Real musicians are the draw on new drama
Pop-rock singer Teddy Geiger used to assume that if and when his big break came, it would be on the radio.
Then, just over a year ago, the 17-year-old musician was named a finalist on VH1's ''In Search of the New Partridge Family."
That led to a contract with Columbia Records and, amazingly, a recurring role on CBS's new music-industry drama ''Love Monkey," which debuts tomorrow at 10 p.m. The show is produced by
Each week, the show will unveil budding real-life artists like Geiger, who was featured on the cover of Billboard magazine this month as one of 10 faces to watch in 2006.
Tomorrow night, Geiger will play a familiar part: an up-and-coming musician whom record labels are scrambling to sign.
''This whole experience has been really cool," Geiger said. ''Before, the best you could do was get your stuff on the radio. Now, there's a whole new world opening up on TV."
The marketing of songs on television comes at a time when the music industry is vulnerable, with declining CD sales and Internet downloading hurting profits.
TV series such as Fox's ''The O.C." -- which has become known for successfully exposing unknown indie bands to its millions of young viewers and for releasing its own soundtracks -- have made television a powerful ally.
''This is exactly the kind of thing that the music industry is looking for now. There's an urgent desire to discover new outlets, and of course, no young band in the world could afford this kind of network exposure," said Anthony DeCurtis, a contributing editor for ''Rolling Stone."
DeCurtis said the series' concept is striking since one of the industry's biggest problems is a lack of artist development. ''No one gives bands a chance to mature," he said. ''The industry has become expert at finding bands that could be a modest success. They make a huge marketing splash with those bands and everyone gets sick of them.
''A&R reps are talent scouts who are supposed to nurture talent and build careers," he added. ''There's potential here to tell a good story. Let's hope it's not hokey and stupid."
Michael Rauch, creator and executive producer of ''Love Monkey," maintains that his show, based on the book by Kyle Smith, is not a corporate advertising vehicle designed to showcase Sony acts, even though Geiger is with Sony.
''The last thing I thought I would do was cast someone they wanted," he said. ''But Teddy is 17 and a phenomenal talent."
For future episodes, he said, ''We're going out to every label and to people with no label." Budding artists to be featured include the indie band She Wants Revenge, as well as the group Robbers on
Established acts such as LeAnn Rimes, Ben Folds, and Paul Shaffer are scheduled for cameos as well.
The series will spin around Cavanagh, whose character, Tom Farrell, will be supported by a group of buddies: a surgeon (Jason Priestley), the son of a real estate mogul (Larenz Tate), and a former professional baseball player turned sportscaster (Christopher Wiehl).
''The 'A' story in every episode will be a music story." Rauch said. In upcoming episodes, Farrell will have an affair with a member of a band he represents. In another show, he'll deal with a Britney Spears-style pop singer who attempts to produce her own songs without success. He'll woo a man who works in a pizza shop after the man sings at a funeral. But the man prefers making pizzas.
Tomorrow night, Farrell will pursue Geiger (who plays the fictional Wayne Jensen) after he hears him perform three of his real-life songs, including ''For You I Will (Confidence)," all of which will be released Feb. 21 on Geiger's freshman CD ''Underage Thinking."
Geiger, who has already seen the episode, still plans to be planted in front of a television.
''I've had so much fun doing this," says the Rochester, N.Y., resident. ''Now I just hope the CD sells."
Suzanne Ryan can be reached at sryan@globe.com. 
