Lifetime and LMN executive VP of scripted content Tanya Lopez is not afraid to experiment with industry programming models. While traditional one-hour episode scripted series and limited miniseries continue to dominate the lineups of many cable, broadcast and streaming services, Lopez is looking to blend the programmer’s core of two-hour original movies into a miniseries format she believes will appeal to its loyal and passionate female audience.  

From the upcoming Fallen Angels Murder Club series of movies debuting in April to the Flowers in the Attic: The Origin four-part limited series premiering this summer, Lifetime under Lopez’s tutelage is looking to rewrite the script for the traditional miniseries genre.

If successful, this will add another feather to the cap of Lopez, who has guided the A+E Networks-owned outlets’ programming fortunes since 2007. During that time, she has overseen the development of such Emmy-nominated projects as Robin Roberts Presents: Mahalia, Flint and The Trip to Bountiful while attracting some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry to star in and helm Lifetime projects, including Roberts, Mary J. Blige, Toni Braxton, Janet Jackson and Queen Latifah. 

Lopez outlined Lifetime’s strategy for serving its core female audience in today’s ever-changing TV landscape and shared her thoughts on the industry’s diversity and inclusion efforts in an interview edited for space and clarity.  

Where does Lifetime’s female-targeted brand fit in a very crowded TV marketplace? I think what's happened in all this craziness is that we've become an even stronger brand. I think as people look to see what they can count on and what they know is true, signature brands like Lifetime, History, Disney and A&E give viewers some comfort in knowing that when they turn it on they know what they’re going to get. In that sense, we are still the highest-producing network for movies on television, and our viewers know they can come to us for that. 

What is Lifetime’s strategy behind focusing on original movie franchises rather than traditional scripted series? What we are doing are limited scripted series broken out in two-hour blocks. For instance, we have coming up Flowers in the Attic: The Origin, which is going to tell you all about how Flowers in the Attic started, but we're doing it in two-hour blocks over four nights. If we were a streamer or even a network, you would call that eight episodes. We're calling it a limited series of movies. Our scripted content is flexing — we probably do more scripted television than anyone. We’re doing this with [April’s] The Fallen Angels Murder Club, where we’ll air one movie one week and then another in the franchise the next weekend. That's going to feel, in quotation marks, like a series. Later this year we’re doing another with Angie Harmon starring in Buried in Barstow. That's what we’re calling our scripted anthology of movies: It’s a series of movies that feature continuing characters, but in a two-hour format. 

What’s been your secret to attracting major talent to your original movies both within the television space and from other entertainment media? We go to them and say, we want to tell the story you want to tell and we want to hear what your point of view is on whatever subject matter we’ve decided to tell. What we really want is their passion for the material they’re in to come through. We also depend on them to partner with us to promote these projects — we’re not Marvel, so we need to know that our talent is passionate enough about their projects to get out there and scream about it from the rooftops. 

How important is inclusivity to you in terms of your programming decision-making, and how do you view the industry’s overall diversity efforts? It’s always been part of the Lifetime DNA because we were always trying to be inclusive of all kinds of women. If you think of Strong Medicine and other past Lifetime shows, it's always been a big deal. As we all have become more aware, our company decided that it should be a bigger initiative. It really empowered us to say it's not just what Lifetime should be doing, but what we all should be doing. There’s not a person in this company that doesn’t put it on their priority list. For the industry I think it's like turning around a cruise ship: it’s happening, but not as fast as everyone wants or can do. I do feel positive and optimistic, but it’s not without intent every day.  

How do you see the industry trending in terms of the quality and quantity of content creation and distribution? I think we're all going to have to be more creative, innovative, patient and aggressive — all these things need to come into play. What I've already noticed within our own company is every day you‘re pivoting, because it's moving so fast that in order to be successful, you really have to be open. Those that survive are going to be the ones who are the most flexible and the most willing to give up some things that worked for a long time but that just don’t work now. ■

A+E has teamed with the NAACP and media company OZY to create a June 8 special focusing on race relations in America.

The special, The Time is Now: Race and Resolution, will air commercial free across A+E Networks-owned A&E, HISTORY, VICE TV, Lifetime, FYI and LMN, and will discuss issues regarding systemic racism, implicit bias, economic inequality, and cases of police brutality which have plagued our nation, according to the company.

Hosted by OZY CEO/co-founder Carlos Watson, the special will feature appearances from

NAACP president Derrick Johnson, NBA legend Kareem Abdul Jabbar, actress Yvette Nicole Brown, activist and Until Freedom co-founder Tamika Mallory, The Atlantic writer Jemele Hill and Houston Police Department chief Art Acevedo.

“In times like these, it is our responsibility to use our powerful platforms to inform and inspire positive change, said Paul Buccieri, president, A+E Networks Group. “We are proud to partner with the NAACP and OZY to bring this important program to audiences around the country.”

Longtime A+E Networks executive Jana Bennett will leave her post as head of History, the company confirmed Friday.

Bennett, who was named History president and general manager in 2015, will leave to focus on a new entrepreneurial venture that will split her time between New York and London, according to A+E CEO Nancy Dubuc, who added the Bennett approached her this past spring about leaving the company.

Bennett, who was named a Multichannel News 2017 Wonder Women, joined A+E Networks in 2013 to help rebrand BIO into FYI before moving into the History position. 

“I am enormously grateful for the leadership, passion and commitment she has brought to A+E Networks," said Dubuc in a statement. "Please join me in wishing Jana all the best in her new endeavor." 

In a statement, Bennett said that while the decision to leave was “difficult,” she said it was time to start the next chapter in her life. “I am confident that History will go from strength to strength and will continue to tell stories that America and the rest of the world loves.”

 Below is Dubuc’s memo regarding Bennett’s departure:

Nearly four years ago, Jana Bennett moved from London and joined A+E Networks to launch FYI. This spring, Jana came to me and told me that she wanted to split her time between London and NY and start a new entrepreneurial venture aimed at creating the best of British and American content for both markets.

I’m immensely grateful for the amazing job she has done here at A+E Networks. From launching FYI to wide acclaim, to growing LMN, to leading HISTORY back into growth and securing its position as a premium brand, Jana has been a valued member of the Management Team.

Over the last two years at HISTORY, Jana has built a strong lineup of historical documentary series and boosted its scripted slate, successfully launching ROOTS and SIX. She has helped build a powerful pipeline of other new series, and with the very promising Knightfall coming later this year, is making HISTORY the destination for historically based drama.

Our company has benefited from the many formats and series developed under her watch includingMarried at First Sight, Seven Year Switch, the Tiny House franchise and Escaping Polygamy.

 I am enormously grateful for the leadership, passion and commitment she has brought to A+E Networks. Please join me in wishing Jana all the best in her new endeavor.

Laura Fleury has been promoted to senior vice president, development and programming, for LMN.

Fleury, who had been VP, will continue to report to Jana Bennett, president of LMN and FYI. Both networks are owned by A+E Networks, a joint venture of The Walt Disney Co. and Hearst.

“Laura is a skilled executive who has already built an impressive track record of significant accomplishments at LMN,” Bennett said. “Her powerful programming slate has led to significant audience growth for the network resulting in LMN’s placement among the top 25 networks for women.”

Read more at broadcastingcable.com.

FYI has commissioned a new reality series that looks at the most talked about food dishes on social media, the network announced Thursday.

The series, Food Porn, will be hosted by New York restauranteur Michael Chernow and will chronicle the most buzzed about food in America, There are currently more than 50 million posts on Instagram with the hashtag #foodporn, and the phrase is tagged nearly every two seconds on Twitter, according to FYI.

“People are obsessed with photographing, sharing and discussing the food they eat on social media,” said Jana Bennett, President of FYI and LMN. “FYI will be capturing this convergence of mouth-watering food and social trends in a unique and entertaining format.”

Food Porn is produced by Loud TV with Bethenny Frankel Nick Rigg, David George, Jordana Hochman, and Brent Montgomery serving as executive producers for the series.

Ghost chasers embark at night to an old-butrestored federal building in Georgia to investigate reports of unusual happenings inside, near where a police officer was gunned down in 1890.

As the chasers — loaded up with night-view cameras, flashlights and recording devices — call out to contact the spirit of the officer, a loud bang permeates the silence of the hallway inside, sending the chasers scrambling first for their safety and then to see who or what may have been responsible for the noise.

The spine-tingling scene was from the current season of Syfy’s venerable paranormal series Ghost Hunters. While the chasers may have been frightened on camera, can ghosts, spirits and dead relatives scare up ratings on the small screen for cable networks?

With nearly half of all Americans believing in ghosts or spirits of dead people that come back into our lives, networks such as Destination America, Syfy, Travel Channel and LMN are turning to the afterlife for inspiration.

New reality series featuring haunted houses, ghostly apparitions — both friendly and evil — and other paranormal activity have sparked new life into ratings for some cable networks.

Executives said that these shows are getting a boost from a fanatical subculture that believes in the supernatural and paranormal, and flock to reality-based paranormal shows that reflect their beliefs. Nearly 65% of people believe there is life after death, with 43% of people believe the spirits of dead people can return in certain places or situations, according to a 2013 Huffington Post and YouGov poll.

In addition, a recent Pew Research survey reported that 18% of U.S. adults said they’ve actually interacted with a ghost, and 29% said they have felt in touch with someone who has died.

“There’s a large percentage of people who believe in the afterlife and its ties into this deep-seeded desire for life to continue afterwards and to also talk to love ones for closure, so I think that’s what we’re tapping into,” Marc Etkind, general manager for Destination America, said. This month alone, Etkind’s network is offering four new paranormal and monster-themed shows — Ghost Asylum, Ghost Stalkers, Amish Haunting and Alaska Monsters.

“There are a lot of unexplained things happening in the world and so I think the audience likes to go for that ride,” he added.

Viewers are turning to ghost-themed reality shows in part because even in this age of technology, viewers are still seeking ways to reach relatives and close friends who have passed away. Moreover, ominous news stories like the Ebola scare and the threat of terrorism can nudge viewers to seek answers about life and the afterlife, some executives said.

“There’s a natural inclination to wonder if it’s real of if it really exists,” said Bill McGoldrick, executive vice president of original content for Syfy, which on Wednesday (Oct. 22) will air the 200th episode of its signature paranormal series Ghost Hunters. Now in its ninth season, Ghost Hunters averages 1.7 million viewers and is the network’s second most-watched series among total viewers, adults 18-49 and adults 25-54.

“I think anybody, whether they are a sci-fi fan or not, wants to answer the question of whether there’s an afterlife or are there spirits among us,” McGoldrick added. “That will always be at the core of what drives this stuff.”

Surprisingly, paranormalthemed shows are also striking a chord with female viewers, who are intrigued with emotional and haunting stories of the afterlife. Network executives said female viewers make up 55% to 60% of the audience for most paranormal-based reality shows.

Destination America’s Ghost Asylum, in which a team of ghost chasers look for the undead in abandoned asylums, launched Sept. 9 and already ranks as the network’s most watched series ever among women 25-54 and women 18-49, said network officials.

On LMN, several paranormal shows are resonating with its target female viewers including the network’s most-watched series My Haunted House, which through reenactments tells stories of people living in terror.

“There’s a spiritual fascination in things outside of ourselves and understanding what energies may exist beyond what we know,” Laura Flury, vice president and head of programming and development for LMN, said. “I also think there’s something comforting and sometimes scary about the fact that when people pass on there might still be a way to communicate with them.”

While paranormal-themed series are not new — shows like In Search of … in the 1970s, and the more recent Paranormal State and Celebrity Ghost Stories, have all chronicled tales of the unknown — the success of genre-based Hollywood films and scripted TV series have bolstered the category.

The Paranormal Activity film franchise has generated nearly $390 million in box office revenue over five films since 2009. On television, horror-themed shows like AMC’s The Walking Dead and FX’s American Horror Story have generated record ratings for their respective networks. The Oct. 12 fifth-season premiere of The Walking Dead drew an AMC-record 17.5 million viewers, while American Horror Story: Freak Show — the fourth iteration of the anthology series — drew a network record 10 million viewers in live-plus-3 ratings, Nielsen said.

Other shows like WGN America’s Salem, Fox’s Sleepy Hollow, FX’s The Strain, HBO’s True Blood and Netflix’s Hemlock Grove have also drawn significantly high viewership within the genre.

“The genre has gained a lot of momentum over the past few years and networks are beginning to see that,” said Ross Babbit, senior vice president of programming and development for Travel Channel, which airs the highly rated Ghost Adventures, now in its 10th season. “The paranormal audience is so passionate about the genre that they’ll tend to watch and rate all the shows in the space.”

Added Etkind: “This genre has proved popular from the beginning of TV and these are great American campfire stories,” he said. “You think about the Salem witchcraft trials and Sleepy Hollow — these are stories that have been passed on for generations in America. Every town has that building or asylum that you don’t go into.”

Even nonbelievers are tuning into the paranormal reality series genre, if nothing else for the entertainment value, according to Babbit.

“You watch because you either believe or you don’t, or you’re entertained by the people who are trying to find ghosts,” he said. “I don’t know if you have to believe, but it’s really entertaining. Who really knows what the truth is, but these guys are very passionate about what they do.”

Still skepticism abounds, and it’s not clear how long the genre can deliver consistent ratings. Destination America’s Etkind maintains the genre is alive and well for now.

“With the belief rates at record highs there’s always going to be room for a new creative idea in this space,” he said. “These types of shows have been on TV for a long time and they’re here to stay … We’re just looking for new ways to tell them.”