Ovation Boosts Original Programming Slate

NEW YORK: Ovation has nine new original series coming to its summer and fall schedules, including the U.S. premiere of A Young Doctor’s Notebook, starring Jon Hamm and Daniel Radcliffe.

Around 236 hours of original content is being produced for Ovation in 2013, compared to the 46 hours it produced in 2012. That previous 46 hours was double the amount of original content in 2011.

Among the new series that Ovation will premiere are The Kuhnert Chronicles, hosted by the Harvard professor and classical theater director Flynn Kuhnert and his sister Tara Kuhnert. The weekly series is hosted from Flynn Kuhnert’s own art-filled Beverly Hills mansion and explores art history. The Art of… looks at the many creative pursuits that may or may not be regarded as "art." Culture Pop features interviews, field reports, commentary and user-generated content to look at the events and personalities emerging in various creative fields. Cinema Confidential will watch as Hollywood heavyweights—including Brad Pitt, Judd Apatow, George Clooney and others—explain the genesis of their projects, the challenges they faced and much more. A Young Doctor’s Notebook was produced by the BBC and makes its U.S. premiere exclusively on Ovation. It is based on the book by Mikhail Bulgakov.

Four more originals will be announced next month.

The network also has 16 projects in "fast-track" development. These include Extreme Art, looking at the lengths that artists go to to create their extreme art; The Mentor, in which successful artists in every medium pay tribute to those who were instrumental in their formative years; Pickup Artists, which sifts through dumpsters for discarded treasures; and Confessions of a Gallerista, lifting the lid on the elite who frequent gallery openings and events.

"This is truly a historic moment for Ovation. Art is in the DNA of everything we do," said Robert Weiss, Ovation’s chief creative officer. "We are literally taking our number of original programming hours and boosting them by over 400 percent. With this seismic shift in our programming focus, we are making the leap to become a full-service arts network—America’s only arts network."