Lifetime banks on dramas, reality for rebound

History programming chief Nancy Dubuc is trying to work her magic at ailing sister channel Lifetime, over which she now has oversight.Project Runway, beginning its ninth season Thursday, proved an expensive outlay when previous programmers outbid Bravo, as ratings have declined. And the network has yet to find companion reality shows that approach the popularity of History's Pawn Stars and American Pickers. Roseanne's Nuts drew 1.6 million viewers to last week's premiere (and its comedian star told critics she was angling for a hybrid of "reality and reality television"). Up next are Picker Sisters, featuring interior designer pals, due Aug. 2, and Russian Dolls, a take on Jersey Shore from eastern Europe by way of Brooklyn, coming Aug. 11.
But it's also renewed Army Wives for a new season, and unlike rivals such as TLC, Dubuc says "We've moved aggressively forward with dramas that are unapologetic and fearless."
Against the Wall, premiering Sunday (10 ET/PT), stars Rachael Carpani (The Glades) as a Chicago detective promoted to an internal affairs officer, putting her at odds with her cop brothers and dad, played by Treat Williams.
But true to the style of Lifetime movies (and there are dozens of those in the pipeline), her love life is compromised. "No men can measure up to her yet, so she's really reluctant to make a go of it," Carpani says.
Also due is a different sort of movie project: Five, a series of interconnected short films that "use humor and drama to explore the effect breast cancer has on relationships," Dubuc says, promising it "may be the most important film we've ever done." Marta Kauffman (Friends) created the story arc, in which Jeanne Tripplehorn's lead character finds out, as a girl, that her mom has cancer; in subsequent installments she decides to become an oncologist and, finally, learns she too has the disease. But "It's a comedy," Kauffman says. "It's not really about breast cancer; we've all seen those." Instead, it uses the disease "as a backdrop to learn about relationships."
The five films were directed by Jennifer Aniston, Alicia Keys, Demi Moore, Penelope Spheeris and Patty Jenkins and features stars including Patricia Clarkson, Jennifer Morrison, Tracee Ellis Ross, Josh Holloway and Bob Newhart.