Word: bios
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...Bio programming pays off in more than ratings. In a nutshell: life is cheap. For cable channels, which lack the deep pockets of their broadcast counterparts, bios are TV Helper. Jason Goodman, a former producer for BTM, says an episode costs around $150,000; a biographical movie can cost a few million dollars. The cooperation of the subject can defray costs, not only by allowing extensive interviews but also by providing free, all-important photos. Many biography shows will proceed only with the subject's approval. E! and A&E, which do some shows without cooperation--"It's Biography...
...Century" is sponsored by the cable network A&E, which is only appropriate considering that the channel helped spawn TV's biomania with its 12-year-old Biography. This franchise draws A&E's highest prime-time ratings and has spun off CDs, videos, a digital all-bio channel and a magazine whose readership A&E places at more than 2 million. The program's thesis is simple: people are more interested in history that has a famous face on it. "We live in an age of celebrity," says Michael Cascio, A&E's senior vice president for programming. "That...
Biography, nominated for three Emmys this year, has produced some 700 shows informed by an old-fashioned catholic approach. It assumes one united audience that will appreciate Ivan the Terrible as well as Andre the Giant. The newer trend, however, is the bio-niche. We have TNN's The Life and Times of... and CMT's CMT Showcase (country music, though Life has branched out); MTV's Biorhythm and VH1's triple threat, Where Are They Now?, Before They Were Rock Stars and the flagship Behind the Music (pop music); Lifetime's Intimate Portrait (women); CNN's Pinnacle and Movers...
...next?, you're thinking. Comedy Central? Actually, this month the network launched A Comic Life with a Steve Martin bio narrated by director Ivan...
...minorities on campus pull for one another, both informally and formally, through the Irvine chapter of the California Alliance for Minority Participation, a program, funded by the National Science Foundation, for minorities in the sciences. "At Berkeley and Los Angeles, there's so much competition, even between black bio majors," says Marchand. "That's not how it's supposed to be--we're supposed to be helping one another...