Lifetime’s Women: From Morning to ‘Molly Dodd’

“I think we would like to be the first channel choice for women,” says Pat Fili, senior vice president, programming and production, for cable’s Lifetime Television. “We would like to feel when a woman turns on TV, she goes to Lifetime because she thinks there might be something she’d like to watch.”

Lifetime reaches for women viewers with a smorgasbord of new and repeat programming. During the day, it offers information and advice programs, featuring Dr. T. Berry Brazelton, Dr. Ruth Westheimer, Charlene Prickett, Jane Wallace, Linda Dano and Dee Kelly.

Prime time includes the first-run comedy “The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd,” the magazine series “Esquire: About Men, for Women,” reruns of such favorites as “Moonlighting,” “Spencer: For Hire” and “Cagney & Lacey,” plus movies, documentaries and specials.

The 24-hour, six day-a-week basic cable network, a venture of Hearst/ABC-Viacom Entertainment Services, is available on more than 4,600 cable systems throughout the nation, serving more than 46 million households. It was born six years ago, the result of a merger between Daytime, a four-hour-per-day weekday service, and the Cable Health Network, a 24-hour service offering programs on personal and family health.

(On Sundays the channel takes a different look, with programming for physicians and other medical professionals from Lifetime Medical Television.)

“We’re evolving out of a talking heads, pretty dry informational programming, which was really an economic limitation when we were younger,” explains Tom Burchill, president and CEO.

“Now, we’re getting a little more grown up and have a little more financial muscle, thanks to the support of the cable operators.”

When Fili came aboard Lifetime two years ago, the first thing she did was rescue “Molly Dodd” from oblivion after NBC canceled the acclaimed series that stars Blair Brown as a divorced, middle-class New York woman.

“I was a big fan of the show,” Fili said. “It was such a quality show, it would put us on the map with both the creative community as well as the viewer. It also gave us a goal. If you say, ‘We’re the network that brought back “Molly Dodd” in original episodes,’ it sets a standard for the network.”

Lifetime served up 13 new episodes of “Molly Dodd” last April and begins another 26 new episodes Friday at 10:30 p.m. The series has proved so successful for the network that Lifetime is planning one full night of original programming for late 1991.

The first of its two original movies, “Stop at Nothing,” premieres in July. Four months later, it will begin to air a package of 42 Orion feature films, including such box-office hits as “Bull Durham,” “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” and “Married to the Mob.”

In February, Lifetime debuted its first game shows: “Supermarket Sweep,” an updated version of the old favorite, and “Rodeo Drive,” featuring three contestants answering questions about celebrities for big bucks and glitzy prizes. The shows air from 6 to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday.

“We wanted more entertainment,” Fili said. “We are very successful with our daytime informational programming. We have ‘Attitudes,’ which has been on the air now for three years, and we just introduced Jane Wallace, a very strong role model who deals with women’s issues head-on. We wanted to add a little entertainment to the mix, and game shows are very, very popular with women.”

Though Lifetime may be pro-woman, it’s not anti-male, Fili said. The network has chosen its prime-time series for their universal appeal. “As we go into the evening hours, women tend to watch TV with their families and husbands,” Fili said. “We want programming that appeals to women but is something that doesn’t turn off men. Obviously, ‘Molly Dodd’ has a male following, as does ‘Moonlighting.’ ”

Also included in that category are “L.A. Law” and “The Tracey Ullman Show,” which Lifetime will repeat beginning in September, and “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show,” set to be rerun starting in June, 1991.

Besides the premiere of “Molly Dodd,” Lifetime will be airing several specials this month--which happens to be National Cable Month--including the award-winning “Atomic Shakespeare” episode of “Moonlighting” (8 p.m. Friday; and the one-woman comedy show, “Elayne Boosler: Party of One” (11 p.m. Friday .

“Attitudes,” with Linda Dano and Dee Kelly, travels to Paris next week to introduce the latest Parisian fashions, and select episodes of “The Jane Wallace Show” and “Attitudes” will be devoted to environmental issues in recognition of Earth Day (April 22).