama 1-800-Missing, which debuted alongside Card last year. Card is a produced by Busiek Prods. with Fireworks Entertainment. Doug Steinberg (Boston Public) is executive producer and Lynn Marie Latham and Bernard Lechowick (That's Life) are co-creators.
- 2/26/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Lifetime Television has picked the two mystery-themed shows that will anchor its bid to launch a new night of original series programming later this year: 1-800-Missing, starring Gloria Reuben, and Wild Card, starring Joely Fisher. After producing four drama pilots this year, Lifetime has given 13-episode pickups to Missing, from Lions Gate TV, and Wild Card, from Fireworks Entertainment. At Lifetime's upfront presentation to advertisers this month, executive vp entertainment Barbara Fisher said the network intended to launch in August a second night of series programming, possibly on Saturdays (HR 4/3). Lifetime has long sought to open another front for original series to build off the success the network has had Sundays with original dramas Strong Medicine and The Division. Missing features former ER star Reuben as an FBI detective who teams with a psychic to solve missing-persons cases. Wild Card stars Fisher as a blackjack dealer who becomes an insurance-fraud investigator.
- 4/29/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
NEW YORK -- Lifetime said Thursday that it will launch a second night of original series, investing $800 million in program development during the next two years. With two new hourlong dramas headed to Saturday and three new reality series joining the schedule, the cable network boasted its biggest slate yet at its upfront presentation at the Grand Hyatt in Manhattan. "They're all engaging stories with women who have complex relationships," executive vp entertainment Barbara Fisher said. "They're exactly what our viewers want to watch." With Sunday stocked with returning dramas The Division and Strong Medicine, Lifetime will choose two new series from a pool of four mystery-themed pilots developed for Saturday. They are 1-800-Missing, which features ER star Gloria Reuben as an FBI detective who teams with a psychic (Lions Gate Television); Follow the Leeds, which stars Sharon Lawrence and Marsha Mason as two members of a family of private investigators (Lifetime); Nick and Shelly, which focuses on a divorced couple played by Julie Warner and Adrian Pasdar who solve crimes together (Sony Pictures Television); and Wild Card, which stars Joely Fisher as a blackjack dealer who becomes an insurance-fraud investigator (Fireworks Entertainment).
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