TVSquad

TNT is furthering its investment in original drama by adding two new shows to its programming, increasing the number of original hour-long dramas they offer to seven. The first new show is The Line, a cop drama produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and starring Dylan McDermott. The second is a medical drama called Time Heals starring Jada Pinkett Smith.

This seems to me an example of a trickle-down effect. Due to the Internet and video-on-demand, reruns simply don't work anymore in keeping a network in business. Original drama worked so well for premium networks such as HBO and Showtime that standard cable stations such as AMC, TNT and several others took it upon themselves to do the same.

I guess Leverage is such a winner for the network that it can afford to add to its line-up. At this rate, there is going to be too much original television offered weekly for a human being to possibly keep up (if there isn't already), which is why video-on-demand was invented in the first place.

After the success of The Closer, you can't blame TNT for going with a proven formula.

The cable network is close to greenlighting two police drama pilots, a project from Jerry Bruckheimer about young undercover officers and Bunker Hill starring Donnie Wahlberg (which actually already received an a pilot order).

TNT's certainly been a busy little bee, stacking up new series left and right. Besides these two pilots, they've got Time Heals, starring Jada Pinkett Smith as a hospital nursing director; Night and Day, with William Fichtner playing an agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; and Men of a Certain Age, a dramedy featuring Ray Romano, Scott Bakula and Andre Braugher.