Sundance Channel Makes Vegas Splash
By Michael Malone -- Broadcasting & Cable, 6/21/2006 3:50:00 PM
The Sundance Channel announced two new original series set in Nevada: one focusing on legal wrangling in Vegas, and the other on prostitution in a rural desert town. Sin City Law is an eight-part documentary series detailing the rivalry between the pro-death penalty district attorney, and an ex-prosecutor turned bleeding heart. The series debuts in the second half of 2007. Pleasure For Sale looks at the socio-economic implications of a bordello in Pahrump, Nev., 60 miles northwest of Vegas. The six-part series is created by the Gantz brothers, Joe and Harry, creators of Taxicab Confessions. It will air late in 2007.
Also on the ’07 slate is the reprise of Festival Dailies and Nimrod Nation, about a small-town high school basketball team that Sundance EVP of Programming and Marketing Laura Michalchyshyn said features “people right out of the feature film Fargo.”
Original series for the remainder of this year are clothing design show House of Boateng, which debuts this week; The Hill, about a gaggle of Congressional staffers that airs in August; the second season of Iconoclasts, debuting in October; and One Punk Under God, a reality show about the oddball son of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker that rolls in December.
The slate mirrors Sundance’s goal of dramatically boosting original offerings. “We are delivering against our promise that Sundance Channel will consistently offer its audience exclusive, provocative and entertaining programming,” said Michalchyshyn, “insuring that when viewers are seeking something different…we are there.”
