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.
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.
After their successes with Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Rubicon, and the strong buzz surrounding the upcoming The Walking Dead, AMC has jumped at the chance to order their fifth original series. Quickly becoming a home for high-quality storytelling, AMC has greenlit a full, 13-episode order for the first season of a new untitled series from writer and executive producer Veena Sud of Cold Case.
Formerly titled The Killing, the serialized drama ties together three distinct storylines that revolve around the murder of a young girl in Seattle. The three storylines follow the detectives assigned to the case, the grieving family of the victim, and the murder suspects. AMC says that the story also explores local politics as it follows politicians connected to the case. Over time, it will become clear that there are no accidents, that everyone has a secret, and while these characters think they’ve moved on, their past isn’t finished with them yet.
The series stars Mireille Enos (pictured above) as the lead homicide detective investigating the murder, Billy Campbell as Seattle’s City Council President; Michelle Forbes as the victim’s mother; Joel Kinnaman (also pictured) as an ex-narc cop who joins the homicide division, and Brent Sexton as the victims father.
The untitled series is based on a Danish TV series called Forbrydelsen that’s hugely successful overseas. Director Patty Jenkins (Monster) is helming the pilot that’s slated to premiere sometime in 2011.
Rosie O’Donnell — the one-time “Queen of Nice” on daytime TV — is returning to host her own daily talk show again in 2011. Only this time, she’s working for her biggest rival from back in the day.
Oprah Winfrey has hired Rosie to host a daily chat program on OWN — the Oprah Winfrey Network — which premieres in January. The hour-long show will be filmed in New York, and OWN describes it as “a fun, uplifting show with Ms. O’Donnell’s playful and energetic style.” (Which translates as: they haven’t decided on the format of the show yet.)
It’s unknown if Rosie’s show will debut in January or sometime later in the year. The show is currently untitled.
Syfy continues its recent trend of producing original scripted series with today’s news that the network has greenlit seven brand new shows. And unlike other recent offerings that found the once purely-scifi network branching out with a cooking show and a reality show about a professional psychic, these new shows get back to the network’s roots with entirely science fiction-based concepts…
Raise your hand if you miss Battlestar Galactica. So say we all!
Yes, Caprica is pretty doggone awesome. But I still miss BSG, darn it.
If you’re feeling the same, Syfy hears your cries. The somewhat-still-science-fiction-based cable network has greenlit an online series (a la Doctor Horrible) called Blood & Chrome, which will depict the adventures of young William “Husker” Adama during the first Cylon War. BSG and Caprica co-exec producer Michael Taylor is writing the script. The goal of the production, according to the Chicago Tribune, is to show “both the realities of war as fought by soldiers on the ground, and the somewhat less real version portrayed in the media.” In other words, expect Blood & Chrome to contain plenty of the same timely social commentary that BSG was known for.
Blood & Chrome episodes are expected to last about nine or ten minutes, and will use the same “virtual sets” (i.e., green screen) production philosophy as Syfy’s Sanctuary. Episodes will also up the ante with more extreme content than you can get away with on the small screen, since it’s destined for Internet broadcast.
If successful, Blood & Chrome could lead to more online BSG projects of a similar nature, or possibly even a Syfy TV show. Production has not yet begun, so it could be a while before the series appears on the Net.
CBS has signed a first-look deal with Oni Press, the publishing company behind Brian Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim graphic novels. The same graphic novels upon which the endlessly-buzzed-about Scott Pilgrim vs. the World film is based.
More properly, it’s CBS Television Studios, not the broadcast network, that’s inked the Oni Press deal. Which means that CBS now has the first rights to look at Oni’s library of comic books and graphic novels and consider using them as fodder for television shows and made-for-TV movies.
Dustin Hoffman has signed on to star in Luck, a new drama for HBO.
Deadwood writer David Milch is writing the script and A-list director Michael Mann is helming the pilot. The story concerns the world of horse racing, including provocative examinations of horse owners, gamblers, jockeys, and other industry players. Hoffman of course stars as the main character.
Also among Luck’s almost-entirely-boys-club cast are Dennis Farina (Law & Order), John Ortiz (Public Enemies), Kevin Dunn (Transformers), Richard Kind (Spin City), Jason Gedrick (Boomtown), Ritchie Coster (The Dark Knight), Ian Hart (Finding Neverland), Tom Payne (Wuthering Heights), Kerry Condon, Gary Stevens, and Nick Nolte.
Production begins this fall in Santa Anita and L.A., with no air date set.
Well that was fast. Mere hours after it was announced that Melina Kanakaredes was leaving CSI: NY, CBS now says that actress Sela Ward will be joining the cast as Kanakaredes’ replacement.
According to producers, Ward will be playing a new character who’s “an experienced investigator from Washington, D.C., whose work is driven by her empathy for the victim.” She’ll first appear on the show during the Season 7 premiere in the Fall.
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.
CBS has signed a first-look deal with Oni Press, the publishing company behind Brian Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim graphic novels. The same graphic novels upon which the endlessly-buzzed-about Scott Pilgrim vs. the World film is based.
Dustin Hoffman has signed on to star in Luck, a new drama for 
Well that was fast. Mere hours after it was announced that Melina Kanakaredes was 
