5 Best American Cable Networks For Original Programming
2. AMC
AMC still ostensibly stands for 'American Movie Classics', a name that was reflective of the original output of the channel - classic films. For the first eighteen years of its existence, it almost exclusively showcased uncut and uninterrupted films, with the occasional bout of original programming focused on film or its history (or the history of rival mediums, such as radio). That all changed in 2007, when it took a chance on a period drama that had already been rejected by HBO and Showtime, Mad Men. Set in the New York advertising world of the 1960s, the show was a commercial success from day one, with critics praising its unique style, characters and storytelling. Whilst its viewing figures have never been astronomical in number, they have been sufficient to carry the show through to a natural conclusion this year. It was followed in 2008 by Breaking Bad, the story of Walter White (Bryan Cranston), a chemistry teacher who becomes a crystal meth cook alongside one of his former students (Aaron Paul) to support his family following a terminal cancer diagnosis. Like Mad Men, the show was critically acclaimed from the start. Unlike its counterpart, however, it turned into a ratings juggernaut out of the blue during the gap between the two parts of its final season, a growth largely attributable to word-of-mouth and the rising popularity of the series on streaming platforms such as Netflix. As a result, Vince Gilligan's creation has become one of, if not 'the' defining show of the internet generation. Elsewhere, AMC has created an immensely lucrative cash cow in the form of The Walking Dead, a zombie survival drama which began strongly in 2010 and now has an audience larger than almost anything offered by ABC, NBC, CBS or Fox, with 17.3 million people opting to view the premiere of its most recent fifth season. Though it has been nominated for just six Emmys (all for technical categories) during its run, the fact that there are plans in place to continue running the show for at least seven more years is testament to its success. In addition to other dramas, such as the American adaptation of hit Danish show The Killing, AMC also placed significant emphasis on unorthodox reality programming in recent years, but this has now been culled, as all unscripted shows with the exception of Comic Book Men (about the day-to-day operations of film director Kevin Smith's comic shop) and Walking Dead companion show Talking Dead were cancelled at the end of 2014. This would seem to hint that the network wants to focus further on original scripted offerings, which is an exciting prospect given their excellent track record thus far.
