Lifetime Television

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Lifetime Television
Image:Lifetime 2006 Logo.gif
Launched	February 1, 1984
Owned by	Lifetime Entertainment Services
Slogan	My story is on Lifetime
Headquarters	Image:Flag of the United States.svg New York, New York, United States
Sister channel(s)	Lifetime Real Women, Lifetime Movie Network
Website	www.mylifetime.com
Availability
Satellite
DirecTV	Channel 252
Dish Network	Channel 108
Cable
Available on most cable systems	Check Local Listings for channels

Lifetime Television is an American television network devoted to movies, sitcoms and dramas, all of which are either geared toward women or feature women in lead roles. The network is owned by The Walt Disney Company and Hearst Corporation.

Contents 1 History 2 Carriers 3 Logos 4 Programs broadcast by Lifetime 4.1 Original programming 4.2 Former original programming 4.3 Syndicated programming 4.4 Former syndicated programming 5 Weekday Schedule 6 Criticism 7 See also 8 References 9 External links

[edit] History

Lifetime was established as the result of a merger of Hearst's Daytime network, established in March 1982 as a four hour per day service with women's programming and Viacom's Cable Health Network, established in June 1982 as a 24-hour service that carried health and wellness programming.

The service originally aired women's programming during the day on Monday–Saturdays, and offered the Lifetime Medical Television service on Sundays from November 1983 to June 1993 carrying programming for health professionals.

Among the most popular shows currently on the channel are Frasier, The Golden Girls, Reba, Still Standing,and Will & Grace. The network has recently acquired and added past episodes of Desperate Housewives, Medium, and Grey's Anatomy to its weekend lineup. The network also airs original programming such as Strong Medicine, Intimate Portrait, Blood Ties, and Army Wives.

In addition, Lifetime airs many movies targeting to women-both original and other networks' made for television. Lifetime Movie Network launched in 1998). These movies usually have frequent appearances by Meredith Baxter-Birney, Melissa Gilbert, or Valerie Bertinelli.

Aside from women's programming, the network used to air several game shows in prime time, including Supermarket Sweep, Shop 'Til You Drop and Debt. Lifetime also produced one original game show (Who Knows You Best?, starring Gina St. John), with a format based on The Newlywed Game. It was cancelled after one season.

In April 2004, Lifetime launched Lifetime Radio for Women, a daily nationally syndicated four-hour morning block mixing adult contemporary music, live caller interaction, celebrity guests and lively discussions about the topics relating to women. In partnership with Jones Radio, The service airs Monday to Friday from 5 to 9 AM or 6 to 10 AM, depending on the market.

Lifetime is a property of Lifetime Entertainment Services, which owns a number of media ventures. Viacom remained as co-owner with ABC/Capital Cities and Hearst until 1994.

Around 2005, Lifetime dropped its signature tagline Television for Women (used since 1995). The network launched a new look and tagline on July 16, 2006 with the launch of the then-new, now-defunct original series Angela's Eyes, using a new logo and promotions with the tagline My story is on Lifetime.

On March 31, 2005, Betty Cohen, previously an executive at Turner Broadcasting Services, was named CEO of Lifetime Entertainment Services according to the Walt Disney Company.^[1]

Lifetime's main competitors as "women's channels" are the Oxygen Network and WE: Women's Entertainment Entertaining, although both of those services have substantially lower ratings than the spin off Lifetime Movie Network, much less Lifetime.

Because of the obvious feminine slant to the network's programming, Lifetime is often jokingly referred to as The Estrogen Channel. Other comedy programs have satirized Lifetime's sometimes sentimental programing. Family Guy once parodied their slogan, making it Lifetime: Television for Idiots. Critical viewers cite that the negativity stems from the "soft" "Syrupy" and sappy nature of some of Lifetime's movies. Movies that may depict a harsh subject matter like a Marine shot in the head in boot camp, yet the family reacts in a puritanical 50's manner as if they were extracted from "Leave It to Beaver".

Lifetime Television has just teamed up with Glam Media, Inc. to develop a new vertical media network called Lifetime Glam with co-branded websites and shared content.^[2]

[edit] Carriers

On January 1, 2006, Dish Network dropped Lifetime becoming the only major U.S. multichannel television distributor not carrying the channel. This was a result of contract expiration. Dish Network chose to continue with the discontinuation of the transmission. Should they have decided to renew the contract, Dish Network claimed that this would have forced them to increase rates by as much as 76.47%, although Dish sometimes quoted other figures in their press releases. Lifetime responded by claiming that the rates were only four cents per viewer per month and that even at the end of the contract the total increases were nowhere near 76%. Neither side issued complete figures to verify their claims. Dish would eventually add competitor Oxygen to its channel line-up later in the month.

On February 1, 2006, Lifetime's 22nd birthday, Dish announced they were returning Lifetime Television and Lifetime Movie Network to their service.^[3]

[edit] Logos

The original logo was used from February 1984 and was used until May or June 1995. The logo was a square with a small square, resembling an "L". That logo was changed in May or June 1995. It was changed again in July 2006.

Lifetime.gif Lifetime's original logo, used from February 1984-June 1995.

Lifetime 2006 Logo.gif Current logo and tagline for the network, launched in July 2006 during the launch of Angela's Eyes

[edit] Programs broadcast by Lifetime

† - Seasons 3-5 of The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd were produced exclusively for Lifetime after airing for two seasons on NBC.

[edit] Weekday Schedule

Lifetime's Weekday Schedule (Monday - Friday) effective August 20, 2007. Original Programming is in red; syndicated programming is in yellow; orange is for mixed time slots; and green is for movie time slots.

Times given are ET/PT.

7:00 AM	Denise Austin's Daily Workout
7:30 AM	My Workout
8:00 AM	The Nanny
8:30 AM	The Nanny
9:00 AM	The Golden Girls
9:30 AM	The Golden Girls
10:00 AM	Frasier
10:30 AM	Frasier
11:00 AM	Will & Grace
11:30 AM	Will & Grace
12:00 PM	Movie
2:00 PM	Movie
4:00 PM	The Golden Girls
4:30 PM	The Golden Girls
5:00 PM	Still Standing
5:30 PM	Still Standing
6:00 PM	Reba
6:30 PM	Reba
7:00 PM	Still Standing
7:30 PM	Still Standing
8:00 PM	Army Wives (Monday) Reba (Tuesday-Friday)
8:30 PM	Reba
9:00 PM	Movie
11:00 PM	Will & Grace
11:30 PM	Will & Grace
12:00 AM	Frasier (Side Order of Life on Fridays)
12:30 AM	Frasier
1:00 AM	The Golden Girls
1:30 AM	The Golden Girls
2:00 AM	The Nanny

• Subtract one hour for Central and two hours Mountain time.

Weekend TV series

Saturdays 11:00 PM	Grey's Anatomy
Sundays 12:00 AM	Desperate Housewives
Sundays 8:00 PM	State of Mind
Sundays 9:00 PM	Side Order of Life
Sundays 10:00 PM	Army Wives

[edit] Criticism

Lifetime has been criticized for its promulgation of radical feminist philosophies and fear-mongering, including exaggerated portrayals of violence against women.^[4] Most of its features have suggested that only women are victims of rape and molestation. As part of a feature weekend, on April 15, 2007, Lifetime Movie Network (LMN) broadcast nine continuous hours of melodramatic movies with the central theme of men abusing women. Other stories have portrayed lesbians as the only members of the LGBT community oppressed by society.

It has also faced some criticism for the unimaginative or over-explanatory nature of its made-for-TV film titles. An example would be "Victim: Rape in A New Jersey Suburb" or "Hope: One Woman's Struggle With Breast Cancer".^{[citation needed]} In fact, an episode of Family Guy parodied Lifetime's widely-criticized program titles in a sequence where the family is watching the channel. In this sequence, a male OB/GYN is supposed to be examining a woman for cancer. To no one's surprise, the man rapes her and then tells her she has cancer. After she begins to sob, the announcer brings the viewers to a break, saying that they will return shortly to "Men Are Bad And Will Hurt You, Because This Is Lifetime." ^[5]

[edit] See also

• Lifetime Movie Network
• Lifetime Real Women, launched in 2001.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official Site