Granada America Gets Real

February 2, 2009 World Screen

Cable has been dominating the U.S. TV landscape as of late, and Granada America has been a strong force in stocking channels such as A&E, HGTV, CMT and MTV with high-quality docu-series and reality formats. Among them, The First 48 has captured audience attention for eight seasons by presenting real-life homicide detectives and crime-scene investigators from around the country. Gritty and fast-paced, the show gives viewers unprecedented access to autopsies, forensic processing and interrogations—the same makings of the hit network crime procedurals but with the rawness of actual events. And Granada America is serving up more for fans of the series, with 20 episodes currently in post-production for a ninth season and another 20 planned for season ten. 


"I think that strong ratings and formats have kept our productions going," says Patrice Andrews, who heads up Granada America’s development, production and operations out of New York. "The First 48 on A&E has had incredibly strong ratings—season eight’s premiere on January 1 saw some of the highest ratings in the series’ history!" Following on the show’s success, Granada America developed a 4×1-hour companion series that looks at cases after their initial airing on The First 48. 


Also for A&E, Steven Seagal: Lawman is a brand-new series from Granada America that looks at the action legend’s work in the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s office in Louisiana. Seagal’s movies have grossed more than $2 billion worldwide, and now viewers will get the chance to see that he’s not just an action hero on the big screen. The series puts fans in the passenger seat as Seagal and his hand-selected elite team of deputies respond to crimes-in-progress. Then, when Seagal goes off-duty, the cameras continue to follow him as he pursues his many ventures, including musical performances and philanthropic efforts. 

Granada America also recently announced a deal to produce eight original episodes of the hit reality series Nanny 911 for CMT, following the series’ jump to cable after three seasons on FOX. With production already under way, the new episodes will reunite the original nannies Deborah Carroll and Stella Reid as they teach the do’s and don’ts of child-rearing. 

Meanwhile, Room Raiders is returning to MTV for an eighth season of 20 half-hour episodes, following a two-year hiatus. "The strength of the format in its previous seven seasons got us a greenlight for 2009, but we’re putting a spin on the format to contemporize it for a new MTV audience who’s hooked on social network sites and cell phones," explains Andrews. "We think it’s a great reincarnation of the series and are hopeful that the new season will help anchor a new afternoon block on MTV and will bring us many seasons to come."

The series, which features adolescents choosing their dates based on exploring their bedrooms, has Granada America looking at a host of other platforms as well. "A network like MTV has a natural outgrowth of new media for their audience and Room Raiders has incorporated new media into the creative and the new-media folks at MTV have thrown out a number of great ideas about how to support the series on their Internet site that will essentially give viewers a way to play along with the show. 

"I think that a lot of cable networks are trying to figure out how to get their 25- to 54-year-old audience from the TV set to the computer," Andrews says of the increase in cross-platform initiatives. "We have created a lot of short-form pieces alongside The First 48 and other commissions. But our business is steeped in ‘old’ media first with an eye to ‘new’ media in the coming pitches. Our goal is to create a complete package when we pitch rather than create new media as an add-on after the show has aired. That complete package could include pieces for the Internet like webisodes along with mobisodes (for mobile phones) and games."