Posted: Tue., Jan. 12, 1999
Studio Report Card: MGM
Rebuilt and ready, Lion sees TV revival
By CYNTHIA LITTLETON
SPECIAL REPORT
RESURRECTION: After building up a slate of firstrun syndie skeins over the past five years, the Lion returned to the network series business in 1998 with the spinoff of "The Magnificent Seven" on CBS. And the show's resurrection after a near-death experience parallels the ups and downs that MGM's TV division faced last year.
"Magnificent" turned in respectable ratings when it bowed as a midseason entry in early 1998. But the oater drama was almost dropped when CBS set its 1998-99 primetime sked until an Internet-driven outcry from fans helped convince Eye web brass to renew it, again as a midseason backup.
A similar drama played out at the corporate level last August when a severe cash crunch prompted MGM to halt TV development and divert all available resources to the film side.
The irony was that MGM's TV division has proved profitable in recent years, while the film side has had a spotty track record.
The TV development freeze thawed just a few weeks later when MGM majority owner Kirk Kerkorian supplied an infusion of cash, but not before the town was buzzing yet again with talk of MGM's shaky financial underpinnings.
In spite of all the uncertainty, MGM TV, headed by group prexy John Symes, found ready takers for its "National Enquirer" syndie strip when the tabmag spinoff was formally unveiled in September. By year's end, the half-hour strip had been picked up by enough stations to make it virtually a sure thing for a fall '99 bow, although the proposed companion strip, "Daily Edition," did not generate much heat with station buyers.
REBUILT AND READY: Under the direction of Symes, MGM rebuilt its TV division from scratch over the past five years by focusing on the syndication market, where the payoff in success comes more quickly than with a network TV series. Moreover, MGM developed an innovative formula for maximizing the moneymaking potential of big-budget drama series by straddling the pay cable and firstrun syndication arenas.
MGM productions like "The Outer Limits" premiere on the Showtime pay cabler, and about nine months later bow in firstrun syndication. The studio collects license fees from Showtime and barter advertising coin from the syndie run. "Stargate SG-1," MGM's latest Showtime-to-syndication series, has been a solid performer.
On the flip side, low points for MGM's TV arm included "Fame L.A.," a weekly ensemble drama that folded after the 1997-98 season, and a talkshow project with thesp Meshach Taylor that never got off the ground. MGM also decided to end production this year on its gritty reality strip "LAPD: Life on the Beat," which bowed in 1995.
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