Mrs. Doubtfire
The 1993 film about a divorced father who disguises himself as a Scottish nanny to spend more time with his kids aired more than any other movie on basic cable in 2013. The reason: CMT made sure it got its money’s worth, accounting for nearly half the airtime. “There’s really not a place on the schedule where it doesn’t work,” said Katie Buchanan, senior vice president of programming strategy and acquisitions at the country music channel.
Sleepless in Seattle
The Tom Hanks-Meg Ryan romantic comedy was a hit, grossing $127 million in the U.S. when it came out in 1993. But it went to another level on television, where it has cemented its status among networks as a queen of counter-programming. CBS once ran it against ABC’s college football title game and had its biggest Monday night of the year. Last year it aired on nine different networks.
She’s All That
The low-budget teen flick was a surprise hit when it was released in theaters in 1999, and has held its appeal among millennials thanks to a cast of future stars that included Freddie Prinze Jr., the late Paul Walker, Rachael Leigh Cook, Anna Paquin, Usher and Lil’ Kim. But it would be nowhere near the top of the 2013 most-aired list without Oxygen, which swallowed two-thirds of the movie’s time on cable.
Scarface
The 1983 drama starring Al Pacino as a Cuban drug kingpin was largely dismissed by critics as over the top. But the rags-to-riches story of Mr. Pacino’s Tony Montana struck a chord with a generation of young, mostly African-American and Latino men whose cultural influence soared in the years after the film’s debut. The movie appeared in some form in seemingly every episode of MTV’s “Cribs.” Last year it tied “Shawshank” in basic-cable airtime.
There’s Something About Mary
The gross-out gags may be tame by today’s standards but it doesn’t matter. The Farrelly brothers perfected their special blend of puerile humor and heart with this 1998 film, and haven’t come close since. That’s why a generation of fans hooked by “Dumb & Dumber” and “Kingpin” keep coming back. Last year “Mary” aired on seven basic-cable networks.
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