LIFETIME TELEVISION

'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.

Contents

History

Carriers

Logos

Programs broadcast by Lifetime

Original programming

Syndicated programming

Former syndicated programming

Weekday Schedule

Criticism

See also

References

External links

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 canceled 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''.
Lifetime's main competitors as "women's channels" are the Oxygen Network and , 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".

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.^[1]

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.

Programs broadcast by Lifetime

Original programming

★ ''Army Wives''

★ ''Angela's Eyes''

★ ''Any Day Now''

★ ''Attitudes''

★ ''Denise Austin''

★ ''Beach Girls''

★ ''Blood Ties''

★ ''Cheerleader Nation''

★ ''The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd'' '†'

★ ''The Division''

★ ''Gay, Straight or Taken''

★ ''Head 2 Toe''

★ ''How Clean Is Your House?''

★ ''"I Do" Diaries''

★ ''I Married a Princess''

★ ''Intimate Portrait''

★ ''Late Date With Sari''

★ ''

★ ''Lovespring International

★ ''Merge''

★ ''Monarch Cove''

★ ''1-800-Missing''

★ ''Not Like Everyone Else''

★ ''Oh Baby''

★ ''Side Order of Life''

★ ''Speaking of Women's Health''

★ ''State of Mind''

★ ''Strong Medicine''

★ ''Weddings''

★ ''What Should You Do?''

★ ''Who Knows You Best?''

★ ''Wild Card''

Syndicated programming

★ ''Desperate Housewives''

★ ''Frasier''

★ ''Grey's Anatomy''

★ ''The Golden Girls''

★ ''Medium''

★ ''The Nanny''

★ ''Reba''

★ ''Still Standing''

★ ''Unsolved Mysteries''

★ ''Will & Grace''

Former syndicated programming

★ ''Day by Day''

★ ''Designing Women''

★ ''Ellen''

★ ''The Golden Palace''

★ ''

★ ''L.A. Law''

★ ''Providence''

★ ''Women of the House''


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

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''

Criticism

Lifetime has been criticized for its promulgation of radical feminist philosophies and fear-mongering, including exaggerated portrayals of violence against women. 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 member of the LGBT community oppressed by society. Lifetime has also been used as a vehicle for supporting feminist legislation. During the week of March 16, 2007, Lifetime fronted a series of events in Washington, D.C., to lobby the passage of the International Violence Against Women Act (I-VAWA).^[2]
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".

See also

★ Lifetime Movie Network

★ Lifetime Real Women, launched in 2001.

References

1. DISH Network and Lifetime Entertainment Services Reach Multi-Year Agreement; Lifetime Television and Lifetime Movie Network Restored TMCnet News
2. Lifetime TV: A Feminist Lobbying Machine, by David R. Usher. The Conservative Voice

External links

★ Official Site