Damages revolves around Patty Hewes (Glenn Close), a tough New York attorney. She takes on tough cases and will do just about anything to make sure her clients come out on top. Prominent castmembers have included Rose Byrne, Tate Donovan, Ted Danson, Zeljko Ivanek, Noah Bean, Anastasia Griffith, and Philip Bosco.
The FX series has been declining in the ratings for some time and the third season finale only drew 925,000 viewers. The cable channel said that they couldn’t afford to keep broadcasting the show based on those numbers. They also said they’d be open to some sort of partnership deal if Sony could find another buyer (ala the shared airings of Friday Night Lights between NBC and DirecTV).
DirecTV has come to the show’s rescue but is financing new episodes for exclusive airings, in a similar vein to the deal they made for Passions a couple years back. This means that viewers who don’t have DirecTV won’t be able to see the episodes.
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“FX was very proud to have developed one of the best scripted series on television, but, in order to have a future, the show needed DirecTV and we are thrilled they stepped in,” said John Landgraf, President & General Manager, FX Networks. “Sony Pictures Television is a great production partner and we at FX Productions are excited for these next two seasons.”
Under the exclusive deal, DirecTV has ordered 20 new episodes of Damages that will play out over the course of two seasons. They’ll air on DirecTV’s exclusive 101 channel in 2011 and 2012. The satellite provider has also acquired the rights to rerun the first three seasons of Damages.
For those without DirecTV, the episodes will surely be released on DVD at some point.
What do you think? Are you glad to hear that Damages has been saved? If you don’t already subscribe, would this news make you consider ordering DirecTV?
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