AmericanLife TV Network

World Screen Weekly, September 21, 2006

YEAR IT LAUNCHED: 1985 (The channel launched as Nostalgia Television; its name changed to AmericanLife in March 2005)

OWNERSHIP: Crown Communications, Inc.

NUMBER OF SUBSCRIBERS: The channel has more than 10 million in the U.S.

DESCRIPTION: AmericanLife TV Network is the only independently owned network that targets the baby-boomer generation. The schedule is broken into two parts, with lifestyle shows during the day and classic TV shows in the evening. The channel targets viewers between the ages of 42 and 65.

PRESIDENT AND COO: Lawrence R. Meli

VP OF PROGRAMMING: Mark Ringwald

PROGRAMMING STRATEGY: “We’ve tried to create a channel for individuals who are in the 42-to-65 age range, and program not just one genre of programming,” says Mark Ringwald, the VP of programming at AmericanLife. "We present a blend of programming for that audience, including lifestyle, information and entertainment.”

The channel’s most popular lifestyle series is Fixing Dinner, in which host Sandi Richard helps families by organizing their schedule, their kitchen and their cooking habits, so they can all sit down to dinner together. The vintage programs, which are organized each evening by theme (American Soldier, Private Eyes, Secret Agents, American Family, etc.), all have their own individual fan bases, but Ringwald notes that the American Solider (Combat, The Gallant Men, China Beach) and Private Eyes (77 Sunset Strip, Harry O, Hawaiian Eye) blocks do exceptionally well. As does the weekly airing of The Color Honeymooners, a series of hour-length shows done from 1967 to 1970 as special episodes of The Jackie Gleason Show. “These shows ran back then, and never ran again, until we picked up the series,” declares Ringwald. The cult group that has formed around The Honeymooners has made its approval known to the network, says Ringwald, as have other fan followings for vintage series—“I’ve heard from fans for almost every series you can imagine. We try to respond to every email we get, and I get a copy of all the viewer requests. If a viewer gets me on the phone, though, I can wind up spending half an hour making notes as they move through the catalogue of classic TV shows.”

Ringwald understands where the fans’ fervor comes from. “These are the programs they grew up with and remember affectionately. People email us about the fact that they have trouble finding something on television they want to watch, and particularly something they’d want to watch with their kids.” The channel has a major deal with Warner Bros. Television library, according to Ringwald, “but we’ve done deals with all the major U.S. studios.”

One lifestyle series ties neatly into the nostalgia vibe the channel taps into: Graham Kerr’s Kitchen. The show features the one-time “Galloping Gourmet” offering healthy alternative dishes to the high-fat, high-calorie classics he used to prepare on TV in the 1960s. “Kerr is actually the perfect icon for boomers,” declares Ringwald. “He used to make all these fattening, French-type foods, and now he makes all this healthy stuff because he, like the boomers themselves, is starting to look at cholesterol and fat intake.” Thus viewers can reminisce about the irrepressible chef from the ’60s while watching what Ringwald refers to as “the new and revised Graham Kerr.”

WHAT’S NEW: AmericanLife is currently producing a series of specials called Moments that Changed Us, which focus on what Ringwald calls “signature moments” in history that are of interest to boomers. Hosted by veteran journalist Nick Clooney, each program presents an in-depth interview with a participant in an event in order to offer a fresh perspective on it. John Glenn is interviewed in the episode premiering on Sunday, October 15, which focuses on the space race in the 1960s. Past installments have featured Walter Cronkite reflecting on the trip to Vietnam that changed his perspective on the War, and Diahann Carroll discussing her groundbreaking series Julia.

Ringwald also stresses that the channel is looking for more reality series that “present drama, but also information.” The Canadian series Till Debt Do U$ Part, which debuts on September 17 and will subsequently air three days a week (Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 1:30 p.m. and 6:00 p.m.), offers just that, as financial expert Gail Vaz-Oxlade helps couples out of their financial troubles. “She also looks at the reasons they got into trouble, trying to change the shape of their relationship as much as change their finances,” stresses Ringwald.

HOT TOPICS IN THE MARKET: The AmericanLifeTV.com website was recently revamped to include greater interactivity with viewers. Darlene Chapman-Holmes, the channel’s VP of marketing, notes the changes include “short streaming video clips of all of our shows, information for affiliates and the most important thing, the programming element, where viewers can find information about the shows and see what episodes are coming up.” Chapman-Holmes also points to a recent multi-year VOD services deal with TVN Entertainment. The agreement will allow cable operators to include AmericanLife content in their on-demand offerings.

WEBSITE: www.americanlifetv.com