sf/f TV development news - 2013

[RJDiogenes]

That's true. Most ideas have been done before one way or another; and even the best idea can't survive poor execution.

[Theodore Jay Miller]

Temis the Bleeding Aorta wrote:

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Last Hope (Showtime) - drama about the last hospital on planet earth.

The Last Resort (ABC) - thriller set in the near future when the country is very fractured and revolves around the crew of a U.S. nuclear submarine who become hunted after ignoring an order to shoot nuclear missiles.

The Last Resort - drama about the last vacation spot on planet Earth.

[Temis the Vorta]

I mean, look at "Firefly"--a literal "space-western." The concept kinda reeks

Sounds good to me! Because it doesn't sound like everything else I've ever seen. Even now that I've seen one iteration of that idea, I wouldn't be at all adverse to seeing another.

An "unimaginative idea" can often be great, if it's on cable, and even then only certain cable channels. For instance would you watch "a big-city cop returns to his Kentucky home town" on CBS? Blech. How about on FX? Well, that's Justified and it rocks! But that same concept on CBS would be garbage.

So in reading these show descriptions, pay attention to the channel they'll be on. (That's the main reason that I don't list any shows that don't have a network attached.) I think that gives a better indication of whether they are likely to be good vs their descriptions.

Cable is better than broadcast, and in broadcast land, I'd say ABC and FOX are doing a better job trying to actually innovate vs CBS and CW, which just stamp out predictable cookie cutter shows and as for NBC, they keep falling on their face so much that I've just about given up hope of them doing anything good or anything that won't get instantly cancelled. However, that also means NBC is desperate, and sometimes desperation can result in surprising things.

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

There's a comic book series called The Last Resort (unrelated to the TV show in development) that has a premise that could make for a fun cable show:

A zombie epic that pays homage to 1970s exploitation films and disaster movies like Airport and Towering Inferno. In an entertaining and darkly over-the-top celebration of gore and sex, The Last Resort transforms a Caribbean paradise into a biological wasteland populated with homicidal flesh-eating vacationers!

Sounds like a good fit for Starz.

[bullethead]

Holy shit, someone is making a show about a submarine? That's pretty rare these days.

[Temis the Vorta]

Dark Tower is almost officially a go at HBO!

Well, maybe it’s not official, but Brian Grazer said during an interview with MTV News that the TV portion of Imagine Entertainment’s adaptation of The Dark Tower will air on HBO. “We’ll do the TV with HBO and the movie with … to be determined,” Grazer said during an interview to promote Tower Heist. That would cover the two limited-run TV series that would be done alongside a film trilogy to tell Stephen King’s epic story, which was originally set up at Universal before the studio passed because of cost concerns.

They should forget about the movie part and just do the whole story on TV.

[Temis the Vorta]

Another one!

Untitled Melrose Space Comedy (ABC) - centers on a normal family who moves into a condominium complex to find out that everyone living there but them are aliens.

So we're up to 50 sf/f shows in development.

[Set Harth]

bullethead wrote:

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Holy shit, someone is making a show about a submarine? That's pretty rare these days.

You got to give the people what they want: something long, hard, and full of seamen.

[CorporalCaptain]

^ My word, I haven't heard that one since Junior High School.

[Temis the Vorta]

CarbonCopy wrote:

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^ My word, I haven't heard that one since Junior High School.

I was wondering if there was any way to find out the age of that joke. Probably circa 1864 (invention of the submarine) but it very well could predate it.

[Sindatur]

Temis the Bleeding Aorta wrote:

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I was wondering if there was any way to find out the age of that joke. Probably circa 1864 (invention of the submarine) but it very well could predate it.

And let's not forget the Motorcycle Variant of the joke.

[Temis the Vorta]

Okay you got me, I don't know that one.

[Sindatur]

Temis the Bleeding Aorta wrote:

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Okay you got me, I don't know that one.

Not quite the same, since a Motorcycle and a submarine have nothing common, but, same conclusion. The motorcycle version is something about the vibration, though I don't remember the joke exactly, Junior High was over 30 years ago

[timmay2411]

Hey Termis,
Was just wondering where do you get all your info on TV scripts being developed?

[Temis the Vorta]

timmay2411 wrote:

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Hey Termis,
Was just wondering where do you get all your info on TV scripts being developed?

The Futon Critic database is the easy cheat sheet.

For updates, I follow Deadline.