Mastering the Art of Entertaining : THE A&E; NETWORK RUNS COMMERCIAL SHOWS TO COMPLEMENT ITS CULTURAL PROGRAMMING

The Arts & Entertainment Cable Network began modestly six years ago, the result of a merger between two small cable services. It was legally born just a scant two months before its first broadcast, Feb. 1, 1984.

“We had 60 days to get our act together,” said Nickolas Davatzes, president and CEO of A&E.; “Our mission at the time is the same mission we have today, and that’s to provide quality entertainment to a discerning audience, focusing on four genres: comedy, documentary, drama and the performing arts.”

The service, a merger of Alpha Repertory Television Service and the Entertainment Channel, originally beamed into 9 million homes. Today Arts & Entertainment counts 42 million subscribers and is carried on 4,600 cable systems throughout the United States and Canada. Jointly owned by Hearst Corp., Capital Cities/ABC and NBC, A&E; has won more than 40 ACE awards since its inception.

But since its birth, more has changed than just the number of potential viewers.

In the beginning, 95% of A&E; programming was acquired from England, Canada, PBS and other cable networks. Most of the shows were repeats, such as HBO’s production of “Barefoot in the Park,” with Richard Thomas and Bess Armstrong, and a BBC adaptation of James Fenimore Cooper’s novel, “The Last of the Mohicans,” which previously aired in the early ‘70s on PBS’ “Masterpiece Theater.”

The chances are less likely today that a viewer will find old BBC or PBS shows on A&E.;

“In 1990, somewhere between 35 and 40% of our programming is commissioned (original) programming,” said Davatzes.

Among the new programming are joint ventures with such companies as the BBC, the Improv comedy club in New York, Prime Time London and ABC Distribution in New York. It also acquires programs from England, Australia and Canada that haven’t been seen in the United States.

A&E;’s first co-venture with the BBC was the 1987 movie, “Race for the Double Helix,” which starred Jeff Goldblum and garnered raves from the critics.

A&E; has since co-produced with the BBC such acclaimed fare as the miniseries “The Life and Loves of a She Devil,” the wacky “Blackadder” comedy series, the family series “All Creatures Great and Small” and the documentary “Around the World in 80 Days.”

A&E;’s programming has proven successful in attracting a specific-though limited-viewership: “Our audience is slightly more men than women,” said Davatzes. “They’re adults on the average of 40, with four years of college education and make $40,000 a year. Obviously, that’s not everyone.”

To attract a wider viewership, A&E; has 250 hours of programming in development and new shows about to air (see related story). One of the new programs, a weekly magazine series called “Arts & Entertainment Revue,” will spotlight the latest events in the worlds of arts and entertainment. It begins May 4 at 5 and 9 p.m.

“What we really want to do is reach the segment of the audience we are not reaching now,” said Brooke Bailey Johnson, vice president of programming and production. “I think the magazine series is an example of that kind of thing. No one came to us and said, ‘You ought to do an arts and entertainment magazine.’ We said, ‘This is clearly something that is right for us.’ I think we can attract some viewers with it.”

Such comedy series as “Evening at the Improv” and “Caroline’s Comedy Hour” have attracted viewers between the ages of 25 and 40, Davatzes said. “The Agatha Christie Hour” and “Masters of Mystery” series are skewed for the 35-to-55 range.

Recently new to the network is the educational “Kingdom of the Sun,” a look at Africa’s animals, airing Mondays at 5 and 9 p.m.

“I think part of our mission is to air quality TV for a better-educated viewership,” said Johnson.

But over the past few years, A&E; has become less high-brow and more commercial. It dusted off the cult TV series, “Police Squad!” and reprised the critically acclaimed Dabney Coleman comedy series, “Buffalo Bill” and “The Slap Maxwell Story.”

Sprinkled among such art films as Visconti’s “Death in Venice” and Kubrick’s “Barry Lyndon” is such escapist fare as Betty Grable in “Moon Over Miami” and Sidney Poitier and Bill Cosby in “A Piece of the Action.”

Last December, A&E; started to air reruns during the daytime of the U60s series, “The Fugitive,” starring David Janssen. “We think it will develop a new audience interest,” said Davatzes. “It was one of the best written drama series ever made.”

Because A&E; has so many hours to fill, Johnson would like to see more series and less anthologies. “We recently started the ‘Agatha Christie Mystery Hour,’ which is a compendium of acquired Agatha Christie mysteries and co-produced product,” said Johnson. “Ultimately, we would like to have those two hours a continuing series, with the same character week after week.”

A&E; is not above repeating and repeating its series, specials and documentaries.

“We recently had on “Le Corsair” with the Kirov Ballet,” said Davatzes. “That’s an evergreen. When our programming people think it’s appropriate to bring it out, we will. We’re trying to serve the interests of our people.”

One of A&E;’s most popular series is the five-part BBC version of “Jane Eyre,” starring the current James Bond, Timothy Dalton. The romantic drama has aired five times in the past five years.

“People demand that we bring back ‘Jane Eyre,’ ” said Davatzes.

“I would like to increase the first run we have from where we are now,” said Johnson. “But I don’t see us ever not running a really great series just because it’s not first run. We just ran David Attenborough’s ‘Life on Earth,’ which is one of the best documentary series ever done. It first aired on PBS. I couldn’t be happier we had it on A&E.;”