By Robin posted on September 2, 2010 · No comments
You know, just yesterday I was wondering to myself where Ron Moore — the brilliant storyteller behind Syfy’s modern reimagining of Battlestar Galactica — was going to turn up next. Sure, he’s got Caprica, the prequel to BSG, going strong, but the day-to-day work on that show is being handled by others. And last year, he developed a new pilot for Fox called Virtuality, but it was so high concept that it got canceled before it ever aired. The two-hour pilot was all that was filmed, and Fox aired it as a movie-of-the-week.
So it’s with some excitement that I bring you the news that Moore has signed an exclusive development deal with Sony Television, and that NBC has snatched up his first idea, which is described as a story “set in a world ruled not by science but by magic.” The shorthand going around Hollywood is that it’s an “adult version of Harry Potter,” though knowing Moore, I’m sure there’s way more to it than that. (After all, the same could be said about The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, and the reception that movie got would hardly be the kind of thing NBC would be eager to sign on for.)
Even bigger news is that NBC has shelled out something close to $2 million in a pay-or-play development deal for the series.
As much as I enjoyed Virtuality, it would probably be a smart move for Moore to do something a little more audience-friendly and accessible. Here’s hoping big things will come of this!
NBC has been snatching up genre-friendly shows left and right lately. This season alone they’re debuting The Event, Undercovers, and The Cape, alongside the 4th season of fan-favorite Chuck.
ABC has announced the full cast for the eleventh season of Dancing With the People Who Desperately Want to be Stars, and it’s full of the usual tabloid staples and stars of yesteryear. The complete roster is as follows:
Michael Bolton
Brandy
Margaret Cho
Jennifer Grey
Rick Fox
David Hasselhoff
Florence Henderson
Kyle Massey
Bristol Palin
Audrina Patridge
Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino
Kurt Warner
Camera-shy Palin and camera-hungry Sorrentino are the big news here. The rest are standard Dancing fare: you’ve got the athletes (Fox and Warner), the young (Massey and Patridge) and the not-so-young (Henderson), the comedian (Cho), and the oddball (Hasselhoff). Personally, I’m thinking that Brandy and Dirty Dancing star Jennifer Grey have an unfair advantage, with prior dancing experience. But hey, that’s never stopped the casting directors before.
New hit comedy Modern Family took home three major statues last night at the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards (bringing the show’s overall total to six). But in the other categories, Emmy voters selected winners that were all-too-predictable.
Hopes were dashed for Lost to win for its final season, and major favorite Glee took home only two awards — one for actress Jane Lynch and one for show creator Ryan Murphy’s direction of the pilot. The big winner was HBO with eight total awards (most for miniseries Temple Grandin), followed by AMC with four (which was awarded for Mad Men), and three each for ABC and CBS.
But when you add in the awards given out at the Creative Arts Emmys last week, the totals stack up a little differently. HBO is still in first place with 25 total awards, but ABC is second with 18, followed by Fox with 11, CBS with 10, and NBC with 8.
Totals for shows look like this: 8 for HBO’s The Pacific, 7 for HBO’s Temple Grandin, 6 for ABC’s Modern Family, and 4 each for Disney’s Prep & Landing, Glee, and Mad Men.
When Jimmy Fallon takes the stage this Sunday night to host the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards, you can Tweet suggestions for his on-camera introductions of the show’s celebrity presenters. Fallon and his staff will pick their favorites from the suggestions and he’ll use them on the show.
Fallon has used this tactic on his late-night show before, usually to very funny results. Plus, it gives fans at home a deeper investment in the goings-on when they Tweet something from their living room and five minutes later it’s on live television, going out to millions of people. Jimmy Fallon has always been the most tech-savvy late-night talk show host, having embraced gadgetry and social media from the very beginning of his run on NBC’s Late Night.
To submit your introduction suggestions to Fallon & Co. for the Emmys, just Tweet your line using the hashtag “#imontheemmys” or visit nbc.com/imontheemmys. The site will also show other fans’ submissions and the full list of presenters.
AMC has officially released its 4-minute trailer for Frank Darabont’s zombie drama The Walking Dead, as seen at Comic-Con last month. It’s chilling and intense, and you should watch it now:
G4, the network best known for its coverage of video games, has ordered a new series that’s a sort of Cops-meets-The Hurt Locker. The reality show will take viewers behind the scenes of an American bomb squad in Afghanistan.
The show’s producers have been granted special permission to travel with and film the operations of a Navy Explosive Ordinance Disposal unit. The 10-episode series is said to start with the crew undergoing training in the U.S., and then a months-long deployment in Afghanistan.
Over the last few years, G4 has been trying to branch out with its programming, to appeal to more than just the “hardcore gamer” set. Bomb Patrol: Afghanistan will be the cable network’s boldest move yet into new territory, while still appealing to the geeky viewers who just want to see stuff blow up real good.
I’m not generally high on reality shows these days, but after looking at the photos on the EOD website and seeing how hardcore these guys are (they have to be trained scuba divers, on top of everything else), I think this could actually be pretty cool.
Emmy producers have streamlined this year’s Primetime Awards show by cutting several secondary categories and shoving them into the Creative Arts Emmys ceremony. As a result, a number of semi-major awards were announced Saturday night. Click through for a full rundown.
As seen at Star Wars Celebration V in Orlando, here is the full-length trailer for Season 3 of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Lucasfilm has been teasing that the death toll might get higher this year as the battles get grittier and more desperate, on both sides. Watch for the return of several familiar faces, too.
The good news: It won’t cost existing HBO subscribers anything extra.
The bad news: You’ve got to wait another six months.
“HBO Go” is the name of the pay-cable champ’s forthcoming online service, which will be available not just on the iPad, but on the Net, on mobile devices, and more. But don’t expect to see the network on Netflix anytime soon; HBO makes more money from it’s own direct subscribers, and continues to shun Netflix’s overtures.
You know, just yesterday I was wondering to myself where Ron Moore — the brilliant storyteller behind Syfy’s modern reimagining of Battlestar Galactica — was going to turn up next. Sure, he’s got Caprica, the prequel to BSG, going strong, but the day-to-day work on that show is being handled by others. And last year, he developed a new pilot for Fox called Virtuality, but it was so high concept that it got canceled before it ever aired. The two-hour pilot was all that was filmed, and Fox aired it as a movie-of-the-week.
