NBC to broadcast Hillary Clinton miniseries

BEVERLY HILLS, California (AP) ― A Hillary Rodham Clinton miniseries timed to precede the 2016 presidential election is part of NBC’s effort to create “event” programming that will draw viewers to the shrinking world of broadcast network TV, NBC’s programming chief said Saturday.

“We need to be in the event business. I think you’re going to hear that from every broadcast network,” said Bob Greenblatt, NBC Entertainment chairman.

The four-hour miniseries “Hillary,” starring Diane Lane as the former first lady and secretary of state, is one such bid for distinctive programming, he said.

The goal is to woo viewers who are increasingly being drawn away by cable TV’s eye-catching, critically acclaimed fare like “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad” and other media choices.

Broadcasting network TV’s audience is shrinking by 4 percent to 7 percent annually, Greenblatt told a meeting of the Television Critics Association.

“Anything that can shake up the landscape and say, ‘we have something special’” would be considered part of the varied group of event projects, he said.

At NBC, that ranges from the new fall game show “Million Second Quiz” to big-ticket scripted fare including “Hillary” and other projects announced Saturday: “Rosemary’s Baby” a four-hour version of the Ira Levin novel that was adapted as a 1968 movie; an adaptation of “Stephen King’s Tommyknockers,” and “Plymouth,” about the Pilgrim’s journey and settlement in America.

A six-hour miniseries about Cleopatra is in development, Greenblatt said.

Although Clinton hasn’t announced her intention to seek the Democratic nomination for president in 2016, Greenblatt spoke as if her candidacy is expected. “Hillary” could air before Clinton announces her decision, but the timing has yet to be determined, Greenblatt said.

He didn’t address how such a miniseries, which will track Clinton’s life and career from 1998 to the present, might affect the presidential contest.

The part of former President Bill Clinton has yet to be cast. Lane’s credits include the feature films “Unfaithful,” “Under the Tuscan Sun,” and more recently, “Man of Steel,” and the TV movie “Cinema Verite.”