No doubt you, like The Corsair, are discerning viewers with refined tastes (The Corsair sips "the fizzy"). When we watch television -- sotto voce: never "teevee" -- we want Drama, or Comedy of the Highest Order. Because that's how we roll. In short, we do not watch "According to Jim (Averted Gaze)."
No, we are more likely to have "Monk," and "Dexter," and "Mad Men," and "Brotherhood" on our DVRs. Curiously, these are all cable originals. And we are not alone in appreciating these significant cultural artifacts or noticing that there are a lot more of them than there used to be. From Medialifemagazine:
"Once the home of endless broadcast reruns, cable has come to challenge broadcast in the quality if not the number of original productions it airs, and at considerable expense, it turns out.
"Cable networks have pumped $19 billion into original programming since 2003, according to a new report from the Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau, and the number of original shows has nearly doubled.
"In April 2008, ad-supported cable produced 1,407 original shows, up from 741 in April 2003, according to CAB. Originals now account for 67 percent of all cable content, up 14 percent from 59 percent of all content in 2003.
"At the same time, the percentage of acquired programs has declined, from 41 percent to 33 percent. The number of cable networks investing in original programming also grew, from 42 to 73, an increase of 74 percent.
"The growth has come across many different genres. The number of original dramas, for example, has more than tripled, from 18 to 79, while the number of documentaries has exploded, from 83 to 527."
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