Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 24, 1994 TAG: 9403030003
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: PATRICIA BRENNAN THE WASHINGTON POST
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Its audience still is, and always has been, women.
"Everybody wants to sell to women," said programming and production chief Judy Girard. But, she added, "There's not a `women's point of view,' there's not a `women's experience.'''
So, how to get a diverse group to tune in? The answer is "branding," she said.
" `Branding' is the word for the '90s," she continued. "It seems that the very first thing that determines whether someone is going to pick your network is how it appears in the menu. People have to preselect in their minds where they're going first, which means your branding has to be very astutely done.
"MTV, for example, aims at the audience from 18 to 24. Because of the defined audience that they were going after, they ended up with a branding that's really quite strong. What we're setting out to do is the programming that gets us there. It truly is the key that unlocks the cable kingdom."
To begin, said Girard, the service will strengthen its daytime menu with soaps, shows for preschoolers and their mothers, and a program similar to ABC's "Home." It's also looking for a late-night weeknight talk show and will continue producing original movies.
Last month Lifetime rolled out two new Sunday offerings, "Lifetime Magazine," anchored by Lisa McRee, formerly of ABC's overnight "World News Now," and "Clapprood Live," a live talk show hosted by former Massachusetts legislator Marjorie Clapprood, who also ran for lieutenant governor.
What some find interesting is that female-oriented Lifetime is headed by a man, Douglas W. McCormick, president and chief operating officer of Hearst/ABC-Viacom Entertainment Services, the venture that owns and operates Lifetime.
McCormick was there at Lifetime's birth, second in command to its first chief, Thomas F. Burchill. The service was created by the merger of Daytime, a four-hour-a-day weekday service offering programming for women, and Cable Health Network, a service for health-care providers.
Neither Girard nor McCormick sees anything odd about Lifetime's having been run by men. Each has about 25 years of television experience, and Girard thinks they balance one another.
"His experience is more cable-oriented, mine more broadcast," she said. "He's a single parent - he took six, eight months off to be with his sons. I am one of those career-oriented people. He's more sensitivity-oriented."
McCormick, son of a registered nurse, thinks his job has been good for his 11- and 12-year-old sons. "They are probably more gender-aware than their friends because of all this," he said.
He's particularly enthusiastic about the "Picture What Women Do" project, in which women will get friends to photograph them throughout one day - May 17 - in all their various roles at home and work. As a public-service campaign, the project kicks off on March 8, International Women's Day.
The photos will be displayed at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C., in September.
Lifetime's next original movie on March 9, is "And Then There Was One." Amy Madigan and Dennis Boutsikaris play a couple who finally have their much-wanted baby, only to learn that all three are HIV-positive.
In June Lifetime offers its first miniseries, "Lie Down With Lions," based on Ken Follet's book, filmed in Europe and starring Timothy Dalton, Marg Helgenberger and Omar Sharif; in October, "A Friendly Suit" starring Melissa Gilbert and Marlee Matlin; and in December, "Spenser: A Savage Place" starring Robert Urich.
Lifetime will also air the television premieres of two theatrical films, "Eating" and "The Ballad of Little Jo."
In April the service begins "Romance Theater," offering movies that focus on affairs of the heart (five based on Harlequin novels). Girard called it "the video version of romance novels." Lifetime is looking for a male host.
Also in the spring, Lifetime begins two weekday series, "Our Home," an information and entertainment program, and "Marriage Counselor," in which a real counselor talks to troubled couples; a live weekday talk show; and a weekly series, "Girls Night Out," featuring a celebrity host and five female comedians doing stand-up from a New York nightspot.
There will also be a special featuring actress-comedian Brett Butler (``Grace Under Fire") called "Growing Up Funny."
On Sunday, Feb. 27, there's a look at the hectic world of Christy Turlington as she prepares to model spring fashions in Milan, Paris and New York.
by CNB