A&E Network
Encyclopedia
The A&E Network is a United States-based cable
and satellite television
network
with headquarters in New York City
and offices in Atlanta, Chicago
, Detroit, London
, Los Angeles
and Stamford
. A&E also airs in Canada
and Latin America
. Initially named the Arts & Entertainment Network, A&E launched February 1, 1984, to 9.3 million homes in the U.S. and Canada. In May 1995, the channel's name officially changed to the A&E Network, to reflect its declining focus on Arts and Entertainment. The network is now better known for shows like Dog the Bounty Hunter
, Intervention
and Criss Angel Mindfreak
.
, documentaries, and drama
series (especially crime dramas and mysteries), and has expanded to include reality television
programming, reaches more than 85 million homes in the United States and Canada. A&E is a joint venture of the Hearst Corporation
(42.5% ownership), The Walt Disney Company
(42.5%), and NBCUniversal (15%). The network is a result of a merger in 1984 between Hearst/ABC's Alpha Repertory Television Service
(ARTS) and (pre-General Electric
merger) RCA
-owned The Entertainment Channel.
The A&E Network is the flagship of the A&E Television Networks
group, which also includes The History Channel and The Biography Channel
. It had often shown programming from abroad, particularly BBC
network productions from the United Kingdom. Examples of British programming frequently broadcast on the channel include the documentary Freud
.
However, the use of British programming has diminished greatly since A&E began scheduling more reality shows. For example, the network waited almost a year and a half to show the fourth season of MI-5
, programmed it after prime time on Friday nights at 11pm Eastern
, then stopped showing it after only two episodes, and programmed the rest of the season in one day on October 21, 2006.
Its fine arts programs have also been completely retired. Thursday nights once featured an anthology series called A&E Stage, hosted by John Mauceri
, which featured telecasts of notable plays, concerts, full-length documentaries related to the arts, and complete operas, although shown with commercials. Such programs as Otto Schenk
's 1978 production of Fidelio
, with Leonard Bernstein
conducting, were rebroadcast on this anthology. The final fine arts-related show to air on the network, Breakfast with the Arts
, once featured a higher quantity of classical music than in its final years, and fewer interviews. The show was cancelled in July 2007.
The network has been criticized for airing mostly marathons of shows such as Storage Wars and Gene Simmons Family Jewels, as well as shows like Criminal Minds
, and other shows that the network does not produce themselves.
signed off just before 9 p.m. Eastern Time
, and A&E took over at 9 p.m. with a three-hour programming block, repeated at 9 p.m. Pacific Time
. In 1985 A&E moved to its own dedicated transponder to deliver 24-hour programming, and Nickelodeon added its present-day Nick at Nite
block. However, some cable providers continued to carry Nickelodeon and A&E on the same channel and would usually make the switch at 8 p.m. Eastern
. It wasn't until the early 1990s that these companies found separate channels for both networks.
Fidelio
, shown with commercial interruptions. Later it began to add programming originally seen on commercial networks, such as reruns of Columbo, Quincy, The Equalizer
and Law & Order
. Highbrow British mysteries including Agatha Christie's Poirot
, Cracker
, Dalziel and Pascoe
, Inspector Morse
, Lovejoy
, Midsomer Murders
, the Joan Hickson Miss Marple
series and Sherlock Holmes were also featured; several of these series were produced in association with A&E. By 1990 A&E's original programming accounted for 35 to 40 percent of the network's program content.
A&E's signature show was Biography
, a one-hour documentary series that A&E revived in 1987. In 1994 Biography went from one night to five nights a week, which helped boost A&E's ratings to record levels. The nightly series became A&E's top-rated show and one of cable TV's most notable successes. Biography received primetime Emmy Award
s in 1999 and 2002.
Until it was officially changed in 1995, the A&E Network's full name was the Arts & Entertainment Network. By 1997, the network had branded itself as simply A&E, and was using the taglines "Time well spent" and "Escape the ordinary."
"The word 'arts,' in regard to television, has associations such as 'sometimes elitist,' 'sometimes boring,' 'sometimes overly refined' and 'doesn't translate well to TV,'" said Whitney Goit, executive vice president for sales and marketing. "Even the arts patron often finds arts on TV not as satisfying as it should be … And the word 'entertainment' is too vague. Therefore, much like ESPN uses its letters rather than what they stand for — Entertainment Sports (Programming) Network — we decided to go to just A&E." Of the network's tagline, Goit said, "Intellectually, 'Time well spent' defines a comparison between those who view a lot of television as a wasteland, and their acknowledgment that there are good things on TV and that they'd like to watch more thought-provoking TV."
The A&E Network commissioned Horatio Hornblower
(1999), winner of two Emmy Awards, and the seven subsequent dramas in the series; Dash and Lilly
(1999), which received nine Emmy nominations; and The Crossing (2000), which won the Peabody Award
. The network created two original weekly drama series, Sidney Lumet
's 100 Centre Street
(2001–02) and Nero Wolfe
(2001–02).
Notable movies and miniseries produced or co-produced by the A&E Network include the following:
and 2007
, the channel gradually retired several long-running series, moving its classic mysteries to The Biography Channel
and cancelling Breakfast with the Arts
, in favor of reality programming such as Dog The Bounty Hunter
, Gene Simmons Family Jewels
, Growing Up Gotti
, Family Plots
, Airline, Inked
, King of Cars
, and Criss Angel Mindfreak
. In addition, A&E has garnered favorable notice for true-crime documentary series such as Cold Case Files
, American Justice
, City Confidential
, Investigative Reports, and The First 48
. The station has also cut back on its broadcasts of Biography
from originally twice daily to weekend mornings only. In 2005 A&E's tagline became "The art of entertainment."
However, the changes have been criticized as causing A&E to become an aberration of its original focus on fine art
s programming. For example, Maury Chaykin
reflected on the cancellation of the A&E original series A Nero Wolfe Mystery
in a 2008 interview: "I'm a bit jaded and cynical about which shows succeed on television. I worked on a fantastic show once called Nero Wolfe, but at the time A&E was transforming from the premiere intellectual cable network in America to one that airs Dog the Bounty Hunter
on repeat, so it was never promoted and eventually went off the air."
A&E's most-watched program was the docudrama
Flight 93
, about the hijacking of the plane which crashed in Pennsylvania
during the September 11, 2001 attacks. According to Nielsen
, the program attracted 5.9 million viewers for its initial telecast on January 30, 2006. The previous record-holder for the network was a World War II
docudrama, Ike: Countdown to D-Day, starring Tom Selleck
and broadcast in 2004
, with 5.5 million viewers. A&E has acquired rerun rights to The Sopranos
from HBO. The program has garnered very good ratings for the network, as its A&E premiere on January 10, 2007 averaged 3.86 million viewers, making it the most-watched premiere of a rerun off-network series in cable television history. The series has continued to perform well for A&E, and the network now regularly ranks in the top ten basic U.S. cable channels in prime time ratings. On February 20, 2008, A&E announced that they will be
resuming production on Dog the Bounty Hunter
which was canceled after Duane "Dog" Chapman was caught on tape using the word "nigger
" and his son sold it to the National Enquirer.
On May 14, 2008, A&E announced that Dog the Bounty Hunter
would return to the air on June 25, 2008.
A&E has stated that they will be filming Season 4 of Gene Simmons Family Jewels
.
On Memorial Day
in 2008 in conjunction with the premiere of the original film The Andromeda Strain, A&E rebranded with a new logo and slogan, Real Life. Drama., with the new logo being an evolution of the older logo, along with a larger ampersand
equal to the letters, and a strong resemblance to the logo of USA Network
. At the same time, A&E began a heavy cross-promotional campaign of on-screen graphics promoting other programs as well as various features of the A&E website. Each segment of each program aired on A&E now contains one program cross-promo graphic and one website cross-promo graphic.
As part of its continuing efforts to include more scripted shows, A&E has ordered several dramas for Fall 2009. Among them will be projects from Jerry Bruckheimer, Shawn Ryan and Lynda Obst, and a western miniseries from Kevin Costner. Several unscripted series have also been renewed or ordered for fall, including Intervention, The First 48, Gene Simmons: Family Jewels, Dog the Bounty Hunter, Crime 360, Criss Angel Mindfreak, Paranormal State, Manhunters, Storage Wars and Parking Wars.
NBCUniversal was considering adding Lifetime to the partnership of A&E Television Networks
. On August 27, 2009, AETN bought Lifetime.
simulcast
of A&E Network that launched on September 4, 2006. It has found a home on many cable and satellite systems in Canada but was until recently rare in the U.S. However, A&E HD is in the process of becoming more widely available in the U.S., since Comcast, the largest US cable provider, is expanding the number of systems including A&E HD in its lineup in preparation of greater competition from HD satellite service. A&E HD is notable for being one of several cable networks stretching standard definition content horizontally to fill the display area of widescreen HDTVs, rather than preserving the original aspect ratio of 4:3.
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
and satellite television
Satellite television
Satellite television is television programming delivered by the means of communications satellite and received by an outdoor antenna, usually a parabolic mirror generally referred to as a satellite dish, and as far as household usage is concerned, a satellite receiver either in the form of an...
network
Television network
A television network is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, whereby a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay TV providers. Until the mid-1980s, television programming in most countries of the world was dominated by a small...
with headquarters in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and offices in Atlanta, Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Detroit, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
and Stamford
Stamford
-Places:In the United Kingdom:*Stamford, Lincolnshire, a town in England*Stamford Hill, London*Stamford Bridge, East Riding of Yorkshire**Battle of Stamford Bridge*Stamford Bridge , the home ground for Chelsea Football Club...
. A&E also airs in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
. Initially named the Arts & Entertainment Network, A&E launched February 1, 1984, to 9.3 million homes in the U.S. and Canada. In May 1995, the channel's name officially changed to the A&E Network, to reflect its declining focus on Arts and Entertainment. The network is now better known for shows like Dog the Bounty Hunter
Dog the Bounty Hunter
Dog the Bounty Hunter is a reality television show on A&E which chronicles Duane "Dog" Chapman's adventures as a fugitive recovery agent, or bounty hunter...
, Intervention
Intervention (TV series)
Intervention is an American television program about the realities facing addicts of many kinds.Each program follows one or two participants, each of whom has an addiction or other mentally and/or physically damaging problem and believes that they are being filmed for a documentary on their problem...
and Criss Angel Mindfreak
Criss Angel Mindfreak
Criss Angel Mindfreak is a show distributed by A&E Network. It debuted in 2005, and centers on stunts and street magic acts by magician Criss Angel.-Career as magician:...
.
Description and programming
The channel, which originally focused programming on biographiesBiography
A biography is a detailed description or account of someone's life. More than a list of basic facts , biography also portrays the subject's experience of those events...
, documentaries, and drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
series (especially crime dramas and mysteries), and has expanded to include reality television
Reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...
programming, reaches more than 85 million homes in the United States and Canada. A&E is a joint venture of the Hearst Corporation
Hearst Corporation
The Hearst Corporation is an American media conglomerate based in the Hearst Tower, Manhattan in New York City, New York, United States. Founded by William Randolph Hearst as an owner of newspapers, the company's holdings now include a wide variety of media...
(42.5% ownership), The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
(42.5%), and NBCUniversal (15%). The network is a result of a merger in 1984 between Hearst/ABC's Alpha Repertory Television Service
Alpha Repertory Television Service
Alpha Repertory Television Service was a cable television channel in the United States. The channel was co-owned by the Hearst Corporation and the American Broadcasting Company through their Hearst/ABC Video Services joint venture.-History:...
(ARTS) and (pre-General Electric
General Electric
General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
merger) RCA
RCA
RCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...
-owned The Entertainment Channel.
The A&E Network is the flagship of the A&E Television Networks
A&E Television Networks
A&E Television Networks is a U.S. media company that owns a group of television channels available via cable & satellite in the US and abroad...
group, which also includes The History Channel and The Biography Channel
The Biography Channel
The Biography Channel is an American digital cable television channel owned by A&E and based on the television series of the same name. A version of the channel also airs on ONO and Telefónica in Spain and on Sky Digital and cable television in the United Kingdom, a version of the channel also...
. It had often shown programming from abroad, particularly BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
network productions from the United Kingdom. Examples of British programming frequently broadcast on the channel include the documentary Freud
Freud (mini-series)
Freud, also known as Freud: the Life of a Dream, is a BBC television serial based on the life and times of Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. David Suchet stars as Freud. The 6-part production is 360 minutes in duration.-Cast:...
.
However, the use of British programming has diminished greatly since A&E began scheduling more reality shows. For example, the network waited almost a year and a half to show the fourth season of MI-5
Spooks
Spooks is a British television drama series that originally aired on BBC One from 13 May 2002 – 23 October 2011, consisting of 10 series. The title is a popular colloquialism for spies, as the series follows the work of a group of MI5 officers based at the service's Thames House headquarters, in a...
, programmed it after prime time on Friday nights at 11pm Eastern
Eastern Time Zone
The Eastern Time Zone of the United States and Canada is a time zone that falls mostly along the east coast of North America. Its UTC time offset is −5 hrs during standard time and −4 hrs during daylight saving time...
, then stopped showing it after only two episodes, and programmed the rest of the season in one day on October 21, 2006.
Its fine arts programs have also been completely retired. Thursday nights once featured an anthology series called A&E Stage, hosted by John Mauceri
John Mauceri
John Francis Mauceri is an American conductor, producer and arranger for theatre, opera and television. For fifteen years, he served on the faculty of Yale University. He was a protege of Leonard Bernstein...
, which featured telecasts of notable plays, concerts, full-length documentaries related to the arts, and complete operas, although shown with commercials. Such programs as Otto Schenk
Otto Schenk
Otto Schenk is an Austrian actor, and theater and opera director.-Life and career:Schenk was born to Catholic parents. His father, a lawyer, had Jewish roots and therefore lost his job after the Anschluss in 1938...
's 1978 production of Fidelio
Fidelio
Fidelio is a German opera in two acts by Ludwig van Beethoven. It is Beethoven's only opera. The German libretto is by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of Jean-Nicolas Bouilly which had been used for the 1798 opera Léonore, ou L’amour conjugal by Pierre Gaveaux, and for the 1804 opera Leonora...
, with Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
conducting, were rebroadcast on this anthology. The final fine arts-related show to air on the network, Breakfast with the Arts
Breakfast with the Arts
Breakfast with the Arts is a television program that aired on A&E from 1991 until 2007.Over the years, the show featured performances and interviews from all facets of the performing arts including rock, jazz, and classical, music, Broadway, film, dance, and books...
, once featured a higher quantity of classical music than in its final years, and fewer interviews. The show was cancelled in July 2007.
The network has been criticized for airing mostly marathons of shows such as Storage Wars and Gene Simmons Family Jewels, as well as shows like Criminal Minds
Criminal Minds
Criminal Minds is an American police procedural drama that premiered September 22, 2005, on CBS. The series follows a team of profilers from the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit based in Quantico, Virginia. The BAU is part of the FBI National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime...
, and other shows that the network does not produce themselves.
Time share with Nickelodeon (1984–1985)
When A&E debuted, the channel took over the satellite transponder timeslot that one of its predecessors, ARTS, occupied from its launch in 1981. Children's television channel NickelodeonNickelodeon (TV channel)
Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...
signed off just before 9 p.m. Eastern Time
Eastern Time Zone
The Eastern Time Zone of the United States and Canada is a time zone that falls mostly along the east coast of North America. Its UTC time offset is −5 hrs during standard time and −4 hrs during daylight saving time...
, and A&E took over at 9 p.m. with a three-hour programming block, repeated at 9 p.m. Pacific Time
Pacific Time Zone
The Pacific Time Zone observes standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time . The clock time in this zone is based on the mean solar time of the 120th meridian west of the Greenwich Observatory. During daylight saving time, its time offset is UTC-7.In the United States...
. In 1985 A&E moved to its own dedicated transponder to deliver 24-hour programming, and Nickelodeon added its present-day Nick at Nite
Nick at Nite
Nick at Nite is the nighttime Cable network that broadcasts over the channel space of Nickelodeon on Sundays from 8.p.m.-7.am., Monday through Fridays from 9 p.m.-7 a.m. and Saturdays from 10 p.m.-6 a.m. . Though it shares channel space with Nickelodeon, A.C. Nielsen Co...
block. However, some cable providers continued to carry Nickelodeon and A&E on the same channel and would usually make the switch at 8 p.m. Eastern
Eastern Time Zone
The Eastern Time Zone of the United States and Canada is a time zone that falls mostly along the east coast of North America. Its UTC time offset is −5 hrs during standard time and −4 hrs during daylight saving time...
. It wasn't until the early 1990s that these companies found separate channels for both networks.
Programming
A&E was envisioned as a commercial counterpart to PBS, and in its early days focused on such PBS-style programming as the Leonard BernsteinLeonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
Fidelio
Fidelio
Fidelio is a German opera in two acts by Ludwig van Beethoven. It is Beethoven's only opera. The German libretto is by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of Jean-Nicolas Bouilly which had been used for the 1798 opera Léonore, ou L’amour conjugal by Pierre Gaveaux, and for the 1804 opera Leonora...
, shown with commercial interruptions. Later it began to add programming originally seen on commercial networks, such as reruns of Columbo, Quincy, The Equalizer
The Equalizer
The Equalizer is an American television series that ran for four seasons, initially on CBS, between 1985 and 1989. It starred Edward Woodward as an aging New York vigilante with a mysterious past...
and Law & Order
Law & Order
Law & Order is an American police procedural and legal drama television series, created by Dick Wolf and part of the Law & Order franchise. It aired on NBC, and in syndication on various cable networks. Law & Order premiered on September 13, 1990, and completed its 20th and final season on May 24,...
. Highbrow British mysteries including Agatha Christie's Poirot
Agatha Christie's Poirot
Agatha Christie's Poirot is a British television drama that has aired on ITV since 1989. It stars David Suchet as Agatha Christie's fictional detective Hercule Poirot. It was originally made by LWT and is now made by ITV Studios...
, Cracker
Cracker (UK TV series)
Cracker is a British crime drama series produced by Granada Television for ITV and created and principally written by Jimmy McGovern. The series is centered on a criminal psychologist , Eddie "Fitz" Fitzgerald, played by Robbie Coltrane. Set in Manchester, it consists of three series which were...
, Dalziel and Pascoe
Dalziel and Pascoe (BBC TV series)
Dalziel and Pascoe is a popular British television crime drama based on the Dalziel and Pascoe books by Reginald Hill, which was first broadcast in March 1996. It is set in Yorkshire, and is about two detectives...
, Inspector Morse
Inspector Morse (TV series)
Inspector Morse is a detective drama based on Colin Dexter's series of Chief Inspector Morse novels. The series starred John Thaw as Chief Inspector Morse and Kevin Whately as Sergeant Lewis. Dexter makes a cameo appearance in all but three of the episodes....
, Lovejoy
Lovejoy
Lovejoy is a TV series about the adventures of Lovejoy, a British antiques dealer and faker based in East Anglia, a less than scrupulous yet likeable rogue. The episodes were based on a series of picaresque novels by John Grant...
, Midsomer Murders
Midsomer Murders
Midsomer Murders is a British television detective drama that has aired on ITV since 1997. The show is based on the books by Caroline Graham, as originally adapted by Anthony Horowitz. The lead character is DCI Tom Barnaby who works for Causton CID. When Nettles left the show in 2011 he was...
, the Joan Hickson Miss Marple
Miss Marple
Jane Marple, usually referred to as Miss Marple, is a fictional character appearing in twelve of Agatha Christie's crime novels and in twenty short stories. Miss Marple is an elderly spinster who lives in the village of St. Mary Mead and acts as an amateur detective. She is one of the most famous...
series and Sherlock Holmes were also featured; several of these series were produced in association with A&E. By 1990 A&E's original programming accounted for 35 to 40 percent of the network's program content.
A&E's signature show was Biography
Biography (TV series)
Biography is a documentary television series. It was originally a half-hour filmed series produced for CBS by David Wolper from 1961 to 1964 and hosted by Mike Wallace. The A&E Network later re-ran it and has produced new episodes since 1987...
, a one-hour documentary series that A&E revived in 1987. In 1994 Biography went from one night to five nights a week, which helped boost A&E's ratings to record levels. The nightly series became A&E's top-rated show and one of cable TV's most notable successes. Biography received primetime Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
s in 1999 and 2002.
Until it was officially changed in 1995, the A&E Network's full name was the Arts & Entertainment Network. By 1997, the network had branded itself as simply A&E, and was using the taglines "Time well spent" and "Escape the ordinary."
"The word 'arts,' in regard to television, has associations such as 'sometimes elitist,' 'sometimes boring,' 'sometimes overly refined' and 'doesn't translate well to TV,'" said Whitney Goit, executive vice president for sales and marketing. "Even the arts patron often finds arts on TV not as satisfying as it should be … And the word 'entertainment' is too vague. Therefore, much like ESPN uses its letters rather than what they stand for — Entertainment Sports (Programming) Network — we decided to go to just A&E." Of the network's tagline, Goit said, "Intellectually, 'Time well spent' defines a comparison between those who view a lot of television as a wasteland, and their acknowledgment that there are good things on TV and that they'd like to watch more thought-provoking TV."
The A&E Network commissioned Horatio Hornblower
Hornblower (TV series)
Hornblower is the umbrella title of a series of television drama programmes based on C. S. Forester's novels about the fictional character Horatio Hornblower, a Royal Naval officer during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars....
(1999), winner of two Emmy Awards, and the seven subsequent dramas in the series; Dash and Lilly
Dash and Lilly
Dash and Lilly is a 1999 Emmy and Golden Globe Award-nominated television film directed by Kathy Bates and written by Jerrold L. Ludwig.-Plot:...
(1999), which received nine Emmy nominations; and The Crossing (2000), which won the Peabody Award
Peabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards recognize distinguished and meritorious public service by radio and television stations, networks, producing organizations and individuals. In 1939, the National Association of Broadcasters formed a committee to recognize outstanding achievement in radio broadcasting...
. The network created two original weekly drama series, Sidney Lumet
Sidney Lumet
Sidney Lumet was an American director, producer and screenwriter with over 50 films to his credit. He was nominated for the Academy Award as Best Director for 12 Angry Men , Dog Day Afternoon , Network and The Verdict...
's 100 Centre Street
100 Centre Street
100 Centre Street is an American legal drama created by Sidney Lumet and starring Alan Arkin.-Premise:The show takes its name for the street address of the criminal division of the New York Supreme Court for New York County. The show aired in the United States on the A&E Network cable television...
(2001–02) and Nero Wolfe
A Nero Wolfe Mystery
A Nero Wolfe Mystery is a television series adapted from Rex Stout's classic series of detective stories that aired for two seasons on the A&E Network. Set in New York City in the early 1950s, the stylized period drama stars Maury Chaykin as Nero Wolfe and Timothy Hutton as Archie Goodwin...
(2001–02).
Notable movies and miniseries produced or co-produced by the A&E Network include the following:
- Pride and Prejudice (1995)
- Emma (1996)
- Jane EyreJane Eyre (1997 film)Charlotte Brontë's novel Jane Eyre has been the subject of numerous television and film adaptations. This version appeared on the A&E Television Network in 1997....
(1997) - The Pale Hose (1997)
- The Ebb-Tide (1998)
- Tess of the D'Urberviles (1998)
- Vanity FairVanity Fair (1998 TV serial)Vanity Fair is a BBC television drama serial adaptation of William Makepeace Thackeray's novel of the same name broadcast in 1998. The screenplay was written by Andrew Davies....
(1998) - The Lady in Question (1999)
- Murder in a Small Town (1999)
- P.T. Barnum (1999)
- The Scarlet PimpernelThe Scarlet Pimpernel (TV Series)The Scarlet Pimpernel is a series of television drama programmes loosely based on Baroness Emmuska Orczy's series of novels, set during the French Revolution....
(1999) - Small VicesSpenser (TV films)Joe Mantegna portrayed Robert B. Parker's detective "Spenser" in three TV movies on the A&E cable network between 1999 and 2001.-Production:Robert B...
(1999) - The Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe MysteryThe Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe MysteryThe Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe Mystery is a made-for-television film based on the 1953 novel by Rex Stout. Set in 1950s Manhattan, the A&E Network production stars Maury Chaykin as the heavyweight detective genius Nero Wolfe, and Timothy Hutton as Wolfe's assistant, Archie Goodwin, narrator of...
(2000) - The Great GatsbyThe Great Gatsby (2000 film)The Great Gatsby is a 2000 television film adaptation of the novel of the same title by F. Scott Fitzgerald.It was made in collaboration by the A&E Cable Network in the United States, and Granada Productions in Great Britain. It was directed by Robert Markowitz from a teleplay by John J....
(2000) - Longitude (2000)
- Lorna DooneLorna Doone (2001 film)Lorna Doone is a 2001 romance/drama television movie version of Richard Doddridge Blackmore's novel of the same name. The film won the Royal Television Society's Television Award for Best Visual Effects by Colin Gorry.- External links :*...
(2000) - Thin AirSpenser (TV films)Joe Mantegna portrayed Robert B. Parker's detective "Spenser" in three TV movies on the A&E cable network between 1999 and 2001.-Production:Robert B...
(2000) - The Lost BattalionThe Lost Battalion (2001 film)The Lost Battalion is the 2001 remake of the 1919 film of the same name. The film was directed by Russell Mulcahy, written by James Carabatsos and starred former child actor Rick Schroder as Major Charles Whittlesey. It took place during World War I....
(2001) - The Lost WorldThe Lost World (2001 film)The Lost World is a 2001 adaptation of the novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, directed by Stuart Orme and adapted by Adrian Hodges. It was filmed at various locations on the West Coast of New Zealand. The film was produced by the BBC and broadcast on BBC1 in the United Kingdom and A&E in the United...
(2001) - Victoria & AlbertVictoria & Albert (TV serial)Victoria & Albert is a 2001 British-US historical television serial. It focused on the early life and marriage of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. The series starred Victoria Hamilton as Victoria, Jonathan Firth as Prince Albert and Peter Ustinov as King William IV. It was directed by John Ermant....
(2001) - Walking ShadowSpenser (TV films)Joe Mantegna portrayed Robert B. Parker's detective "Spenser" in three TV movies on the A&E cable network between 1999 and 2001.-Production:Robert B...
(2001) - Lathe of HeavenLathe of Heaven (film)Lathe of Heaven is a 2002 television movie based on the similarly named science fiction novel by Ursula K. Le Guin. It was produced for the A&E network in 2002 and directed by Philip Haas. It was nominated for the 2003 Saturn Award for Best Single Program Presentation.-Synopsis:It starred James...
(2002) - The Magnificent Ambersons (2002)
- NapoléonNapoléon (miniseries)Napoleon is a historical miniseries which explored the life of Napoleon Bonaparte. In 2002, it was the most expensive television miniseries in Europe, costing the equivalent of $US46,330,000 to produce. The miniseries covered Napoleon's military successes and failures, including the Battles of...
(2002) - Shackleton (2002)
- Benedict Arnold: A Question of HonorBenedict Arnold: A Question of HonorBenedict Arnold: A Question of Honor is a 2003 American television film directed by Mikael Salomon and starring Aidan Quinn, Kelsey Grammer, Flora Montgomery and John Light. It portrays the career of Benedict Arnold in the American Revolutionary War and his dramatic switch in 1780 from fighting for...
(2003) - The Mayor of Casterbridge (2003)
2002–present
In the summer of 2002, A&E underwent an overhaul in management which moved the network's focus toward reality television to attract a younger demographic. A&E cancelled its two original scripted series in 2002. Between 20032003 in television
The year 2003 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 2003.For the American TV schedule, see: 2003-04 United States network television schedule.-Events:-Debuts:-1940s:...
and 2007
2007 in television
2007 in television may refer to:*2007 in American television*2007 in Australian television*2007 in British television*2007 in Canadian television*2007 in Japanese television...
, the channel gradually retired several long-running series, moving its classic mysteries to The Biography Channel
The Biography Channel
The Biography Channel is an American digital cable television channel owned by A&E and based on the television series of the same name. A version of the channel also airs on ONO and Telefónica in Spain and on Sky Digital and cable television in the United Kingdom, a version of the channel also...
and cancelling Breakfast with the Arts
Breakfast with the Arts
Breakfast with the Arts is a television program that aired on A&E from 1991 until 2007.Over the years, the show featured performances and interviews from all facets of the performing arts including rock, jazz, and classical, music, Broadway, film, dance, and books...
, in favor of reality programming such as Dog The Bounty Hunter
Dog the Bounty Hunter
Dog the Bounty Hunter is a reality television show on A&E which chronicles Duane "Dog" Chapman's adventures as a fugitive recovery agent, or bounty hunter...
, Gene Simmons Family Jewels
Gene Simmons Family Jewels
Gene Simmons Family Jewels is an American reality television series that premiered on A&E on August 7, 2006. The show follows the life of KISS bassist and vocalist Gene Simmons, his longtime partner Shannon Tweed, and their two children, Nick and Sophie....
, Growing Up Gotti
Growing Up Gotti
Growing Up Gotti was an American reality television series that appeared on A&E. It featured the life of Victoria Gotti, daughter of Mafia boss John Gotti, and her three sons; Carmine Agnello, Jr., John Gotti Agnello, and Frank Gotti Agnello....
, Family Plots
Family Plots
Family Plots is a critically acclaimed docu-series television show that followed the ongoing events and the employees that work at the family-run Poway Bernardo Mortuary in Poway, California...
, Airline, Inked
Inked
Inked is a documentary television series about the employees of the Hart & Huntington Tattoo Company in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. The series was created by Jeff Bowler in 2005, and was broadcast by the A&E Network...
, King of Cars
King of Cars
King of Cars was a reality TV show, centering around the Towbin Dodge car dealership, in Henderson, Nevada, south of Las Vegas, Nevada. Managed by Josh Towbin a.k.a "Chop" a.k.a the King of Cars, famous for the cult hit infomercial, "The Chopper Show", in which his salesmen dress up as various...
, and Criss Angel Mindfreak
Criss Angel Mindfreak
Criss Angel Mindfreak is a show distributed by A&E Network. It debuted in 2005, and centers on stunts and street magic acts by magician Criss Angel.-Career as magician:...
. In addition, A&E has garnered favorable notice for true-crime documentary series such as Cold Case Files
Cold Case Files
Cold Case Files is documentary television series on the cable channel A&E Network hosted by Bill Kurtis that documents the investigation of various long-unsolved murders through the use of modern forensic science , and criminal psychology, in addition to recent breakthroughs in the...
, American Justice
American Justice
American Justice is an American criminal justice television program on the A&E Network, hosted by Bill Kurtis. The show features interesting or notable cases, such as the Selena Murder of a Star, Scarsdale Diet doctor murder, the Hillside Stranglers, Matthew Shepard, or the Wells Fargo heist, with...
, City Confidential
City Confidential
City Confidential is an American documentary television show, transmitted on the A&E Network, which singled out a community during each episode and investigated a crime that had occurred there. Rather than being a straighforward procedural, the installments began by focusing on the history and...
, Investigative Reports, and The First 48
The First 48
The First 48 is an American documentary television series that airs on A&E. Filmed in various cities in the United States, the series offers an insider's look at the real-life world of homicide investigators...
. The station has also cut back on its broadcasts of Biography
Biography (TV series)
Biography is a documentary television series. It was originally a half-hour filmed series produced for CBS by David Wolper from 1961 to 1964 and hosted by Mike Wallace. The A&E Network later re-ran it and has produced new episodes since 1987...
from originally twice daily to weekend mornings only. In 2005 A&E's tagline became "The art of entertainment."
However, the changes have been criticized as causing A&E to become an aberration of its original focus on fine art
Fine art
Fine art or the fine arts encompass art forms developed primarily for aesthetics and/or concept rather than practical application. Art is often a synonym for fine art, as employed in the term "art gallery"....
s programming. For example, Maury Chaykin
Maury Chaykin
Maury Alan Chaykin was an American-born Canadian actor. Best known for his portrayal of detective Nero Wolfe, he was also known for his work as a character actor in many films and on television programs.-Personal life:...
reflected on the cancellation of the A&E original series A Nero Wolfe Mystery
A Nero Wolfe Mystery
A Nero Wolfe Mystery is a television series adapted from Rex Stout's classic series of detective stories that aired for two seasons on the A&E Network. Set in New York City in the early 1950s, the stylized period drama stars Maury Chaykin as Nero Wolfe and Timothy Hutton as Archie Goodwin...
in a 2008 interview: "I'm a bit jaded and cynical about which shows succeed on television. I worked on a fantastic show once called Nero Wolfe, but at the time A&E was transforming from the premiere intellectual cable network in America to one that airs Dog the Bounty Hunter
Dog the Bounty Hunter
Dog the Bounty Hunter is a reality television show on A&E which chronicles Duane "Dog" Chapman's adventures as a fugitive recovery agent, or bounty hunter...
on repeat, so it was never promoted and eventually went off the air."
A&E's most-watched program was the docudrama
Docudrama
In film, television programming and staged theatre, docudrama is a documentary-style genre that features dramatized re-enactments of actual historical events. As a neologism, the term is often confused with docufiction....
Flight 93
Flight 93 (TV film)
Flight 93 is a 2006 made-for-TV film, directed by Peter Markle, which chronicles the events aboard United Airlines Flight 93 during the September 11 attacks...
, about the hijacking of the plane which crashed in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
during the September 11, 2001 attacks. According to Nielsen
Nielsen Media Research
Nielsen Media Research is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre films and newspapers...
, the program attracted 5.9 million viewers for its initial telecast on January 30, 2006. The previous record-holder for the network was a World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
docudrama, Ike: Countdown to D-Day, starring Tom Selleck
Tom Selleck
Thomas William "Tom" Selleck is an American actor, and film producer. He is best known for his starring role as Hawaii-based private investigator Thomas Magnum on the 1980s television show Magnum, P.I.. He also plays Police Chief Jesse Stone in a series of made-for-TV movies based on the Robert B....
and broadcast in 2004
2004 in television
The year 2004 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 2004.For the American TV schedule, see: 2004–05 United States network television schedule.-Events:-Debuts:-1940s:...
, with 5.5 million viewers. A&E has acquired rerun rights to The Sopranos
The Sopranos
The Sopranos is an American television drama series created by David Chase that revolves around the New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster Tony Soprano and the difficulties he faces as he tries to balance the often conflicting requirements of his home life and the criminal organization he heads...
from HBO. The program has garnered very good ratings for the network, as its A&E premiere on January 10, 2007 averaged 3.86 million viewers, making it the most-watched premiere of a rerun off-network series in cable television history. The series has continued to perform well for A&E, and the network now regularly ranks in the top ten basic U.S. cable channels in prime time ratings. On February 20, 2008, A&E announced that they will be
resuming production on Dog the Bounty Hunter
Dog the Bounty Hunter
Dog the Bounty Hunter is a reality television show on A&E which chronicles Duane "Dog" Chapman's adventures as a fugitive recovery agent, or bounty hunter...
which was canceled after Duane "Dog" Chapman was caught on tape using the word "nigger
Nigger
Nigger is a noun in the English language, most notable for its usage in a pejorative context to refer to black people , and also as an informal slang term, among other contexts. It is a common ethnic slur...
" and his son sold it to the National Enquirer.
On May 14, 2008, A&E announced that Dog the Bounty Hunter
Dog the Bounty Hunter
Dog the Bounty Hunter is a reality television show on A&E which chronicles Duane "Dog" Chapman's adventures as a fugitive recovery agent, or bounty hunter...
would return to the air on June 25, 2008.
A&E has stated that they will be filming Season 4 of Gene Simmons Family Jewels
Gene Simmons Family Jewels
Gene Simmons Family Jewels is an American reality television series that premiered on A&E on August 7, 2006. The show follows the life of KISS bassist and vocalist Gene Simmons, his longtime partner Shannon Tweed, and their two children, Nick and Sophie....
.
On Memorial Day
Memorial Day
Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May. Formerly known as Decoration Day, it originated after the American Civil War to commemorate the fallen Union soldiers of the Civil War...
in 2008 in conjunction with the premiere of the original film The Andromeda Strain, A&E rebranded with a new logo and slogan, Real Life. Drama., with the new logo being an evolution of the older logo, along with a larger ampersand
Ampersand
An ampersand is a logogram representing the conjunction word "and". The symbol is a ligature of the letters in et, Latin for "and".-Etymology:...
equal to the letters, and a strong resemblance to the logo of USA Network
USA Network
USA Network is an American cable television channel launched in 1971. Once a minor player in basic cable, the network has steadily gained popularity because of breakout hits like Monk, Psych, Burn Notice, Royal Pains, Covert Affairs, White Collar, Monday Night RAW, Suits, and reruns of the various...
. At the same time, A&E began a heavy cross-promotional campaign of on-screen graphics promoting other programs as well as various features of the A&E website. Each segment of each program aired on A&E now contains one program cross-promo graphic and one website cross-promo graphic.
As part of its continuing efforts to include more scripted shows, A&E has ordered several dramas for Fall 2009. Among them will be projects from Jerry Bruckheimer, Shawn Ryan and Lynda Obst, and a western miniseries from Kevin Costner. Several unscripted series have also been renewed or ordered for fall, including Intervention, The First 48, Gene Simmons: Family Jewels, Dog the Bounty Hunter, Crime 360, Criss Angel Mindfreak, Paranormal State, Manhunters, Storage Wars and Parking Wars.
NBCUniversal was considering adding Lifetime to the partnership of A&E Television Networks
A&E Television Networks
A&E Television Networks is a U.S. media company that owns a group of television channels available via cable & satellite in the US and abroad...
. On August 27, 2009, AETN bought Lifetime.
A&E HD
A&E HD is a 720p high definition720p
720p is the shorthand name for 1280x720, a category of High-definition television video modes having a resolution of 1080 or 720p and a progressive scan...
simulcast
Simulcast
Simulcast, shorthand for "simultaneous broadcast", refers to programs or events broadcast across more than one medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at the same time. For example, Absolute Radio is simulcast on both AM and on satellite radio, and the BBC's Prom concerts are often...
of A&E Network that launched on September 4, 2006. It has found a home on many cable and satellite systems in Canada but was until recently rare in the U.S. However, A&E HD is in the process of becoming more widely available in the U.S., since Comcast, the largest US cable provider, is expanding the number of systems including A&E HD in its lineup in preparation of greater competition from HD satellite service. A&E HD is notable for being one of several cable networks stretching standard definition content horizontally to fill the display area of widescreen HDTVs, rather than preserving the original aspect ratio of 4:3.