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PBS has scheduled the eight-week run of the hit English period drama to run through the end of February, Masterpiece executive producer Rebecca Eaton said today during the PBS Annual Meeting. Downton Abbey is the highest-rated drama in PBS history after its third-season finale drew 8.2 million viewers on February 17, a 50% increase from the Season 2 ender. The timeframe for the PBS airdates falls similar to last year, coming after the fall run of the series on ITV in the UK. The big ratings bumps in the U.S. were notable given the high-stakes spoilers that were parading around the Internet while the show was airing across the pond ahead of its U.S. broadcast. ITV doesn’t announce its schedule until a couple of weeks before shows debut, but a September run there is likely again for the Carnival/Masterpiece co-production.
‘Downton Abbey’ Season 4 To Bow Jan. 5
Sprout Renews Hit Kids’ Series ‘The Chica Show’ & ‘LazyTown’: NBC Press Day
Ray Richmond contributes to Deadline’s TV coverage.
The preschooler-targeted network Sprout today announced a new slate of original programming additions as well as the renewal of its hit The Chica Show for a second season and its movement-inspiring series … Read More »
Global Showbiz Briefs: ‘Masterpiece’ Memoir; Endemol & AMC Pact On Non-Scripted; ‘Draw It’ In UK; ‘Boys In Trees’
Rebecca Eaton To Pull The Curtain Back On Masterpiece
Masterpiece executive producer Rebecca Eaton will publish a memoir this fall. Making Masterpiece: 25 Years Behind The Scenes Of Masterpiece Theatre And Mystery! PBS releases October 29 via Viking in the U.S. Eaton has presided over PBS’ Masterpiece, which airs such British and international hits as Downton Abbey and Sherlock, for 25 years. Eaton says, “As an Anglophile who loves books and great acting, I’ve had the perfect job.” For the book, she interviews actors, writers, directors and producers and is expected to share stories about Downton’s Maggie Smith, Sherlock’s Benedict Cumberbatch and Daniel Radcliffe whose first TV role was as the title character in David Copperfield. Under Eaton’s leadership, Masterpiece has earned 44 Emmy Awards, 15 Peabody Awards, four Golden Globes, and two Oscar nominations. She’s writing the book with Patricia Mulcahy. Read More »
PBS Debuts Jeremy Piven In ‘Mr. Selfridge’ On Sunday; Is It The New ‘Downton Abbey’?
Ari Gold returns to U.S. TV screens on Sunday, sans BlackBerry and decked out in a three-piece suit — though it won’t be a Brioni. PBS/Masterpiece will debut department store period drama Mr. Selfridge at 9 PM with Jeremy Piven playing the real-life ‘Mile a Minute Harry Selfridge’, the impresario who changed the way women shopped in early 1900s London. Whether the show can take the U.S. by storm, à la PBS mega-hit Downton Abbey, will come to bear over the first series’ run of 10 episodes. But as much as “period drama” has become a sort of blanket term, there are stark differences to the two shows. Both air in the UK on ITV, and The Guardian compared Selfridge to Downton upon its January UK debut, saying, “You can sit back and relax and not expect anyone to die suddenly without warning — only a minor altercation in the ladies glove department.”
Selfridge is an in-house ITV Studios production that garnered strong ratings from the outset in the UK, averaging over 8M viewers during its run from January through March. (It also beat the BAFTA Awards on February 10 despite the kudocast grabbing its highest numbers in a decade.) Downton Abbey, for its third season, had consolidated ratings averaging 11.9M.
The series is set in Selfridge’s department store, the shopping mecca that American entrepreneur Harry Selfridge built in 1909 and which still stands today on Oxford Street. The cast of characters includes shopgirls, socialites and a sexy (male) French window-dresser. At a screening of the first episode late last year, Piven said playing Selfridge was like “artistic sorbet.” At a TCA panel in January, he said he felt no competition pressure with Downton. “I feel like I willed this job to happen because I was such a fan of that show… I think there’s a great deal of camaraderie there.” 
It will be interesting to see the response given how strongly U.S. viewers equate the actor to his multiple Emmy-winning role in Entourage. Reviews in the UK, where it’s safe to say audiences are less familiar with “hugging it out”, have been largely positive apart from a few claims of hammy acting. The Guardian called it “polished, lavish, enjoyable period stuff” and of the series finale, The Arts Desk wrote: “Mr. Selfridge has had periodically decent thesping and plenty of visual glamour, but frocks alone do not a drama make.” Read More »
National Ratings For ‘Downton Abbey’ Confirm It’s PBS’ Highest-Rated Drama Ever
Downton Abbey‘s third-season opener and closer on Masterpiece Classic strongly outpaced ratings for comparable Season 2 shows — the February 17 finale even beat all of its broadcast and cable competition in primetime. So, it’s no surprise that national household ratings for the entire season were record-breakers. In news that might make even Carson crack a smile, PBS and WGBH said today that a total of 24M viewers 
tuned in to visit with the Crawley family over seven weeks of Season 3 episodes. That’s a 7M-viewer increase from last year and makes the show PBS’ highest-rated drama ever. The season had a 7.7 average and an average season audience of 11.5M viewers, according to Nielsen Live+7 data. Those figures are up 64% and 65%, respectively, over Season 2. On the UK’s ITV, Season 3 was also the biggest so far and had an overall average of 9.7M viewers.
The figures are notable given the high-stakes spoilers that were parading around the Internet while the show was airing in the UK ahead of its U.S. broadcast. They also set up quite a challenge for Season 4, which is currently shooting with a series of new castmembers — and sans some important ones who ducked out last year. Read More »
‘Sherlock’ Star Confirms A Fourth Season
Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman have signed on for a fourth season of the BBC1/PBS Masterpiece drama Sherlock, which started its Season 3 table read yesterday ahead of shooting next week. Cumberbatch, who earned Emmy and … Read More »
CNBC To Revive ‘Nightly Business Report’ For Public Television
ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, NJ & MIAMI, FL, February 21, 2013– CNBC, First in Business Worldwide, announced today its intention to purchase the rights to Nightly Business Report (NBR), a leading evening business news program, from national investment firm Atalaya Capital Management. CNBC will begin producing the series exclusively for public television from its Global Headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, NJ on Monday, March 4.
“We are proud to take the reins of television’s longest running business program,” said Mark Hoffman, Chief Executive Officer and President, CNBC. “Our goal is to utilize our global editorial resources to both preserve and strengthen Nightly Business Report, exposing its highly educated audience across 180 broadcast markets to CNBC’s already diverse multi-media offerings which include cable programming, a full suite of digital products, radio and our international networks and local language affiliates.”
‘Downton Abbey’ Season 3 Finale Gets 8.2M Viewers
The dramatic third-season finale of Downton Abbey on PBS Sunday night was up 50% over the series’ second-season end. The February 17 broadcast of the aristocratic British soap pulled in 8.2 million viewers. Last year, 5.4 million tuned in for … Read More »
Jeremy Piven Period Drama ‘Mr Selfridge’ Gets Second-Season Order From UK’s ITV
At a PBS TCA panel last month, Mr Selfridge creator Andrew Davies said that while no decision had been made on a second season, he’d already written the first episodes and was “very confident” of a renewal. He had reason to be. ITV today commissioned 10 more hourlong episodes of the period drama that stars Jeremy Piven as entrepreneur and department store revolutionary Harry Selfridge. Shooting starts in April in Greater London and Kent for a 2014 airdate that will coincide with the centenary of World War I. The first season kicks off on PBS next month.
Since launching on ITV in January, the show has a consolidated average audience of 8.5M and drew 9.4M to its peak episode. The second season will be set in 1914, just ahead of the Great War, and will add new castmembers. Also, joining Davies as lead writers will be Kate Brooke (Case Sensitive, Making Of A Lady) and Kate O’Riordan (The Bad Mother’s Handbook, The Kindness Of Strangers). Read More »
‘Downton Abbey’ Scores High On Super Bowl Sunday
Turns out there were people watching something on TV last night besides Super Bowl XLVII. PBS’ Downton Abbey had the second-highest-rated and -viewed show of primetime Sunday. The 4.4 household rating for Sunday’s 9 PM one-hour broadcast of Masterpiece Classic‘s aristocratic British soap soundly thrashed anything else on in primetime except the Super Bowl, according to Nielsen. Down from last week’s 5.1, that household rating was still up a very strong 69% from the Downton that ran last year on Super Bowl Sunday. The series also pulled in 6.6 million viewers; the second-most-watched show on the Big Four last night after the Super Bowl was the 8 PM America’s Funniest Home Videos repeat on ABC, which drew 2.59 million viewers.
Related: Ratings For Post-Super Bowl ‘Elementary’ Down From ‘The Voice’ Last Year Read More »
Next Up For J.D. Salinger Docu: Film Distribution Deal To Follow S&S Book Pact
2ND UPDATE, 9:23 AM: It has been quite a week for J.D. Salinger. The Shane Salerno documentary Salinger has been shown to only two parties so far, and in both cases, the result was a smashing deal. First to see it was the American Masters team, which quickly paid low-seven figures to license U.S. domestic TV rights and make it the 200th installment of the prestigious program in January. Second to see it were the Simon & Schuster editors, who quickly made a worldwide rights deal on the companion book, The Private War Of J.D. Salinger. Agency sources tell me that deal was closer to $2 million than $1 million for the sprawling book by David Shields and Salerno. It will be published in September, just ahead of the theatrical release.
Next up: the feature distribution deal. I don’t get the impression there will be a big gang bang screening and then an auction; it will be a subtler, more selective process than that. But the goal is to lock in a distributor who’ll give it a nice theatrical play in the months before the American Masters premiere next year, and figure out DVD and those other ancillaries excluding U.S. domestic TV rights. By the time all this is done, it should be a nice outcome for Salerno and the eight years and $2 million he invested to assemble both the film and the book. Read More »
Marlo Thomas On Difficulty Of Being ‘That Girl’ In 1960s TV Biz: TCA
Diane Haithman is contributing to Deadline’s TCA coverage.
Today’s TCA panel on PBS’ documentary Makers: Women Who Make America, which traces the last 50 years of the women’s movement and premieres February 26, featured some powerhouse players in the fight for equality: Gloria Steinem and Marlo Thomas among them. 
Both made strong statements about the state of feminism in America in 2013. But one of more telling stories recounted on the panel was not about politics, but rather Thomas’ recounting the struggles behind her 1966-71 TV series That Girl. At age 24, Thomas became both producer and star in the comedy about a spunky single girl and aspiring actress taking on New York City.
At the time she was pitching the series, Thomas had read Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique and said that after college “I was a bridesmaid 17 times” and didn’t want to get married. She said that every TV script she was reading was all the same: “the women were wives, daughters and secretaries.” She took her idea to NBC programming executive Edgar Scherick, demanding: “Ever thought of doing a show where the woman is somebody?” She said Scherick responded as though “I had been speaking Swahili.” She gave him a copy of Feminine Mystique. His reaction: “I just have one question: Is this going to happen to my wife?” Read More »
‘Mr Selfridge’ Is Not ‘Downton’, Producers Say, But They’ll Take Its Success: TCA
Diane Haithman is contributing to Deadline’s TCA coverage.
Today’s TCA panel on PBS’ new Masterpiece Classic series Mr. Selfridge — a period drama starring Jeremy Piven as real-life department store entrepreneur Harry Gordon Selfridge — was haunted by the ghost of Downton Abbey. On March 31, the new drama will join the megahit Downton on Sunday nights, so it is not surprising that Masterpiece executive producer Rebecca Eaton announced at the top of the session that the premiere of Mr. Selfridge on Britain’s ITV a couple of weeks ago rated higher that the premiere of “that other show.”
Related: ‘Mr Selfridge’ Debuts To Strong Ratings On UK’s ITV
Creator Andrew Davies said on the panel that no decision has been made on a second season but “I’ve already written the first [episodes] of Season 2. We should hear very soon. We’ve done such good numbers in the UK; I’m very confident.” He said that in his mind, he’s up for four seasons: “Are you up for it, Jeremy?” he joked. Replied Piven: “I certainly hope I have the job, yeah. To be replaced at this point would be very disappointing. And confusing. It could be like Darrin on Bewitched, I guess.”
During the panel that featured Piven, Davies and co-stars Zoe Tapper and Frances O’Connor., Eaton stressed the differences between Selfridge (based on the nonfiction book by Lindy Woodhead) and Downton. She said that while both shows have “gorgeous people, money, life and death, seduction,” this story is based on reality. Plus she said, the department store world is a different “precinct beside the country house and the house in town. I don’t know why it hasn’t been done before.”
Related: TV Trailer: ‘Mr. Selfridge’
After the panel, she acknowledged that Masterpiece would love to repeat Downton’s success with a similar show. “We’re adding another member. It’s always risky and I think its inevitable that you want to do more of what works,” she said. “So when there is a hit show like Downton, I think there’s an enormous urge to capitalize on the attention it brings Masterpiece and to build on the audience that we’ve attracted, this seemed like kind of a perfect fit. But you have to vary it. It’s not another country house.” Read More »
PBS & WNET Partnering with TED on ‘Ted Talks Education’ (Not The Teddy Bear): TCA
PBS and WNET have teamed up to produce Ted Talks Education, the first original TED public television education special set to air April 16. The series, announced today at TCA by WNET VP Stephen … Read More »
Apple To Offer Three ‘Downton Abbey’ Episodes On iTunes Ahead Of PBS Broadcast
At a TCA panel yesterday, PBS president Paula Kerger said, “We’re not punishing our viewers.” The comment was made with regard to the lag time between when Downton Abbey airs on the UK’s ITV and in the U.S. on PBS. Well, here’s good news for folks who can’t get enough fast enough of the Crawley clan – and for those trying to avoid the spoilers that have been whizzing around the Web. Apple said yesterday that North American subscribers to iTunes who purchase a season pass for the show will get a jump on the last three episodes of season three before they air on PBS. The episodes, including the special season finale which airs on February 17, will be available for download on iTunes beginning January 29. The period drama’s second season was the best-selling TV series on iTunes last year and the exclusive season three Downton preview is said to be a first for the company. Read More »
PBS Kids’ New Math Series ‘Peg + Cat’ Set For Fall Premiere: TCA
Diane Haithman is contributing to Deadline’s TCA coverage.
PBS announced today that a new math series with a female lead, Peg + Cat, will premiere in the fall. At the summer 2012 TCA, PBS president Paula Kerger had spoken about … Read More »
PBS On ‘Downton Abbey’ Schedule: “We’re Not Punishing Viewers” – TCA
Diane Haithman is contributing to Deadline’s TCA coverage.
PBS president Paula Kerger said today that the pubcaster has considered the idea of synching the U.S. broadcast schedule of its hit series Downton Abbey with the earlier British schedule on ITV, but so far it has not found that such a change would best suit the American viewers (she added that in Britain the show airs with commercials; in the U.S. it does not). 
The idea, she told critics during a PBS session at TCA, has been to avoid pitting Downton against the glut of new fall programming on U.S. networks and cable channels. She compared the experience to watching the Olympics: “People knew the outcome but watched them every night,” she said.
A questioner pointed out that American viewers accept the Olympic broadcast schedule but find it “annoying.” “We’re not punishing our viewers,” Kerger responded with a laugh. “At the end of the day, I want to make sure we are putting the series in a place where the most people can find it.”
Related: PBS To Air Week Of Programming On Newtown Tragedy: TCA Read More »
PBS Chief Says “No Negative Impact” From Elmo Scandal, Big Bump From Big Bird: TCA
Diane Haithman is contributing to Deadline’s TCA coverage.
PBS president Paula Kerger’s Q&A session with reporters at TCA included a lot of talk about Sesame Street. The pubcaster’s chief was asked about the show’s darker side: The controversy over former Elmo puppeteer Kevin Clash, who resigned in November after accusations of having underage sex. “Elmo is larger than any individual; I have not seen any negative impact,” Kerger said today. “Time will tell; we will watch it very carefully.” Kerger reminded that the character of Kermit the Frog has survived the loss of original voice Jim Henson. As to casting a new Elmo, Kerger said that some of the series’ characters have multiple puppeteers and that there was already an effort underway to get some “additional help” for Elmo. She said she did not expect there would be any formal announcement of a new Elmo puppeteer.
Related: PBS To Air Week Of Programming On Newtown Tragedy: TCA Read More »
PBS To Air Newtown Tragedy Special Programming: TCA
Diane Haithman is contributing to Deadline’s TCA coverage.
PBS announced that it will respond to Newtown by airing a week of special programming February 18-22 focusing on December’s Connecticut school shooting. The “After Newtown” programming will begin each evening with a PBS Newshour report on topics raised by the tragedy. The series will include a Frontline special report in collaboration with The Hartford Courant profiling the shooter; a NOVA documentary about violence and the brain, a Need To Know report on the “ripple effects of the shooting incident”, and an update on political action surrounding gun control from Washington Week With Gwen Ifill. Read More »
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