sf/f TV development news - 2013

[Temis the Vorta]

We've ripped off enough British stuff here in the states that it shouldn't bother me, but the synopsis of Wired sounds exactly like Beautiful People.

It's rare when I run across a TV pilot synopsis that doesn't sound like a ripoff of something else. Anything that's not a cop show in sci fi window dressing is good news. (Dead Beat definitely sounds like the overexposed type of sci fi.) And of course both Wired and Beautiful People are going over Caprica's territory...

In the Deadline comments section, one of the posts claims that Wired is a show originally in development for Showtime. Speaking of Showtime, when are they going to get off their butts and do a sci fi series (ditto to HBO).

Never heard of Beautiful People

We've been discussing it in this thread. Maybe this is a good time to do a synopsis of all the genre shows that have gone to pilot.

But trends in the entertainment industry still seem to be becoming more and more homogenized. American Sherlock? Multiple Beauty and the Beast shows? Fairytale shows, robot shows, vampire shows.

I can't remember anytime when copycatism wasn't the order of the day in the entertainment biz. It's probably because it's a hit-driven business where nobody is really confident they know what will sell, so they latch onto whatever seems to be the Next Big Thing. I just wish space opera would be the object of an intense wave of copycatism. It would be awesome to have a dozen space operas on at once, all on different channels and vying for our attention.

[Bob The Skutter]

^Ah, that explains it, the only Beautiful people I could find was a British sit-com (I think) and a US Teeny show.

[Temis the Vorta]

Here are the totals so far for 2012-13.

The broadcast networks are pretty much done with pickups, but cable is still to be heard from. For cable, I think the rules are different, and they don't have to go through the final culling process in May that knocks out about half the contenders.

It's a good haul, 26 shows so far, but not a single space opera!

Sci Fi - 15 series

Arrow (CW) – adaptation of Green Arrow that sets him in a new world with an original story that is not based on the comics.

Beautiful People (NBC) - character-driven futuristic “what if” drama where families of mechanical human beings exist to service the human population… that is until some of the mechanicals begin to “awaken.”

Defiance (SyFy) – centers on Jeb Nolan, the law keeper in the bustling frontier boomtown of Defiance that is one of the new world’s few oasis of civility and inclusion. Nolan is a former Marine who fought in the alien conflict and suffered the loss of his wife and child in the war. The trauma transformed him into a lone wanderer in the wilds of this new and dangerous world.

Do No Harm (NBC) - medical drama about a brilliant neurosurgeon who wrestles with his dangerous alter-ego that threatens to wreak havoc on his personal and professional life.

The Dover Agenda (SyFy) - a thriller about a young man who is recruited by a future version of himself to work for a secret branch of Military Intelligence specializing in parapsychology and future tech. The nature of fate comes into play as the young man slowly begins to realize he did not turn out the way he thought he would.

Joey Dakota (CW) – based on Israeli TV series Danny Hollywood, a time travel fantasy-musical in which a young documentary filmmaker travels back in time in order to prevent the death of her ’90s musical idol and finds that the story is even more complicated than she thought.

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.

NEP League (TOON) - game show which transports contestants into magical, videogame-like worlds.

Revolution (NBC) -in this epic adventure thriller, a family struggles to reunite in a post-apocalyptic American landscape: a world of empty cities, local militias and heroic freedom fighters, where every single piece of technology — computers, planes, cars, phones, even lights — has mysteriously blacked out … forever. Giancarlo Esposito co-stars as ” a hard-as-steel military man with a genteel southern manner who may not always be what he seems”.

Rewind (SyFy) - revolves around a team of military field operatives and civilian scientists who must use untested technology to travel back in time to alter past events in order to change the future and avoid a devastating terrorist attack.

The Selection (CW) - based on the forthcoming series of books by Kiera Cass, it is described as an epic romance set 300 years in the future that centers on a poor young woman who is chosen by lottery to participate in a competition to become the next queen of a war-torn nation at a crossroads. Gregory Peck’s grandson plays The Price aka the competition’s prize.

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.

Wired (BBCA) - takes place in a world that looks exactly like today, except for one thing: this is a world with ‘Syns’ (‘Synthetic Organisms’), exact replicas of human beings and the newest luxury accessory money can buy. Wired explores our evolving relationship with technology, the boundaries of society’s values and moralities, our hypocrisies and contradictions – holding up a mirror to who we are today and what we might become.

Working Class Hero (FOX) - an animated comedy starring actor-comedian Patton Oswalt, set in a world where superheroing is just another low-paid government job and centers on a dad (Oswalt) whose powers are no match for his misfit superhero co-workers and his demanding family.

Zombies and Cheerleaders (DIS) - the story follows Zed Necrodopolis, a typical high school student with one small caveat; he happens to be a zombie. Despite a high-tech wristwatch designed to curb any appetite he may have for his classmates, he and his zombie friends remain unpopular with the school's most influential group, the pom-pom wielding cheerleaders. Never one to back down from a challenge, Zed sets out to improve zombie student body relations and win the attention of Addison, the cheerleading squad's newest member.

Fantasy/Horror - 11 series

666 Park Avenue (ABC) - drama about an innocent couple from the Midwest that moves to New York and gets hired to be resident managers of a building on the Upper East Side where unbeknownst to the couple, the residents have all unwittingly made deals with the Devil to have their deepest needs, ambitions and desires fulfilled. Terry O’Quinn cast in lead role.

Beauty and the Beast (ABC) – based on the classic tale. Probably a lead-in to Once Upon a Time.

Beauty and the Beast (CW) - revival of the cult 1987-1990 series that aims to not only modernize and CW-up the love story but also add a procedural twist.

The Dead Beat (BBCA) - two cops, one dead and one alive, become a reluctant team, working from leads in the world of the dead to track down killers in the world of the living. Subverting the crime genre, The Dead Beat brings a whole new meaning to cold cases, underworld informants, dead leads and buried evidence.

Gotham (ABC) - drama about a female cop who, after pursuing a seemingly unsolvable case, discovers a magical world that exists within New York City.

Isabel (NBC) - centers on an otherwise normal angry middle-class family that wrestles with the challenges of everyday life while raising a daughter who has magical qualities.

Legion (SyFy) – adaptation of the movie, which chronicles the human race’s battle for survival against God’s legion of angels sent by him to bring on the Apocalypse. The people get an unlikely ally in Archangel Michael who disobeys God’s order and decides to help them.

Midnight Sun (NBC) - drama which revolves around a police investigation into disappearance of a remote cult that slowly uncovers the darkest secrets of the region and its inhabitants, as well as a grander political conspiracy and environmental disaster from which the cult members are attempting to escape. Midnight Sun centers on a female FBI cult specialist who starts an investigation that uncovers a larger conspiracy. Stars Titus Welliver.

Mockingbird Lane (NBC) – formerly called The Munsters, Bryan Fuller’s revival of the 1960s-series-turned-movie franchise billed as "Modern Family" meets "True Blood." (Picked up to pilot, but development moved out – probably won’t make 2012-13 season.)

Untitled Roland Emmerich election drama (ABC) - set in New York City against the backdrop of the Presidential race of 2012, an astrophysics grad student named Carter in NYC learns that he is the chosen one to destroy the forces of evil. Martin Landau co-stars as a blind former German soldier in World War II who is the executor of Carter’s father’s estate and one of Carter’s only true friends.

Zero Hour (ABC) – a bizarre twist of fate pulls a man who's spent 20 years as the editor of a skeptics magazine into one of the most compelling conspiracies in human history: a spectacular mystery surrounding the Twelve Apostles.

[Christopher]

Caliburn24 wrote:

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But trends in the entertainment industry still seem to be becoming more and more homogenized. American Sherlock? Multiple Beauty and the Beast shows? Fairytale shows, robot shows, vampire shows.

Back when Armageddon and Deep Impact came out in the same year it was looked at a bit skeptically. Now we have multiple projects every year coming out with the same elements.

I don't agree that there's anything new about multiple films/shows on similar topics coming out at the same time. Every time one thing hits big, there are countless imitators. For instance, when Hercules and Xena became hits, there was a slew of lowbrow, low-budget fantasy-action shows swamping syndication and cable before long -- Sinbad, Robin Hood, Tarzan: The Epic Adventures (which actually wasn't bad), and probably one or two others all airing at the same time.

Also, keep in mind that we're only talking about pilots at this stage. Only a limited percentage of them will actually become series, so we may not actually end up with, say, two Beauty and the Beast shows airing at the same time.

That said, it does strike me as unusual that we've suddenly got something like four versions of Snow White coming to TV and theaters within a year or so of each other. A spate of fantasy shows/films in the wake of Harry Potter and Twilight is understandable, but why so much attention on that specific fairy tale?

[Temis the Vorta]

The usual failure rate for pilots is over 50%, but last year, I remember that for whatever reason, sf/f pilots had an usually high survival rate. Maybe because they're competing for slots with a large number of cop shows and sitcoms, which are really competing with each other for "the cop show slot" or "the sitcom slots."

We could very well see most of the network sf/f pilots go to series. The ones most in danger have "ABC" after their name - there are simply too many ABC genre pilots. The other networks have been more circumspect. NBC also has several, but they'll have a schedule to rebuild again next season.

What's striking about that list is that FOX only has one pilot on it, and it's animated. Where's their new crop of live-action sf/f shows? There's no way they're bringing back Fringe, Terra Nova and Alcatraz. I wouldn't be surprised if they axe them all. Are they so traumatized by the ratings, that they've given up on the genre altogether?

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

In addition to the two Beauty and the Beast TV pilots, there are also two Beauty and the Beast movies in development, one being developed by Guillermo del Toro (with Emma Watson attached to star) and the other by Christophe Gans (which is set to star Vincent Cassell and Lea Seydoux).

[Bob The Skutter]

^3 if you count the 3d-ised version of the Disney one.

[Temis the Vorta]

Linus Roache cast in Emmerich Antichrist series.

Linus Roache has joined ABC’s untitled Roland Emmerich drama pilot, from ABC Studios and the Mark Gordon Co. Written by Emmerich and Harold Kloser and to be directed by Emmerich, the project centers on Carter (Max Thieriot), an astrophysics grad student in NYC who learns that he is the chosen one to destroy the forces of evil. Roache will play Senator Teras, an ambitious, enigmatic man with an eye on the White House.

I'm calling it now - he's de debbel.

[Enterprise is Great]

Yeah (ho hum) and I'm betting he'll be a Republican. Evil politicans almost always Republicans in movies/tv shows.

[Temis the Vorta]

But if they're smart, they'll leave the identity of the antichrist in doubt, and it won't turn out to be the Evil Republican Meanie after all.

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

Temis the Vorta wrote:

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But if they're smart, they'll leave the identity of the antichrist in doubt, and it won't turn out to be the Evil Republican Meanie after all.

Yeah, it'll turn out to be John Edwards.

More casting news: Rachael Taylor has been cast in 666 Park Avenue. She and Dave Annable will play the young couple who move into the creepy building in question.

[Enterprise is Great]

Robert Patrick has joined the cast of ABC drama pilot Last Resort.

[Temis the Vorta]

Good news about Robert Patrick.

Rachael Taylor has been cast in 666 Park Avenue. She and Dave Annable will play the young couple who move into the creepy building in question.

I looked them up on IMDB, they are the quintessential Cute Young Couple. It will be fun seeing them menaced by de debbel. (How many debbels are we going to get this season anyway?)

[Temis the Vorta]

AMC is picking up 99 Stories.

Since The Walking Dead has proved to be a monster hit, AMC wants to double down on sci-fi with a claustrophobic new horror series dubbed 99 Stories.

The premise will follow a group of strangers stuck in a 99-story skyscraper, with the building itself deciding who lives and who dies.

...

"Each story presents a different kind of challenge for the group," Seltzer told The Hollywood Reporter. "The elevators are in control of destiny, whittling them out by deciding who they deem deserve[s] to go up."

...

Christina Wayne, AMC vice president of original series, said the network is aiming for a "cinematic" take on the horror sci-fi genre.

"We want to do original programming that is cinematic and flows seemingly into the films," she said. "This seemed like the perfect fit."

I'll take their word for it that this is sci fi. It could just as easily be supernatural (sentient building? elevators with opinions?)

I remember that pilot being kicked around a few years ago. I thought it sounded cool and was disappointed it didn't go to series - rejected pilots rarely come back from the dead like this. I wonder if AMC would like to take a look at SyFy's Revolution pilot (the one about the space colony, not JJ Abrams' pilot).

[CorporalCaptain]

Sounds sort of like Cube.