Reboot: CMT network gets a new look
CMT is rebooting.
Driven by new leadership at its parent company, Viacom Inc., Nashville-based CMT is steering its programming away from a glut of reality television to more original scripted shows. The push, which includes Billy Ray Cyrus' dark comedy "Still the King," was already well underway when the network acquired "Nashville" in early June and also includes a television adaptation of popular Broadway musical “Million Dollar Quartet.”
“It’s really a natural evolution for the channel,” said Jayson Dinsmore, CMT's executive vice president of development and production. “Last year we really took a look at the channel and said, ‘Let’s lean further into this brand. Let’s tell stories that are rooted in country music with characters and storytelling that have the sensibilities of country music’s biggest fans and our biggest stars.' ”
As part of the restructuring at Viacom Inc. in early 2015, CMT was shuffled out of the music division that includes MTV and VH1 and regrouped under the kids and family umbrella with Nickelodeon and TV Land. However, CMT’s new programs are not aimed at young children. The shows contain adult language and content and are targeted at the 18-49-year-old demographic.
Pure music programming still comprises 25 percent of CMT’s schedule, and the network is retaining its most popular reality shows including “I Love Kellie Pickler,” which follows the country singer, and “The Dude Perfect Show,” a program featuring a group of guys that do intricate target shooting with large guns. The latter attracted the highest number of teen viewers to CMT in the network’s history.
“We’re just moving our filter towards a bit more optimism and positivity,” Dinsmore said. “We’re looking for a millennial audience that feels just as comfortable in country as they do in cosmopolitan.”
'Still the King'
Cyrus’ “Still the King” wasn’t developed to fit into CMT’s new programming profile. The show’s genesis dates back to Cyrus’ early days as a struggling entertainer in the ‘80s when he wrote down his goals each day for inspiration — chief among them, to become the next Elvis Presley.
Three decades later, Cyrus was hit with the concept for “Still the King” while on tour. Four years ago, he filmed the pilot. The episode kicked off with him face down in a creek in his underwear after having wrecked a stolen bread truck carrying prostitutes into a Pentecostal church. Randy Travis played the sheriff who found Cyrus — a down-on-his-luck, law-bending Elvis impersonator called Burnin’ Vernon — and chased him down a gravel road in his police car. CMT greenlit the show in 2015 and production started in early October.
“You’ve gotta go somewhere fun from there,” said Cyrus, shivering in a polyester Elvis jumpsuit in the reception hall of a quaint Hendersonville church the show used for filming. It was January and snow blanketed the ground as cast members wrapped in heavy blankets huddled around outdoor heaters. “You’re going to see a whole lot of slapstick funny, retro yet cutting-edge humor, some of it very abstract.”
In the series, Cyrus finds out he has a teenage daughter and then poses as a preacher to make money to pay child support so he doesn’t get sent back to jail. Along the way, he builds a relationship with his daughter and reconnects with her mother, played by Joey Lauren Adams.
“The moral of the story, be careful what you ask for you just might get it,” Cyrus said. “Did you see me monkeying around here all day? The coldest dude in this ice storm in the Elvis suit in this ice? I finally found a place where I belong.”
Travis Nicholson, Cyrus’ co-star and executive producer on “Still the King,” said he thought the show was too edgy for CMT and is surprised the network picked it up.
“CMT made a really hard push to say they are reinventing their network, changing their guard and they want to make more content like this,” Nicholson said. “We’re just grateful that they saw what we had and were willing to work with it.”
“Still the King,” which debuted to 2.2 million viewers on June 8, airs 8 p.m. Sundays on CMT. The series is the only original scripted show airing on the network.
'Nashville'
The day after “Still the King” debuted on CMT, The Tennessean broke the news that television show “Nashville” had found a new home on CMT. After four seasons on ABC, the network chose not to renew the beloved country music drama that features Connie Britton as established country star Rayna Jaymes, Charles Esten as her love interest Deacon Claybourne and Hayden Panettiere as popular, troubled country singer Juliette Barnes who is trying to take Jaymes' place in the spotlight.
CMT hasn’t announced when new episodes of “Nashville” will air or which — if not all — cast members will remain. The network has committed to 22 new episodes of “Nashville,” which will also be available to stream on Hulu the day after they air. When ABC canceled “Nashville,” the show was attracting 8 million weekly viewers and ranked as one the most DVR’d series on television.
“From the very beginning, and in so many ways, CMT has been a friend and a supporter of our show,” said Esten, via email from his sold-out cast of “Nashville” concert tour in the United Kingdom. “It seems rather fitting then that it ends up being our television home. We have a chance to do some great things together, and I'm excited to see what could be a very special Season 5.”
'Million Dollar Quartet'
“Hatfields & McCoys” producer Leslie Greif stepped in to deliver a gritty, no-holds-barred dramatized look at rock and roll in the 1950s in Memphis. “Million Dollar Quartet” will be based on true stories of how Sam Phillips guided Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis to combine country music with R&B against the backdrop of the civil rights movement.
A short clip of the series — which features "One Tree Hill’s" Chad Michael Murray as Sun Records founder Sam Phillips and "Mike & Molly’s" Billy Gardell as Col. Tom Parker — reveals stark scenes of violence and an often scantily clad cast. Unlike its Broadway inspiration, the series isn’t a musical.
“We were very careful not to make a period piece that is just historically factual for factual purposes,” Dinsmore said. “We wanted to add an element of multi-generational appeal. It is really about them coming of age. Quite honestly, we raided the CW for their best-looking actors to bring them over and add to the overall aesthetic of the channel.”
“Million Dollar Quartet” is in production in Memphis and will air in the spring.
“I believe CMT is creating a brand renaissance,” Dinsmore said. “I believe that we are creating programming that differentiates us in the marketplace. I think … it allows us to invite more viewers to the channel, which allows us to … show that we’re playing with the big boys.”
Reach Cindy Watts at 615-664-2227, ciwatts@tennessean.com or on Twitter @CindyNWatts.
At a glance
CMT launched in 1983 and spent years as the leading source of country music videos. Since its inception, the Nashville-based network has phased down airtime for videos to include reality shows, documentaries, concert specials including its CMT Crossroads series, its CMT Music Awards and a slew of new scripted original programming. In addition to “Still the King,” “Nashville” and “Million Dollar Quartet,” CMT has three additional scripted shows in development.
CMT is a unit of Viacom Inc. and employs 170 people locally with 92 million subscribers. CMT’s digital platforms include the 24-hour music channel CMT Music, CMT Mobile and CMT VOD.