Elizabeth Guider Reports: CBS Studios Promises Series with Mass Appeal

LOS ANGELES: CBS Studios International stressed the broad appeal of its new shows, including A Gifted Man with Patrick Wilson, in its presentation to buyers yesterday, reports Elizabeth Guider from the L.A. Screenings.

Patrick Wilson as a high-flying neuro surgeon who periodically communes with the ghost of his ex-wife…

And why not?

The actor is easy on the eye, the story is uplifting—and yes, foreign buyers do care: It’s on a network Stateside that has been delivering the goods bigtime for several years.

That was one of the more prevalent reactions Wednesday morning to CBS Studios International’s slate of new prime-time series, and certainly with the females among the 350-odd foreign buyers on hand the Wilson vehicle A Gifted Man went over like hot (beef) cakes.

"It was very watchable. We’re considering it," said Vicki Pacis, a key buyer for the Filipino network GMA, who has attended six annual Screenings events. She and her buying team (all women) also appreciated the Sarah Michelle Gellar topliner Ringer, which showcases the Buffy star in a bravura double role. That drama is destined for the young female-skewing The CW Stateside.

Similarly, buyers from Fiji—the tiny island boasts a couple of stations and is about to get a third competitor—also warmed to A Gifted Man as well as to the rockie cop drama The 2-2, which boasts Robert De Niro among its executive producers and is focused on the personal lives of the characters as well as on the street crimes they handle.

"We will do some buying here," Fiji TV’s Karen Lobendahm told World Screen Newsflash. "Our audience loves broad appeal family programming in our 7 p.m. slot and action later in the evening. We have seen several things that fit this, from CBS and a few other studios."

At the distributor’s morning session Wednesday on the Paramount lot, Armando Nuñez, the president of CBS Studios International, put the accent on the Eye network’s impressive delivery of broad-appeal shows—both the juggernauts CSI and NCIS and more recent winners like Hawaii Five-0, The Good Wife and Blue Bloods. (All the aforesaid are produced or co-produced by CBS and licensed internationally by Nuñez’s division.)

"At CBS, we don’t rebuild: We reload," Nuñez quipped, adding that the Eye’s energy on so many evenings made him wish there were actually an eighth night to the week to program.

"With us at CBS," he later told World Screen Newsflash, "it’s about mass appeal and coming up with shows that have staying power."

The global market, Nuñez added, is continuing to recuperate—"it’s still spotty and troubling here and there but overall…"—and he contends buyers have been largely receptive and appreciative of the new offerings here at the week-long Screenings.

Veteran buyer John Ranelagh, the head of acquisitions at TV 2 Norway, thinks CBS has been "masterful" in sticking to its programming guns, delivering broad entertainment rather than chasing the latest fad.

"Plus, I really like that so many, shall I say, older female stars, are finding meaty roles on television in the U.S., noticeably on CBS but elsewhere as well," Ranelagh added.

Still, taking risks is important too. "It’s about being edgy at times, without going over the edge," Ranelagh said.

As for what the male buyers encountered Wednesday, or, more importantly, those buyers who represent male-skewing channels abroad, there is arguably less to choose from at this Screenings event. That could bode well for a few of the better-received action-oriented dramas, as prices tend to escalate if and when competitive bidding breaks out.

So far though there’s little sign of a free-for-all.

There are signs, however, that the 1,250 buyers in attendance are getting bleary-eyed and forgetful after so many marathon viewing sessions: CBS execs advised the assembled Wednesday to be alert to their belongings since some folks from earlier groups who had sat through viewing sessions in the theater had left behind, variously, an iPad, a cell phone, car keys, a credit card, and even a passport!

With the Screenings beginning now to wind down, none of the major Hollywood studios has seen fit to announce any deals; nor have any of the key buyers.

In short, this Screenings is likely to be remembered as one of the safer such sales bazaars, where sassy but accessible laffers outshined actioners and where empowered female characters of all types and ages upstaged or outwitted their male counterparts.

Except maybe Patrick Wilson and a few others.