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Nascent Romance Channel Promises a Whole Lotta Love--and Then Some We have no idea what she actually looks like, but we imagine Pat Davis to be small, fluffy and inordinately fond of the color pink. After all, Davis is the vice-president of programming and scheduling for Romance Classics, the 24-hour cable channel that debuted Jan. 1, featuring romance, romance and more romance. During a recent telephone interview, Davis proved to be bubbly and enthusiastic about her new responsibilities (she holds the same position at American Movie Classics [AMC], from which Romance Classics is a spin-off). She views the channel as a cure-all for the tensions of modern life. "Our audience consists of women of all ages," she explains. "We offer films for women who want to come home from work, kick off their shoes, curl up with a cup of coffee, enjoy a few hours of nice romance and recover from a hectic lifestyle." Asked what makes a "romantic classic," Davis responded, "If I think it's a romance, it is." Positioning herself as a "very average" viewer, Davis likes films that show people falling into love, out of love and back in love again. "Boy meets girl, loses girl, gets girl back--that formula still works. It doesn't have to have a happy ending. 'Brief Encounter' doesn't have a so-called happy ending, but it's certainly a romance. 'The Bridges of Madison County' doesn't have a happy ending either, but it has an understandable one." OK, but what about guy flicks? Does the channel exclude men, inadvertently or not, from the after-work relaxation stakes? No way, says Davis. "We discovered through AMC that couples like to watch TV together." She thinks that men and women want to enjoy some "comfy" viewing with one another--presumably after he's done watching guys attempt to kill one another on ESPN or the History Channel. In addition to the tried and true, Romance Classics will present original shows. Among the series to be aired is "Great Romances of the Twentieth Century." A special, "Isn't It Romantic," examines that rare thing, the enduring Hollywood marriage. And planned for April is a day of "real-life romance," featuring scads of documentary footage of princesses and other royal personages, and a roundtable of journalists who will speculate on their next moves. "Love is always a wonderful story line that can't be beat," says Davis, who relishes the job of finding the right collection of movies for a particular occasion. She's produced a weeklong blowout of films for Valentine's Day, for instance. Better clear off the couch and put on a pot of coffee... --Joanna Wissinger [see more fun from swoon.com] |
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