Sleuth (TV channel)
Encyclopedia
Cloo is a digital cable
television channel
with programming dedicated to the crime and mystery genres. It is owned and operated by NBCUniversal. It launched on January 1, 2006, replacing Trio
. Sleuth debuted on DirecTV
on June 1, 2006, and on Dish Network
nine days later.
Cloo focuses on mystery entertainment, with the majority of the channel's programming borrowed from sister channels NBC
and USA Network
.
On August 15, 2011, Sleuth was rebranded as Cloo, in order to be able to trademark and own the name. NBCUniversal cannot do so with the name Clue because Hasbro
owns the rights to it with their board game Clue
. NBCUniversal also explained that another reason for the name change was the word "Sleuth" is too common for search engines – a Google Search
brings up over 9,530,000 results, as Cloo only brings about 962,000 results.
original shows, Monk
and In Plain Sight
to its lineup, running marathons of each program's episodes. CBS
military-crime-drama series JAG
and NCIS
were also added to the channel's lineup, both of which are staples on USA Network, as well as another USA Network staple in Walker, Texas Ranger
and two Canadian series, Da Vinci's Inquest
and Cold Squad
, that primarily aired in syndication nationwide. The Law & Order
franchise also joined the channel. It recently started airing another Canadian series, The Eleventh Hour. However, it was re-named Bury the Lead, to differentiate it from the since-canceled CBS series of the same name
.
The channel presently relies on reruns of the Law & Order franchise
, JAG
, NCIS
, Walker, Texas Ranger
, MacGyver
, and various other series aired mainly on the USA Network
in which it and the former are owned by NBCUniversal while the latter four are owned by CBS Television Studios. Though, Sony Pictures Television
owns the U.S.
television distribution rights to Walker.
, Miami Vice
, The A-Team
, Dragnet
(1967-70 and 2003 versions), Knight Rider, The Equalizer
, Homicide: Life on the Street
and more recent cancelled series like EZ Streets
, Karen Sisco
, and Deadline. More recently, the channel has added programming from other studios, such as Paramount Pictures
, Warner Brothers, and Sony
.
Crime, mystery and suspense films like Scarface
, The Jackal, Casino
, Sneakers and Mercury Rising
will be in the standard- and high-definition
lineups, with at least 20 hours of content from the channels offered on demand at any given time to consumers.
In January 2007, the channel began airing Profiler
, Magnum, P.I.
, The Rockford Files
, The Burning Zone
, Turks, Conviction, and Medical Investigation
.
On February 25, 2007, the channel aired a fourteen-hour movie marathon entitled "Chiller On Sleuth" to promote the launch of Chiller
, NBCUniversal's cable channel dedicated to horror
and suspense
programming that launched on March 1, 2007. The movies that aired during this marathon are Wait Until Dark
, Psycho
, I Saw What You Did
(the 1988 version), and The Island
.
Digital cable
Digital cable is a generic term for any type of cable television distribution using digital video compression or distribution. The technology was originally developed by Motorola.-Background:...
television channel
Television channel
A television channel is a physical or virtual channel over which a television station or television network is distributed. For example, in North America, "channel 2" refers to the broadcast or cable band of 54 to 60 MHz, with carrier frequencies of 55.25 MHz for NTSC analog video and...
with programming dedicated to the crime and mystery genres. It is owned and operated by NBCUniversal. It launched on January 1, 2006, replacing Trio
Trio (TV network)
Trio was an American cable and satellite television network.Trio went on the air in 1997, then originally owned and operated jointly by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Power Broadcasting Inc. as a venue for airing the CBC's arts, culture and entertainment programming in the U.S...
. Sleuth debuted on DirecTV
DirecTV
DirecTV is an American direct broadcast satellite service provider and broadcaster based in El Segundo, California. Its satellite service, launched on June 17, 1994, transmits digital satellite television and audio to households in the United States, Latin America, and the Anglophone Caribbean. ...
on June 1, 2006, and on Dish Network
Dish Network
Dish Network Corporation is the second largest pay TV provider in the United States, providing direct broadcast satellite service—including satellite television, audio programming, and interactive television services—to 14.337 million commercial and residential customers in the United States. Dish...
nine days later.
Cloo focuses on mystery entertainment, with the majority of the channel's programming borrowed from sister channels NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
and USA Network
USA Network
USA Network is an American cable television channel launched in 1971. Once a minor player in basic cable, the network has steadily gained popularity because of breakout hits like Monk, Psych, Burn Notice, Royal Pains, Covert Affairs, White Collar, Monday Night RAW, Suits, and reruns of the various...
.
On August 15, 2011, Sleuth was rebranded as Cloo, in order to be able to trademark and own the name. NBCUniversal cannot do so with the name Clue because Hasbro
Hasbro
Hasbro is a multinational toy and boardgame company from the United States of America. It is one of the largest toy makers in the world. The corporate headquarters is located in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, United States...
owns the rights to it with their board game Clue
Cluedo
Cluedo is a popular murder/mystery-themed deduction board game originally published by Waddingtons in Leeds, England in 1949. It was devised by Anthony E. Pratt, a solicitor's clerk from Birmingham, England. It is now published by the United States game and toy company Hasbro, which acquired its U.S...
. NBCUniversal also explained that another reason for the name change was the word "Sleuth" is too common for search engines – a Google Search
Google search
Google or Google Web Search is a web search engine owned by Google Inc. Google Search is the most-used search engine on the World Wide Web, receiving several hundred million queries each day through its various services....
brings up over 9,530,000 results, as Cloo only brings about 962,000 results.
Original programs
On September 17, 2011 Cloo will premiere its first ever original programs:- Killer Instinct, a 13-part true-crime series. The one-hour show explores some of the country's most notorious crimes, as seen through the eyes of FBI criminal profiler Mark Safarik. Safarik, who has helped solve countless high-profile cases, will show how he analyzes crime scenes, figures out evidence and eventually unmasks killers. The show will include a confrontation between Safarik and one convict, as well as re-creations and interviews with law enforcement agents.
- Dateline on Cloo, similar to the flagship Dateline NBCDateline NBCDateline NBC, or Dateline, is a U.S. weekly television newsmagazine broadcast by NBC. It previously was NBC's flagship news magazine, but now focuses on true crime stories. It airs Friday at 9 p.m. EST and after football season on Sunday at 7 p.m. EST.-History:Dateline is historically notable for...
will also be hosted by Safarik.
Syndicated
In January 2009, all shows from the lineup (see past programming) were removed and replaced with mainly NBCUniversal-produced, USA NetworkUSA Network
USA Network is an American cable television channel launched in 1971. Once a minor player in basic cable, the network has steadily gained popularity because of breakout hits like Monk, Psych, Burn Notice, Royal Pains, Covert Affairs, White Collar, Monday Night RAW, Suits, and reruns of the various...
original shows, Monk
Monk (TV series)
Monk is an American comedy-drama detective mystery television series created by Andy Breckman and starring Tony Shalhoub as the titular character, Adrian Monk. It originally ran from 2002 to 2009 and is primarily a mystery series, although it has dark and comic touches.The series debuted on July...
and In Plain Sight
In Plain Sight
In Plain Sight is an American dramatic television series on USA Network. The series revolves around Mary Shannon , a Deputy United States Marshal attached to the Albuquerque, New Mexico office of the Federal Witness Security Program , more commonly known as the Federal Witness Protection Program...
to its lineup, running marathons of each program's episodes. CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
military-crime-drama series JAG
JAG (TV series)
JAG is an American adventure/legal drama television show that was produced by Belisarius Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television and, for the first season only, NBC Productions...
and NCIS
NCIS (TV series)
NCIS, formerly known as NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service, is an American police procedural drama television series revolving around a fictional team of special agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which conducts criminal investigations involving the U.S...
were also added to the channel's lineup, both of which are staples on USA Network, as well as another USA Network staple in Walker, Texas Ranger
Walker, Texas Ranger
Walker, Texas Ranger is an American television action crime drama series created by Leslie Greif and Paul Haggis, and starring Chuck Norris as a member of the Texas Ranger Division. The show aired on CBS in the spring of 1993, with the first season consisting of three pilot episodes. Eight full...
and two Canadian series, Da Vinci's Inquest
Da Vinci's Inquest
Da Vinci's Inquest is a Canadian dramatic television series that aired on CBC Television from 1998 to 2005. Seven seasons of thirteen episodes each were filmed for a total of ninety-one episodes....
and Cold Squad
Cold Squad
Cold Squad is a Canadian police procedural television series first broadcast in 1998 that followed the investigations of a part of the Vancouver Police Department Homicide Division tasked with solving cold cases, the titular Cold Squad, as led by Sergeant Ali McCormick .The cast of Cold Squad was...
, that primarily aired in syndication nationwide. The Law & Order
Law & Order franchise
The Law & Order franchise is a number of related American television series created by Dick Wolf and originally broadcast on NBC, all of which deal with some aspect of the criminal justice system...
franchise also joined the channel. It recently started airing another Canadian series, The Eleventh Hour. However, it was re-named Bury the Lead, to differentiate it from the since-canceled CBS series of the same name
Eleventh Hour (U.S. TV series)
Eleventh Hour is an American science-based drama television series, which is based on the 2006 British series of the same name. The series originally ran on CBS from October 9, 2008 to April 2, 2009 and aired on Thursdays at 10 pm . The series was a joint venture between Jerry Bruckheimer...
.
The channel presently relies on reruns of the Law & Order franchise
Law & Order franchise
The Law & Order franchise is a number of related American television series created by Dick Wolf and originally broadcast on NBC, all of which deal with some aspect of the criminal justice system...
, JAG
JAG (TV series)
JAG is an American adventure/legal drama television show that was produced by Belisarius Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television and, for the first season only, NBC Productions...
, NCIS
NCIS (TV series)
NCIS, formerly known as NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service, is an American police procedural drama television series revolving around a fictional team of special agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which conducts criminal investigations involving the U.S...
, Walker, Texas Ranger
Walker, Texas Ranger
Walker, Texas Ranger is an American television action crime drama series created by Leslie Greif and Paul Haggis, and starring Chuck Norris as a member of the Texas Ranger Division. The show aired on CBS in the spring of 1993, with the first season consisting of three pilot episodes. Eight full...
, MacGyver
MacGyver
MacGyver is an American action-adventure television series created by Lee David Zlotoff. Henry Winkler and John Rich were the executive producers. The show ran for seven seasons on ABC in the United States and various other networks abroad from 1985 to 1992. The series was filmed in Los Angeles...
, and various other series aired mainly on the USA Network
USA Network
USA Network is an American cable television channel launched in 1971. Once a minor player in basic cable, the network has steadily gained popularity because of breakout hits like Monk, Psych, Burn Notice, Royal Pains, Covert Affairs, White Collar, Monday Night RAW, Suits, and reruns of the various...
in which it and the former are owned by NBCUniversal while the latter four are owned by CBS Television Studios. Though, Sony Pictures Television
Sony Pictures Television
Sony Pictures Television, Inc. is an American and global television production/distribution subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment. In turn, the latter is part of the Japanese conglomerate Sony.-Background:...
owns the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
television distribution rights to Walker.
Past programming
The channel originally featured crime and mystery programming from NBCUniversal's extensive library of feature films, classic television shows, reality series and documentaries. Programming initially included popular and cult television series like Simon & SimonSimon & Simon
Simon & Simon is an American detective television series starring Gerald McRaney and Jameson Parker.-History:The original 1978 pilot called Pirate's Key was set in Florida...
, Miami Vice
Miami Vice
Miami Vice is an American television series produced by Michael Mann for NBC. The series starred Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas as two Metro-Dade Police Department detectives working undercover in Miami. It ran for five seasons on NBC from 1984–1989...
, The A-Team
The A-Team
The A-Team is an American action adventure television series about a fictional group of ex-United States Army Special Forces personnel who work as soldiers of fortune, while on the run from the Army after being branded as war criminals for a "crime they didn't commit". The A-Team was created by...
, Dragnet
Dragnet (series)
Dragnet is a radio and television crime drama about the cases of a dedicated Los Angeles police detective, Sergeant Joe Friday, and his partners...
(1967-70 and 2003 versions), Knight Rider, The Equalizer
The Equalizer
The Equalizer is an American television series that ran for four seasons, initially on CBS, between 1985 and 1989. It starred Edward Woodward as an aging New York vigilante with a mysterious past...
, Homicide: Life on the Street
Homicide: Life on the Street
Homicide: Life on the Street is an American police procedural television series chronicling the work of a fictional version of the Baltimore Homicide Unit. It ran for seven seasons on NBC from 1993 to 1999, and was succeeded by a TV movie, which also acted as the de-facto series finale...
and more recent cancelled series like EZ Streets
EZ Streets
EZ Streets is an American television drama series created by Paul Haggis. It premiered on CBS on October 27, 1996 with a two hour pilot telefilm...
, Karen Sisco
Karen Sisco
Karen Sisco is a television series about a fictional United States Marshal created by novelist Elmore Leonard.As a U.S. Deputy Marshal, based on Miami, Florida's Gold Coast, Karen must deal with the underbelly of South Beach nightlife and Palm Beach highlife while tracking down fugitives. She also...
, and Deadline. More recently, the channel has added programming from other studios, such as Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
, Warner Brothers, and Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
.
Crime, mystery and suspense films like Scarface
Scarface (1983 film)
Scarface is a 1983 American epic crime drama movie directed by Brian De Palma, written by Oliver Stone, produced by Martin Bregman and starring Al Pacino as Tony Montana...
, The Jackal, Casino
Casino (film)
Casino is a 1995 crime drama film directed by Martin Scorsese. It is based on the non-fiction book of the same name by Nicholas Pileggi, who also co-wrote the screenplay for the film with Scorsese...
, Sneakers and Mercury Rising
Mercury Rising
Mercury Rising is a 1998 American action thriller film starring Bruce Willis and Alec Baldwin. Directed by Harold Becker, the movie is based on Ryne Douglas Pearson's 1996 novel originally published as Simple Simon...
will be in the standard- and high-definition
High-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
lineups, with at least 20 hours of content from the channels offered on demand at any given time to consumers.
In January 2007, the channel began airing Profiler
Profiler (TV series)
Profiler was an American crime drama that aired on NBC from 1996 to 2000. The series follows the exploits of a criminal profiler working with the fictional FBI's Violent Crimes Task Force based in Atlanta, Georgia....
, Magnum, P.I.
Magnum, P.I.
Magnum, P.I. is an American television series starring Tom Selleck as Thomas Magnum, a private investigator living on Oahu, Hawaii. The series ran from 1980 to 1988 in first-run broadcast on the American CBS television network....
, The Rockford Files
The Rockford Files
The Rockford Files is an American television drama series which aired on the NBC network between September 13, 1974 and January 10, 1980. It has remained in regular syndication to the present day. The show stars James Garner as Los Angeles-based private investigator Jim Rockford and features Noah...
, The Burning Zone
The Burning Zone
The Burning Zone is a television drama broadcast on the UPN network as part of its 1996–97 lineup. It ran for 19 episodes. The series was rerun on SciFi Channel in the mid to late 90's....
, Turks, Conviction, and Medical Investigation
Medical Investigation
Medical Investigation was an American medical drama television series that began September 9, 2004, on NBC. It ran for 20 one-hour episodes before being cancelled in 2005...
.
On February 25, 2007, the channel aired a fourteen-hour movie marathon entitled "Chiller On Sleuth" to promote the launch of Chiller
Chiller (TV channel)
Chiller is a 24-hour American cable and satellite television channel specializing in horror and suspense programming. conglomerate NBCUniversal.- Origin :...
, NBCUniversal's cable channel dedicated to horror
Horror fiction
Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...
and suspense
Suspense
Suspense is a feeling of uncertainty and anxiety about the outcome of certain actions, most often referring to an audience's perceptions in a dramatic work. Suspense is not exclusive to fiction, though. Suspense may operate in any situation where there is a lead-up to a big event or dramatic...
programming that launched on March 1, 2007. The movies that aired during this marathon are Wait Until Dark
Wait Until Dark (film)
Wait Until Dark is a suspense-thriller film directed by Terence Young and produced by Mel Ferrer. It stars Audrey Hepburn as a young blind woman, Alan Arkin as a violent criminal searching for some drugs, and Richard Crenna as another criminal, supported by Jack Weston, Julie Herrod, and Efrem...
, Psycho
Psycho (1998 film)
Psycho is a 1998 American horror film produced and directed by Gus Van Sant for Universal Pictures, a remake of the 1960 film directed by Alfred Hitchcock...
, I Saw What You Did
I Saw What You Did
I Saw What You Did is a Universal Pictures feature film starring Joan Crawford and John Ireland in a tale of murder. The screenplay by William P. McGivern was based upon the 1964 novel Out of the Dark by Ursula Curtiss. The film was directed and produced by William Castle, and co-produced by...
(the 1988 version), and The Island
The Island (1980 film)
The Island is a 1980 American thriller film, directed by Michael Ritchie and starring Michael Caine and David Warner. The film was based on a novel of the same name by Peter Benchley who also wrote the screenplay...
.