BBCAmerica has renewed its first original scripted drama COPPER for a 2d 13-episode season in 2013. The network claims a total audience of 1M+ per episode, but that must count multiple airings and other platforms, since its most recent episode had about half a million viewers in its initial airing. As a period piece, the Civil War-era procedural set in NY doesn’t register much with younger audiences, drawing fewer than 200K viewers under 50 in its first airing last week.
BBCAmerica’s renewal is likely more a statement to the creative community than an indication of heavy profits from Copper. The series is produced by A-level creators Barry Levinson and Tom Fontana, and by keeping the show alive despite marginal ratings–and even announcing the renewal before the season finale airs on Sunday–the network is encouraging other writers and their agents to bring their pitches in, perhaps not as a first stop, or probably a fourth, but at least on the list. The show had recently solved what it had presented as its central mystery, resolving the fates of hero Kevin Corcoran’s missing wife and dead daughter, so this Sunday’s season finale will likely set the stage for the Season 2 to come.
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About the Author
Mitch Salem
MITCH SALEM has worked on the business side of the entertainment industry for 20 years, as a senior business affairs executive and attorney for such companies as NBC, ABC, USA, Syfy, Bravo, and BermanBraun Productions, and before that, at the NY law firm of Weil, Gotshal & Manges. During all that, he has more or less constantly been going to the movies and watching TV, and writing about both since the 1980s. His film reviews also currently appear on screened.com and the-burg.com. In addition, he is co-writer of an episode of the television series "Felicity."
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