Ovation Network Bets Fine Arts Cable Can Thrive

Over the years, cable-TV networks have managed to develop hit series about an impressive range of seemingly unappealing subjects—funeral homes, long-haul truck drivers, gold miners, and New Jersey housewives. But in October a small, independent network found success tapping perhaps the most unlikely source material in the history of pay TV: classic Russian literature.

On Oct. 2, actors Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter fame and Jon Hamm of Mad Men starred in the U.S. première of A Young Doctor’s Notebook, an eight-part miniseries about the travails of an inexperienced physician working in a remote village in early 20th century Russia. The series, which aired last year on the Sky Arts channel in the U.K., is based on short stories by the novelist Mikhail Bulgakov. “The supporting cast is terrific, the setting sublime, and there is absolutely nothing like it on television,” said the Los Angeles Times.