sf/f TV development news - 2013

Discussion in 'Science Fiction & Fantasy' started by Temis the Vorta, Oct 10, 2011.

  1. RJDiogenes

    RJDiogenes Idealistic Cynic and Canon Champion Premium Member

    Joined:
    Jun 11, 2003
    Location:
    RJDiogenes of Boston
    Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

    That's a shame. That Revolutionary War series sounded really interesting.

    Good news about all the pirate activity, though-- I'd love to see a good pirate series.
     
  2. Temis the Vorta

    Temis the Vorta Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Oct 30, 1999
    Location:
    Tatoinne
    Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

    Starz would certainly ensure a hearty sleaze factor. There were several pirate series bopping around but I haven't heard much about the others.

    THR Feed's Pilot Season Review.

    Finally a source other than Deadline kicks in.

    ABC: The first quibbling I've heard about The Last Resort. May be too male-skewing and therefore "off brand" for ABC. Apparently they think The River sank because it was male-skewing rather than the actual reason, it was nobody-skewing. :rommie: If ABC is avoiding shows for boys, what does that mean for the Emmerich "antichrist" series? The lead is a cute guy, so I say it's for girls. Can we put a pink bow on it and sneak it in?

    666 Park Ave
    "has not been ruled out," but no mention of the other two fantasy series it's reportedly competing with. ABC's comedies have been disappointing, which is good news for their dramas. (I've been worried this season is going to be comedy-heavy across the board, at the expense of dramas.)

    NBC: Revolution - "heavy interest" after going unmentioned for so long. (NBC didn't watch Alcatraz I guess. :p) Do No Harm "has heat." Frontier "turned out great, but the network remains hesitant." (Cmon NBC, take a risk!) NBC has the only comedy that interests me this year - Animal Kingdom, which "tested well."

    CW: Cult (aka Alaric vs T-Bag) "has begun staffing" but The Selection "hasn't impressed everyone and isn't coming off as the slam dunk everyone had hoped for." It sounds like a fun premise, but if it sucks, please spare us, CW.

    FOX - The Kevin Bacon serial killer series (which has been a sure thing for a while now) has a name: Mastermind.
     
  3. Enterprise is Great

    Enterprise is Great Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Oct 24, 2004
    Location:
    The Island
    Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

    Rewind Pilot Adds Lost's Jeff Fahey and Director David Cronenberg

     
  4. RJDiogenes

    RJDiogenes Idealistic Cynic and Canon Champion Premium Member

    Joined:
    Jun 11, 2003
    Location:
    RJDiogenes of Boston
    Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

    ^^ Jeff Fahey with zen-like wisdom-- that catches my interest. :D

    That would be appropriate. A good pirate series should be as bawdy as it is adventurous.
     
  5. Caliburn24

    Caliburn24 Commodore Commodore

    Joined:
    Apr 23, 2005
    Location:
    Gig Harbor, Washington
    Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

    Michael Bay working on a show for a channel where he can show as much graphic violence and nudity as he wants?

    I have to think about this...it could go horribly wrong or horribly right.
     
  6. Sindatur

    Sindatur The Gray Owl Wizard Admiral

    Joined:
    Jan 2, 2011
    Location:
    Sacramento, CA
    Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

    Sounds like he's only the idea man, so, there's a good possibility that means it will only "look" like Michael Bay, and someone else can fill in the depth.
     
  7. Guy Gardener

    Guy Gardener Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Apr 15, 2000
    Location:
    In the lap of squalor I assure you.
    Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

    But the bloke doing the work, is either someone Micahel thinks shows a Michael Bay level of talent or some drone who worships Michael Bay.

    Apples and trees.
     
  8. Temis the Vorta

    Temis the Vorta Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Oct 30, 1999
    Location:
    Tatoinne
    Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

    Cool. I liked Fahey in Lost.
     
  9. Harvey

    Harvey Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Oct 8, 2005
    Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

    If a Western is a Western, regardless of other genres, does that mean Outland, Four Brothers, and Star Wars are all principally Westerns? All have been evaluated by genre critics in terms of the Western, and the first two are both loose remakes of earlier, more traditional Westerns (High Noon and The Sons of Katie Elder).

    And what about "Westerns" that pre-date the establishment of the Western film genre, like The Great Train Robbery (1903), which was sold as a crime film and, when successful, led to a cycle of other crime films, not films that have been since grandfathered into the Western genre?
     
  10. Temis the Vorta

    Temis the Vorta Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Oct 30, 1999
    Location:
    Tatoinne
    Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

    And finally: Variety on the pilot buzz.

    NBC - Revolution has gone missing from the buzz list again, and Midnight Sun is back. (If it's a choice between the two, I'm more in favor of the latter.) Do No Harm seems to be in good shape and Frontier has the same quibbles - well liked, but too weird a premise to effectively launch? (On the upside, a "weird" premise will get attention, which more than anything, is what NBC needs, especially to take advantage of the Olympics audience this year.)

    ABC - 666 Park Ave. and The Last Resort are looking good. No mention of Emmerich/Dark Horse.

    FOX - Mastermind is likely for midseason.

    CW - Cult, Arrow and Beauty & the Beast look good for pickup. (They won't have to fight with ABC over the name since ABC's version seems DOA.) The Selection's fate hinges on the CW picking up six pilots, not just five.
     
  11. Mr. Laser Beam

    Mr. Laser Beam Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    May 10, 2005
    Location:
    Confederation of Earth
    Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

    So I take it that the sci-fi series Revolution (about the Revolutionary War being played out again, but this time on a colony planet which wants to secede from the Earth governmental alliance) is no more? The above described show with that name is apparently the plot that's just like the "Emberverse" from SM Stirling's novels.
     
  12. Sindatur

    Sindatur The Gray Owl Wizard Admiral

    Joined:
    Jan 2, 2011
    Location:
    Sacramento, CA
    Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

    Heh, Apples and Trees, I love it... NICELY Played :bolian::bolian:

    Showtime is likely to want some kind of character depth <Ut-oh, Guy will probably take that one for a run> to go with the flashy action and actors/actresses.
     
  13. Guy Gardener

    Guy Gardener Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Apr 15, 2000
    Location:
    In the lap of squalor I assure you.
    Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

    What's going to give me more Anne Dudek?

    I want Anne Dudek or Bonnie Hunt.

    Is there anything on the slate
    that's going to instigate
    A quickening of my heart-rate
    By my dirty-blond soulmate?
     
  14. Temis the Vorta

    Temis the Vorta Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Oct 30, 1999
    Location:
    Tatoinne
    Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

    That one's long gone, sadly. :( JJ Abrams' pilot for NBC is some kind of post-apocalyptic scenario in which all the energy sources of civilization have "vanished." No idea why or how the name "Revolution" would fit.
     
  15. RJDiogenes

    RJDiogenes Idealistic Cynic and Canon Champion Premium Member

    Joined:
    Jun 11, 2003
    Location:
    RJDiogenes of Boston
    Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

    I'm not familiar with Four Brothers, but Outland and Star Wars are not Westerns. There may be thematic echoes or homages, but the definition of Western includes a certain spectrum of time and place. Star Wars is also an homage to The Seven Samurai, but that doesn't make it Japanese. Similarly, Firefly, which is called a "sci-fi Western," isn't a Western at all; it just borrows themes and imagery from that genre to inform its own identity.

    As for The Great Train Robbery, if it fits the definition of Western then it's a Western; it doesn't matter if it existed before the coining of that definition. It's like "Murders In The Rue Morgue," which is still a locked-room mystery even if the term was invented later to describe that very story and its descendants.
     
  16. Asbo Zaprudder

    Asbo Zaprudder Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Jan 14, 2004
    Location:
    Rishi's Sad Madhouse
    Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

    I thought Star Wars was inspired more by Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress. The Last Starfighter was more derivative of The Seven Samurai, but then so was A Bug's life as were probably several dozen other films.
     
  17. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 15, 2001
  18. Kegg

    Kegg Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2009
    Location:
    Ireland.
    Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

    Revolution - the space war series, that is - had its pilot episode aired on Sky years ago. I recorded it and got through... midway I think before I stopped watching from boredom. Maybe it might have become a great series if it went to series, but as-is it's Revolutionary War analogies and depictions of family life were as wholesome and as flat as Falling Skies.

    Also, something can be more than one genre. Genres are not zero sum games.

    Partly, although this is more true of earlier drafts of the film than later ones.

    Kurosawa was a big fan of Westerns and John Ford, actually, and he made one samurai film that consciously echoed the genre: Yojimbo... which was then remade as a Western called A Fistful of Dollars.
     
  19. Temis the Vorta

    Temis the Vorta Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Oct 30, 1999
    Location:
    Tatoinne
    Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

    I'd rather watch a mediocre space opera than most of the twaddle on TV, if only in the hopes that it might develop into something better. Of course, this applies only if it's merely mediocre and not actively awful.
     
  20. Mr. Laser Beam

    Mr. Laser Beam Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    May 10, 2005
    Location:
    Confederation of Earth
    Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

    Years ago? The hell? :confused:

    Why did I not hear about this...did it not air in the US at all? I would have liked to see it...