The mailer arrived on the desks of national TV journalists early this month. Inside was a large portfolio of artful black and white images with provocative captioning, the first in what is expected to be a number of promotional props aimed at hyping the still-in-development 13-episode hour-long Crash, Starz’s first-ever drama series based on the 2005 Academy Award-winning movie.

With Crash in its original series lineup, Starz is attempting to position itself as a real competitor to its larger premium rivals, HBO and Showtime, where hit shows like The Sopranos and Dexter, respectively, have added cachet to each brand and subscribers to their networks.

In spite of the now-settled Writers Guild of America strike, 2008 is shaping up to be a strong year of original programming for the premium networks.

These days, originals are particularly important to executives at premium networks because the business model they were founded upon, getting viewers to subscribe to watch movies uncensored and without commercial interruptions, fundamentally doesn’t exist anymore, according to Sacramento Bee TV critic Rick Kushman.

“People now get movies on demand and through Netflix and all kinds of other ways. Nobody is buying HBO so they can finally get to see the latest action flick or whatever it is,” Kushman said.

With the bar raised by such shows as HBO’s provocative Sex and the City and Showtime’s dark comedy Weeds, series development becomes even more challenging with each new season, Kushman said.

“Now we — as journalists and as viewers — expect good things out of them. We won’t settle for mediocrity out of HBO or even Showtime. They’ve positioned themselves as the Lexus and Mercedes of television, so now they’ve got to keep producing these really hot cars, and to a lesser extent Starz, which is just going to have problems getting noticed.”

CROWDED FIELD

HBO was the first network to prove that original programming could be done — and done well — on premium cable. Bolstered by great writers, complex stories and stellar performers, there were few — in broadcasting, as well as cable — that could top it.

But since then Sex and the City heroine Carrie Bradshaw has sauntered off into the proverbial sunset with Mr. Big and the lights went out on Tony Soprano & Co. Now, a growing crop of like-minded quality shows have begun springing up and garnering praise and eyeballs for pay-competitor Showtime, as well as basic players such as FX and AMC.

“Everyone is a competitor at this point—and you’re competing with not just other networks, but other platforms,” said Charlie Collier vice president and general manager of AMC.

“I’m just guessing that when HBO was out there on their own, there had to be a little bit of complacency that, 'Well we’re out there, were still ahead of the game, we’re not TV, we’re HBO, so we’re always going to win,’ ” USA president Bonnie Hammer said. “Complacency sets in really easily and I think when there are a whole lot of people competing for that gold ring, it puts people’s feet under the fire in a very positive way … I think it’s a real motivator for a team.”