"On Patrol Live" revived Reelz; Major League struggle could make them a contender

With Major League Wrestling debuting tonight on Reelz, the ad-supported cable channel hopes to recreate the impossible. Launched in 2006 as the Reelz Channel, then best known for being home to Leonard Maltin's "Maltin on Movies" and hosting the Visual Effects Society Awards, it has gone through many iterations - until recently, none were truly successful. A year ago, it ranked #51 in cable primetime among its top demos for commercials, adults 25-54.

And then, a miracle. On July 22, 2022, Reelz premiered "On Patrol Live", their revival of the format behind the canceled A&E hit "Live P.D." Today, Reelz is #19 and its year-over-year ratings are up 274%

"We thought it was going to be fine...it blew it all up," Steve Cheskin, vice president of programming at Reelz, told IndieWire. "And he pulls everything with him."

Wisely, Cheskin won't refer to "On Patrol Live" as the return of "Live P.D." For starters, "On Patrol Live" is a new program that has just enough differences to stay away from "Live P.D." And… there is an ongoing lawsuit between Big Fish (which produced the two programs) and A&E.

A&E has canceled "Live P.D." in June 2020 amid ongoing protests surrounding the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis Police Department Derek Chauvin in May. Around the same time, the American statesman from Austin released a report that "Live P.D." producers destroyed footage of a man being arrested and dying in custody in March 2019. ("Live P.D." Producer Big Fish said he shared the never-released footage with investigators and then destroyed it, per the studio protocol.) A&E ratings have yet to recover.

Reelz's "On Patrol Live" hosts left to right: Sean "Sticks" Larkin, Dan Abrams and Curtis Wilson

Courtesy of Reelz

"Clearly 'On Patrol Live' took us in a different direction," said Cheskin, who also coined Shark Week for the Discovery Channel. A different direction indeed. The channel (tagline: "Stories About the Famous and the Infamous") now focuses almost exclusively on crime programming with key shows that include "COPS" (Paramount Network canceled the show around the same time A&E ended "Live P.D."), "Jail", and his #1 program before the days "On Patrol Live", "Autopsy".

Some of the most successful 'Autopsy' episodes have focused on professional wrestlers, and Reelz's revamped research department found "amazing how many 'On Patrol Live' viewers love wrestling," Cheskin said. .

Among them is Court Bauer, founder and CEO of MLW and fan of "On Patrol Live". Biff Lawson, who produces both Major League Wrestling and "On Patrol Live," is even more direct.

"In the 10 years I've been here, a lot of different wrestling leagues have come in and said they want to be on our network," Cheskin said. "And I have to say, those MLW guys were just persistent."

Plus, "they're Reelz fans, they really knew our shows," he continued. "It's nice when someone who wants their show on your network knows your programming almost as well as I do."