TV Land Tries to Spice Things Up With Reality Show - NYTimes.com

TV Land Tries to Spice Things Up With Reality Show - NYTimes.com: "The channel, a unit of Viacom, is supplementing its diet of classic series like “Gunsmoke” with reality shows in prime time. The shows, like “The Cougar,” which had its premiere last month, and “High School Reunion,” which reunites classmates two decades after graduation, are specifically aimed at 40- to 50-year-olds.

The strategy steals two pages from the cable TV playbook: by adding original shows, the channel hopes to stand out on a crowded cable dial, and by heaping attention on a specific subset of viewers, it hopes advertisers will commit more money.

But the initial ratings for “The Cougar” were lower than TV Land would have liked. “The Andy Griffith Show,” from the 1960s, is still the most popular show on the channel. Many viewers, it would seem, still relish the reruns."

Yet another example of a niche cable station trying to be all things. Crazy!