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With Mad Men and Breaking Bad winding down, I wonder if AMC can maintain it. They seem to have garnered the reputation of being hard on showrunners (Both Matthe

With Mad Men and Breaking Bad winding down, I wonder if AMC can maintain it. They seem to have garnered the reputation of being hard on showrunners (Both Matthew Weiner and Vince Gilligan have had issues with the network). Walking Dead is on it's third showrunner. Another network, FX, seems to be trying the HBO/AMC model in getting quality programming and is going out of their way to appear showrunner friendly. It'll be interesting to see if they can capitalize on some of AMC's missteps in nickel-and-diming their own shows.

jmharvey 13y ago
I was under the impression that FX gave showrunners more freedom, but a tighter budget.
colmvp 13y ago
You pretty much wrote what I was going to say. AMC hit it's Golden Age of TV programming with that trio, but clearly have shown that they have issues with the handling of heavy creative talent, what with the issues that Weiner and Gilligan have publicly had, and the volatility of the showrunner position on the Walking Dead. (which subsequently also resulted in one of the actors leaving the show). On top of that, they expanded the number of episodes of S4 while reducing the budget per episode. And of course, milked the coverage of these shows with vacuous Talking Bad/Talking Dead. I wouldn't be surprised if talented writers avoided that network like the plague.
- mjolk 13y ago
  >which subsequently also resulted in one of the actors leaving the show Which actor is this?
  - insteadof 13y ago
    Jon Bernthal. Whose character was already outliving what the creators were planning.
- jcampbell1 13y ago
  AMC is also in a tough spot. They don't have the revenue to support the creative folks properly. The long lag between great content and an increase in the affiliate fee, makes the financials tricky. The death of DVD sales is not helping much either, as there is less to promise on the backend. I think AMC gets $.35 per subscriber compared to ~$5 for ESPN. It is going take decades of hit shows before AMC is paid the $1-2 they actually deserve.
  - latj 13y ago
    Hopefully eventually its a la carte. I'd pay $2/mo for AMC. I dont need the ESPN. The problem though is there sister channels. IFC is good but I could leave the rest.
    - MikeCapone 13y ago
      That is what John Malone thinks will happen (de-bundling). http://www.cnbc.com/id/100637283 http://www.cnbc.com/id/100637283
    - s_q_b 13y ago
      My bet is that TV-over-IP eats the market before de-bundling occurs. In terms of cost, distribution, quality, and ease-of-use, digital downloads beat cable every time. The only piece of the puzzle networks still own is content production. With House Of Cards and Arrested Development, Netflix made a strong entry into the TV-making club, and struck the first blow against that monopoly. In my view, we're two innovations away from internet tv for the masses: independent content production that can rival the networks for quality, and an easy-to-use streaming box to supply it. The latter is easily possible with technology on the market right now (Roku, Apple TV, etc.), and the former seems all but inevitable.
      - mason55 13y ago
        The tough part about that for the networks is building out the infrastructure and giving up all the free advertising that the cable companies give them. By packaging their content as a standalone service, a la HBO Go, they've now given up being bundled in tiers with other networks. And they've got to build out their own delivery networks & apps. Or... they can join up with groups of other networks, create a service that advertises and bundles networks together and takes care of all the infrastructure. Shit. We just built cable again.
L_Rahman 13y ago
Initial reviews of one of the shows poised to take over the mantle of Mad Men and Breaking Bad - Low Winter Sun - have been negative all around. AMC seems to be trying to replicate the formula that made those two shows so successful, but in doing so have somehow created an empty shell that has no resonance with the audience. It's looking like it might take a while before AMC finds itself a winner again. The channel that seems to be poised to take up the mantle is FX. John Landgraf, the CEO, is one of the few executives who seems to really care about the quality of the shows he's responsible for. Justified is easily among the top tier of shows airing today. Louie is most likely the first of an entirely new genre of autobiographical shows that blend drama and comedy. The Americans is one of the best shows to premiere in 2013. They might just have a shot at this if they could only pick up some awards attention.
dragonwriter 13y ago
> Another network, FX, seems to be trying the HBO/AMC model in getting quality programming and is going out of their way to appear showrunner friendly. It'll be interesting to see if they can capitalize on some of AMC's missteps in nickel-and-diming their own shows. Hasn't FX been trying for the quality-original-programming thing for over a decade (at least since "The Shield" in 2002), with limited success? There's also probably a certain degree of tension between being "showrunner friendly" and being concerned with "quality programming".

jmharvey 13y ago

I was under the impression that FX gave showrunners more freedom, but a tighter budget.

colmvp 13y ago

You pretty much wrote what I was going to say. AMC hit it's Golden Age of TV programming with that trio, but clearly have shown that they have issues with the handling of heavy creative talent, what with the issues that Weiner and Gilligan have publicly had, and the volatility of the showrunner position on the Walking Dead. (which subsequently also resulted in one of the actors leaving the show). On top of that, they expanded the number of episodes of S4 while reducing the budget per episode. And of course, milked the coverage of these shows with vacuous Talking Bad/Talking Dead. I wouldn't be surprised if talented writers avoided that network like the plague.

mjolk 13y ago
>which subsequently also resulted in one of the actors leaving the show Which actor is this?
- insteadof 13y ago
  Jon Bernthal. Whose character was already outliving what the creators were planning.
jcampbell1 13y ago
AMC is also in a tough spot. They don't have the revenue to support the creative folks properly. The long lag between great content and an increase in the affiliate fee, makes the financials tricky. The death of DVD sales is not helping much either, as there is less to promise on the backend. I think AMC gets $.35 per subscriber compared to ~$5 for ESPN. It is going take decades of hit shows before AMC is paid the $1-2 they actually deserve.
- latj 13y ago
  Hopefully eventually its a la carte. I'd pay $2/mo for AMC. I dont need the ESPN. The problem though is there sister channels. IFC is good but I could leave the rest.
  - MikeCapone 13y ago
    That is what John Malone thinks will happen (de-bundling). http://www.cnbc.com/id/100637283 http://www.cnbc.com/id/100637283
  - s_q_b 13y ago
    My bet is that TV-over-IP eats the market before de-bundling occurs. In terms of cost, distribution, quality, and ease-of-use, digital downloads beat cable every time. The only piece of the puzzle networks still own is content production. With House Of Cards and Arrested Development, Netflix made a strong entry into the TV-making club, and struck the first blow against that monopoly. In my view, we're two innovations away from internet tv for the masses: independent content production that can rival the networks for quality, and an easy-to-use streaming box to supply it. The latter is easily possible with technology on the market right now (Roku, Apple TV, etc.), and the former seems all but inevitable.
    - mason55 13y ago
      The tough part about that for the networks is building out the infrastructure and giving up all the free advertising that the cable companies give them. By packaging their content as a standalone service, a la HBO Go, they've now given up being bundled in tiers with other networks. And they've got to build out their own delivery networks & apps. Or... they can join up with groups of other networks, create a service that advertises and bundles networks together and takes care of all the infrastructure. Shit. We just built cable again.

L_Rahman 13y ago

Initial reviews of one of the shows poised to take over the mantle of Mad Men and Breaking Bad - Low Winter Sun - have been negative all around. AMC seems to be trying to replicate the formula that made those two shows so successful, but in doing so have somehow created an empty shell that has no resonance with the audience. It's looking like it might take a while before AMC finds itself a winner again. The channel that seems to be poised to take up the mantle is FX. John Landgraf, the CEO, is one of the few executives who seems to really care about the quality of the shows he's responsible for. Justified is easily among the top tier of shows airing today. Louie is most likely the first of an entirely new genre of autobiographical shows that blend drama and comedy. The Americans is one of the best shows to premiere in 2013. They might just have a shot at this if they could only pick up some awards attention.

dragonwriter 13y ago

> Another network, FX, seems to be trying the HBO/AMC model in getting quality programming and is going out of their way to appear showrunner friendly. It'll be interesting to see if they can capitalize on some of AMC's missteps in nickel-and-diming their own shows. Hasn't FX been trying for the quality-original-programming thing for over a decade (at least since "The Shield" in 2002), with limited success? There's also probably a certain degree of tension between being "showrunner friendly" and being concerned with "quality programming".