He said telling stories in a cable series "gives you more license and much more freedom" to develop characters.
Though Hulu has had little trouble serving up broadcast programming from 30 Rock to Desperate Housewives, securing cable series on the free (advertiser-supported) service has proved trickier.
Thus, sensing opportunity, Warner Brothers is offering a chance to buy reruns of its cable series The Closer, which has never been aired on a broadcast network.
The latter, starring Kyra Sedgwick, is the No. 1 basic cable series of all time, with an average audience of 4.8 million for its combined three seasons.
Matthew Weiner, the creator and driving force of the AMC cable series "Mad Men, " doesn't outwardly resemble the show's main character, the unflappable advertising executive Don Draper.
Sensing an opportunity, Warner Bros. is offering broadcasters a chance to buy reruns of its cable series The Closer, which has never been aired on a broadcast network.
According to the site TV By The Numbers, it ranked as the top-rated original cable series on Thursday nights among viewers 12 to 34, and pulled in an average of 3 million total viewers per episode since its premiere in January.
Someone watching a cable series at a friend's house can finish the program at home or on their mobile device, schedule their DVR to record an episode, even record the full season, just by sampling the screen for a second or two.
ENGADGET: TVSync API unveiled, helps devs build second-screen and smart TV apps
On Monday, Business Secretary Vince Cable announced a series of measures designed to rein in excessive executive pay.
But with a growing cadre of quality original series on cable, this season has proved particularly noteworthy.
Catfights have become practically de rigueur for many cable and network reality series.
In meetings as far back as 2010, Mr. Jobs met with a series of cable and satellite executives to discuss next-generation television services for Apple devices, according to people familiar with the matter.
Adding to the September excitement, several cable channels are also launching new series during a month once reserved for broadcast network premieres.
Each of his cookbooks has made it to the best-seller list, and both cable programs are big hits: "The Essence of Emeril" earned two daytime Emmy nominations in 2001 and 2002, and "Emeril Live" won a 1997 Cable Ace Award for best informational series.
Late last year fellow daytime star Oprah Winfrey said she will end her series and roll out a cable channel OWN in 2011.
In addition, V CAST Video from Verizon Wireless brings more than 100 full-length TV series from leading broadcast and cable providers to wireless phones.
During Watchathon Week, Xfinity TV customers will have access to more than 3, 500 episodes of 100 TV series across 30 premium, cable and broadcast networks.
It's getting early buzz from a community that knows to credit the show's executive producer, Shawn Ryan, for putting basic cable on the map with his last FX series, The Shield.
Each robot is composed of two halves: the upper part, shaped like a stunted surfboard, is attached by a cable to a lower part that sports a series of fins and a keel.
When the Blackhawks beat the Vancouver Canucks in the sixth game of their last playoff series, the game was seen on cable TV by 273, 000 households, the Blackhawks' highest cable audience ratings ever.
Winfrey's new cable station, Own, will soon premiere a new series featuring Sarah Ferguson, called Finding Sarah.
The producers were also eager to discuss the dice the network is rolling with the series, which is more reminiscent of a cable show than a broadcast one.
Also, this past year has witnessed the much publicised arrival of a US version of the British TV series Queer as Folk on a major pay TV cable network.
When it came to high-quality original series, the FX network was once the only basic cable network in the game.
What's more, the series trades on a formula that has played well with cable audiences: layered characters that are neither entirely good nor pure evil.
Consider Larry the Cable Guy, who got his break on the Blue Collar Comedy tour and a subsequent series on Viacom 's Comedy Central.
In 2000 it added "Nickelodeon Central" areas (based on cartoons from the popular kids' cable network) with smaller rides and parades starring life-size characters from the Rugrats series.
Consider Larry the Cable Guy, who got his break on the Blue Collar Comedy tour and a subsequent series on Viacom 's (nyse: VIA - news - people ) Comedy Central.
The idea of moving the responsibility of the BSkyB bid from Business Secretary Vince Cable to Mr Hunt was suggested by Cabinet Secretary Jeremy Heywood, Mr Cameron said, following a series of meetings with Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Downing Street staff.
On other cable networks, particularly IFC, Comedy Central, and the Cartoon Network, a wild array of comedy series are taking similar advantage of their niche status.
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