sf/f TV development news - 2013

[Enterprise is Great]

ABC, Shonda Rhimes developing sci-fi thriller

Producing partners Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers have teamed with David DiGilo for MILA 2.0, a sci-fi thriller set up at ABC, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

Based on Debra Driza's upcoming book Mila 2.0, the drama is described as a thriller about a young woman who discovers that she's a Mobile Intel Life-like Android, or MILA, an experiment in artificial intelligence created by the U.S. government and her scientist mother who kidnapped her when she was found to have human emotions.

[Temis the Vorta]

Shonda Rhimes tries her hand at sci fi.

Shonda Rhimes, creator of ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice and Scandal, is producing another drama for the network with a female lead… sort of. ABC has put in development MILA 2.0, a sci-fi thriller about a young woman who discovers that she is a Mobile Intel Life-like Android, Mila, an experiment in artificial intelligence created by the U.S. government and her scientist mother, who kidnapped her when she was found to have human emotions.

Based on that decription, meeeehhhh...there's at least one other robotcentric series in the works that sounds better, the one with the cop show angle, whichever one that was.

[Christopher]

Whoa, two android-themed pilots, and that's after the unsuccessful Beautiful People pilot premise from last season. Are we on the verge of an android fad in TV?

[Temis the Vorta]

I've been wondering that myself, there is definitely an AI trend here. But since Rhimes is in charge, this no doubt will be a crossover sci fi/ soap. That works with fantasy, but with sci fi? The result is bound to be interesting at least.

[Temis the Vorta]

So everyone has seen the heart-attack news about Disney buying Lucasfilm. What do you think it means for Star Wars on TV? Could a live-action series make it on ABC?

[Christopher]

I've wondered if it could mean The Clone Wars would move from Cartoon Network to maybe DisneyXD.

Where the live-action SW series is concerned, I think the best prospect for that is just Lucas stepping aside. For years he's been insisting he wouldn't do it until the technology let him do it the way he wanted. But that's a silly attitude, the attitude of a producer who's too used to getting whatever he wants and has forgotten that TV production is the art of the possible. Hopefully a different exec would be more capable of making the compromises and adjustments that would be necessary to turn the live-action SW show into a reality rather than an exercise in wishful thinking.

[RJDiogenes]

There's going to be a Marvel tie-in series, so it's very likely there will be a Star Wars tie-in series.

[Sindatur]

Definitely brings up questions about the Live Action Series. A great many scripts have been written already it seems, and it's supposedly more on the adult side and looking at the eedy underbelly. Would they put that on a Disney/ABC Channel

As a couple people joked in the Announcement thread, Darth Vader can now appear on Once Upon a Time

[Christopher]

Sindatur wrote:

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Definitely brings up questions about the Live Action Series. A great many scripts have been written already it seems, and it's supposedly more on the adult side and looking at the eedy underbelly. Would they put that on a Disney/ABC Channel

Disney as a corporation isn't averse to doing adult-oriented material; they created their Touchstone label decades ago to distribute productions too adult for the Disney name. The Disney-owned ABC Studios produces a lot of adult-oriented shows like Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, and Revenge.

[Temis the Vorta]

RJDemonicus wrote:

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There's going to be a Marvel tie-in series, so it's very likely there will be a Star Wars tie-in series.

I can see a live action TV series spinning off the first movie in exactly the same way, just like I can see a Star Trek TV series spinning off the third Abrams' movie and being announced after the second one debuts. Of the two, Star Wars is more likely, since Disney seems really gung ho about all this, but maybe seeing the action at Disney will light a fire under Moonves' ass.

And one of the OUAT writers is a big Star Wars fan, so bring on Darth Vader! In the first season, there was an episode about Rumplestiltskin that was essentially the story of Anakin Skywalker, except done right and in 40 or so minutes minus ads.

The Disney-owned ABC Studios produces a lot of adult-oriented shows like Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, and Revenge.

Which is a broadcast type of adult, very different from the Deadwood-esque series that Lucas was talking about. Really, it's just like Star Trek on TV - everything hinges on where they plan to show it. If it's on ABC, it will have to somehow have female appeal, but I can see them tapping into the fairy tale fantasy aspect of Star Wars so I don't think it's a big stretch.

[Temis the Vorta]

Just noticed this, from Bob Iger:

“We really like Star Wars’ potential on TV, and Disney XD would be a great home for that.” He did not provide any more details about future Stars Wars TV shows.

So, good news for those of us who never want the animated series to end.

Maybe instead, or in addition to, recasting Luke, Leia and Han as 25-35 year olds, the simpler solution is to do that with an animated series, that ties into the live-action movies in that they tell parallel stories, or the movies pick up the story "after" the TV series (which doesn't preclude them running simultaneously.)

[Kegg]

Lucas and McCallum talk like Underworld is 'Deadwood adult', but I'm pretty sure McCallum also compared the thing to Battlestar Galactica.

In other words maybe it's dirty and grimy and takes itself seriously, but maybe also every second word is not in fact 'cocksucker.'

RJDemonicus wrote:

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There's going to be a Marvel tie-in series, so it's very likely there will be a Star Wars tie-in series.

I believe the issue with Star Wars: Underworld was that they didn't think they could budget it for television. Unless Disney is willing to basically funnel cash towards a Star Wars TV series...

[Christopher]

Kegg wrote:

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I believe the issue with Star Wars: Underworld was that they didn't think they could budget it for television.

Rather, Lucas didn't think it could be produced the way he wanted on a television budget. Which is frankly pretty silly, and the mindset of a man so used to getting everything the way he wants it that he's forgotten that television production is the art of compromise. If you can't afford to make it the way you want, you change it so it's affordable! That's how every other TV producer does it. Heck, the original 1977 Star Wars was produced on a shoestring budget compared to its sequels and especially to its prequels. Lucas used to know how to adapt creatively to a low budget, and if he were still the savvy producer he was then, as opposed to the spoiled, self-indulgent corporate monarch he's become, we would've had the live-action SW show on the air years ago.

So now that Lucas has stepped aside and turned the reins over to others, the odds of actually seeing SW: Underworld on the air have just gotten much better.

[Greg Cox]

Christopher wrote:

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Disney as a corporation isn't averse to doing adult-oriented material; they created their Touchstone label decades ago to distribute productions too adult for the Disney name. The Disney-owned ABC Studios produces a lot of adult-oriented shows like Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, and Revenge.

Hell, they also produced a show in which Snow White had a one-night-stand with Dr. Frankenstein!

And that's canon now, hee hee!

[Ian Keldon]

Christopher wrote:

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I've wondered if it could mean The Clone Wars would move from Cartoon Network to maybe DisneyXD

If previous sereieses are any indication, they'll cancel Clone Wars and start over with a fully owned property.