What did cable channels bring to the TV drama?

What did cable channels bring to the TV drama?

Pamela Douglas (Screenwriter) gives expert video advice on: What are the lastest trends in TV dramas?; Why are more screenwriters writing for television? and more...

Cable channels brought possibilities to drama because they are free of some FCC regulations. The Federal Communications Commission regulates what can be used on the public airwaves, which covers such things as language and nudity. It ought to cover violence, but doesn't. To some degree, the FCC regulates subject areas. Cable, especially pay cable, is free of all those regulations. Because of that, it has invited creators to be free in imagining what people could say to each other, how they would interact, and what the real issues are for them. So it provided opportunity. Apart from the subject, the content, cable simply provided more outlets, and so more means just more opportunities to try stuff. Some of it is good; some less good.