Fresh off its third straight year as cable’s highest-rated entertainment network without sports in primetime among adult women, TLC will open the first quarter of 2023 with more than 155 hours of new programming targeted to its core female demo.
New shows include the January 15 premiere of MILF Manor, which follows the love lives of women in their 40s, 50s and 60s, as well as returning shows such as 1000-Lb. Sisters, I Am Jazz and Say Yes to the Dress.
Discovery Networks & TLC president Howard Lee spoke with Multichannel News about the ratings success of the Warner Bros. Discovery owned-network, as well as its continued appeal to female viewers. Lee, who recently added oversight of Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and Science Channel to his duties, also talked about the future of reality television in this interview, an edited version of which appears below.
MCN: Why has TLC continued to remain successful and relevant in an ever-changing cable television marketplace?
Howard Lee: I think that who you see on the TLC brand is who you see in America. The magic of TLC is that the stories that we witness on our air are parallel to our own lives. It’s as if these folks on the screen become part of us, and we don’t take that lightly. When we decide to bring back a show over one or over many seasons, we really nourish it and make sure that there’s something to tell. If there isn’t, we don’t do it. We want to stay as real as we can about what is going on in that person’s life, and the fact that they decided to be very candid and honest and share that story with everybody at home is crucial to the overall success of the show. I think that’s the most important part of what makes a lot of our programming successful. Everybody on our air has a story that they want to confide to our viewers and they don’t shy away from letting us know their journeys, and it’s really amazing.
MCN: TLC has a significant amount of original content launching in the first quarter, a time when many networks are cutting back on both scripted and reality programming. How are you able to sustain such rapid delivery of original content?
HL: Well, it’s never easy. Anybody who makes any nonfiction programming knows that it takes a long lead time to create a show, then it takes quite a while to have it come back on air for new seasons. We really take pride in the fact that we’re telling the proper story and that it’s honest. I do believe that because so much of our programming is serialized, continuous and not self-contained, it hooks people in from week to week and they have to come back until we get to the finales of all of our programs. Even after a season’s over, they always ask when the show is coming back. Our viewers are truly the ones who dictate everything.
MCN: You’ve been successful in spinning off franchises like 90 Day Fiancé. How do you know when a show has spinoff potential?
HL: Well, we would never spin off a show unless there was a clamor for more of that show’s story. The obvious example of that is the tried and true 90 Day Fiancé, which started 10 years ago. We are very careful about monitoring the appetite for the franchise and making sure we're doing the proper spinoffs. We are also very careful about ensuring that we protect this franchise and not just doing it for the sake of doing it. It's important that we have a story always at the end of the day to tell — if there’s not a story to tell, then we wouldn’t do it.
MCN: What are some of the new shows coming down the pike for TLC in the first quarter?
HL: We recently announced MILF Manor that we’re having a lot of fun with. The show continues to evolve what we develop in the love and relationship space. We know that older women can fall in love age-wise with anybody they choose to, even if [their partners] are younger. Love, I think, is a very enduring storyline that crosses cultures and customs and never gets old. That’s the reason why so many people try to tap into that genre and that space, but I'm really excited about it at TLC because I feel like we are going at it a different way. We also have a spinoff of Sister Wives called Seeking Brother Husband.
MCN: How do you see the reality marketplace evolving, particularly as more streaming services are getting into the business?
HL: There is a lot out there in the nonfiction world to choose from. We often ask ourselves, how do we cut through the clutter and make sure that we make, produce and create content that is impactful and memorable? I think that content has to have a clear premise. Once we do that, it’s amazing how many riveting storylines and hooks you can find that continuously make you want to watch the drama, the relationships and the storytelling. Sometimes we don't know if it'll work or not, but we've been very fortunate that a lot of it does. ■
