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Starz Hopes For Breakthrough Hit With Patrick Stewart Comedy

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

For years, premium cable networks have earned that word, premium. Think "The Sopranos" and the biting political comedy, "Veep" from HBO, or Showtime and its attention-grabbing "Homeland." And then think Starz. And if you're having trouble remembering what's so premium about Starz, you aren't the only one. Starz is trying to step up its game now with a new comedy starring Patrick Stewart. It's called "Blunt Talk," and it premieres this weekend. Here to talk more about it is NPR's TV critic, Eric Deggans.

Eric, welcome back.

ERIC DEGGANS, BYLINE: Hey.

CORNISH: So the plot of this show has Patrick Stewart playing a self-destructive British newscaster named Walter Blunt who comes to L.A. to host a cable talk show. So this is like a fish out of water type thing.

DEGGANS: Yeah, and what's good about this is that Patrick Stewart kind of throws himself into every scene he's in. He gamely does whatever they ask him to do, no matter how outlandish. And this show has a pedigree. Seth McFarlane is the executive producer. You know him from "Family Guy" and the movie "Ted." Oscar nominee actress Jacki Weaver is in it. And it's really an interesting situation. We have this guy who drinks too much, he does drugs, he has these public scandals and he has to talk about it all with his psychologist, who's played by Richard Lewis.

So here we've got a clip of the two of them together. Let's check it out.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "BLUNT TALK")

PATRICK STEWART: (As Walter Blunt) I put my career in jeopardy, I'm a lousy to middling father and I've hurt every woman I've ever been with.

RICHARD LEWIS: (As Dr. Weiss) And what do you think would lessen your negative feelings about yourself?

STEWART: (As Walter Blunt) Well, a woman.

LEWIS: (As Dr. Weiss) So what's holding you back from meeting a woman?

STEWART: (As Walter Blunt) My track record. All my relationships end in pain.

LEWIS: (As Dr. Weiss) Did that stop Elizabeth Taylor?

DEGGANS: Yeah, we got an Elizabeth Taylor joke here.

CORNISH: OK.

DEGGANS: I mean, it's kind of a weird choice for a show that's supposed to be a contemporary comedy about celebrity culture in the news business. So that gives you a hint of some of the problems they have with it.

CORNISH: Oh, problems. OK, Eric, it sounds like you're not exactly a big fan of this show. What's going on?

DEGGANS: Well, this show is ultimately a collection of a bunch of scattered jokes that don't really add up to, like, a larger idea. I mean, you want this program to say some insightful stuff about the news business or the nature of celebrity or the absurdity of modern life, but you're mostly following around this self-centered, eccentric, self-destructive, cable TV guy who seems sort of vaguely modeled after Piers Morgan, the former CNN host. So in an odd way, it's kind of less than the sum of its parts.

CORNISH: All right, Eric, but Starz is trying to compete in a very, very crowded marketplace right now, right? I mean, how does it do that?

DEGGANS: Well, you're right. The marketplace is crowded. I mean, this year, we're going to have something like 400 TV series, right? So, in an environment like that, Starz - this channel that asked people to pay an extra fee to access what they do - they really have to deliver exceptional programming, and not too many of Starz's shows have been that great. Now this channel, they've been around since 1994. They've got sister channels like Encore and MoviePlex, something like 30 million subscribers. And you may remember some shows that they've had like a version of "Spartacus." They have an urban drama called "Power," and they have this romantic drama about a time traveling World War II nurse called "Outlander." But even though "Power" and "Outlander" have connected with strong fan bases, they still don't have that visibility of shows on rivals like HBO and Showtime.

CORNISH: OK, so it sounds like basically they need a hit. Why aren't they getting there?

DEGGANS: Well, to put it another way, they need a hit show that defines the channel's brand for the world, especially the audience. They've had these shows that are good, but they just don't land in the zeitgeist and talk about issues that are at the center of pop culture and how we talk about life. They've got a show called "Power," for example, that's a great urban drama, but it's overshadowed by Fox's drama, "Empire," because "Power" doesn't really say a lot about race or urban life in the way that "Empire" does. HBO had hits like "Sex And The City," and now they have "Game Of Thrones" that defines a channel for audiences. Showtime has "The Affair." Starz needs its version of that kind of a hit. They've got some interesting programs coming up, including a drama about ballet called "Flesh And Bone" from a writer who worked on "Breaking Bad," and they've got a series inspired by the "Evil Dead" movies called "Ash Vs. Evil Dead." But so far, series like "Blunt Talk," they're just not there yet.

CORNISH: That's Eric Deggans, NPR's TV critic.

Eric thanks for the heads up.

DEGGANS: Always a pleasure. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Eric Deggans is NPR's first full-time TV critic.