Trio

Trio (or TRIO) was an American cable and satellite television channel.

Trio went on the air in 1997, then originally owned and operated jointly by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Power Broadcasting Inc. (a subsidiary of Power Corporation of Canada) as a venue for airing the CBC's arts, culture and entertainment programming in the U.S. It was sold to USA Networks in 2000,^[1] and was subsequently transferred to Vivendi Universal and later NBC Universal.

With the slogan, "pop, culture, TV," Trio programming under Vivendi/NBC Universal ownership focused on television as a cultural tool and artform.

In January 2005, DirecTV dropped Trio, eliminating about two-thirds of the homes that could receive the network. On November 21, 2005, NBC Universal announced that the Trio brand would be transferred to a broadband initiative under the Bravotv.com banner on January 1, 2006. Cable and satellite providers still carrying Trio were offered a new NBC Universal cable channel instead, Sleuth.

Notable Trio programs

Original

• The N-Word, Peabody Award-winning documentary starring Whoopi Goldberg, Samuel L. Jackson and many other African American celebrities discussing the origin and power of the word nigger.
• The Awards Show Awards Show, examination of America's obsession with awards
• The Christmas Special Christmas Special
• Film Fanatic, cinema, hosted by Amy Sedaris

Reruns

• A Very British Coup
• Adrenaline Junkies (a.k.a. Medivac)
• Airline
• All Saints
• Battle of the Network Stars
• Black Harbour
• Blue Heelers
• Brides of Christ
• Bugs
• Coming Home (TV miniseries), based on the Rosamunde Pilcher novel
• Coronation Street
• Counterstrike
• Cracker
• The Dame Edna Experience
• The Damnation of Harvey McHugh
• Duggan (NZ TV series)
• EGG, the Arts Show
• E.N.G.
• Flightpath
• Hot Type
• Judy Garland Show Christmas Special
• Kath & Kim
• Late Night with David Letterman
• London's Burning
• McCallum
• MediaTelevision
• Mercury (Australian TV series), featuring Geoffrey Rush in an early lead role
• Nancherrow, the sequel to Coming Home (TV miniseries)
• The Nature of Things
• New York Undercover
• North of 60
• Once Upon a Hamster
• Queen for a Day
• The Raccoons
• Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
• SCTV
• Secret Rulers of the World
• Sessions at West 54th
• Spaced
• Street Legal
• Taggart
• The Littlest Hobo
• Traders
• Undercurrents
• Young People's Concerts

Brilliant But Cancelled

This was the umbrella title under which Trio aired repeats of series that had very short lives on mainstream broadcast television, yet were still considered to be programming that "broke the mold" of what was normally expected from the "Big Three" networks. Series that appeared under the Brilliant But Cancelled umbrella included:

• Action
• Bakersfield P.D.
• Brideshead Revisited (one of the programs that was not a cancelled series; this was a miniseries adaptation of the famous novel)
• East Side/West Side
• EZ Streets
• Fargo(a pilot)
• God, the Devil and Bob
• Johnny Staccato
• Kolchak: The Night Stalker
• Lookwell (also not a cancelled series; this was a pilot that was not picked up.)
• Now and Again
• Profit
• The PJs

Brilliant But Cancelled was later used by Universal as a title for a series of DVDs that feature samples of short-lived series. Two of these have been released so far—one of these a sampler of short-lived crime drama series; another was selected episodes of EZ Streets.

Flops

Special airing of shows that flopped.

• Cop Rock
• Pink Lady and Jeff

References

External links

• Official website
• Former Trio logo from 1998, during an airing of "The Raccoons"