NBC and the 21 Pilots

[Temis the Vorta]

They might be making the same mistake I've seen before, trying to take a cop/lawyer/doctor show format and translate it to sci fi or fantasy setting. Cop, lawyer and doctor shows work because they have rules that make sense in the real world, and that the audience can identify with. But try to create sci fi medical procedures or fantasy police procedures, and you sever that connection.

The X-Files is one of the most popular and successful sci-fi shows in TV history and it took a cop show format and merged it with sci-fi. The cop show format makes for a sturdy and easily understood framework for a TV show and there have been enough shows and movies about cops and/or government agents investigating sci-fi/fantasy elements that it's something audiences can engage with very easily if you get it right.

But they followed FBI rules (or adaptations thereof), not sci fi rules. The problem arises when there are sci laws to follow - or fantasy laws - unless they are very cleverly thought through. I guess with enough work, you can come up with a new legal system that deals with witches, trolls and elves. If that's what RDM has in mind, then the results could be fascinating.

 

[IndyJones]

17th Precinct (Ron Moore). World ruled by magic, not science (drama, pilot).

Stockard Channing has signed on for this, so I'll definitely tune in if it makes it to series.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

17th Precinct (Ron Moore). World ruled by magic, not science (drama, pilot).

Stockard Channing has signed on for this, so I'll definitely tune in if it makes it to series.

Wow! That one has just vaulted to the top of my must-see list.

 

[FreezeC77]

If NBC really wants something like Grimm they should just bring the Fables Comic adaption back that they had put into development for a pilot like 5 or 6 years ago before passing on it.

 

[Morpheus 02]

In this internet age...would it make sense to have internet/text voting on pilots, to see from the viewers what should be further considered.

 

[bigdaddy]

However, Pushing Daisies successfully combined the PI format with fantasy by focusing on the characters, the amazing visuals, and the puzzles in each episode. (The reason I think it failed was that it was too sweet - there wasn't enough dramatic tension.) So I'll check out any sci fi doctor show or fantasy cop show or whatever that comes down the pike.

I think it failed because they didn't successfully handle the fantasy. They had the one minute rule, but sometimes the bodies would be talking for over two minutes. Sure it's a small thing, I understand if it was 1:10 but sometimes it just went on and on. If you make up the rules than you should follow the rules. They didn't mix it well at all in my view.

 

[IndyJones]

However, Pushing Daisies successfully combined the PI format with fantasy by focusing on the characters, the amazing visuals, and the puzzles in each episode. (The reason I think it failed was that it was too sweet - there wasn't enough dramatic tension.) So I'll check out any sci fi doctor show or fantasy cop show or whatever that comes down the pike.

I think it failed because they didn't successfully handle the fantasy. They had the one minute rule, but sometimes the bodies would be talking for over two minutes. Sure it's a small thing, I understand if it was 1:10 but sometimes it just went on and on. If you make up the rules than you should follow the rules. They didn't mix it well at all in my view.

You think it failed because of nitpickers with stopwatches? Really?

 

[Temis the Vorta]

However, Pushing Daisies successfully combined the PI format with fantasy by focusing on the characters, the amazing visuals, and the puzzles in each episode. (The reason I think it failed was that it was too sweet - there wasn't enough dramatic tension.) So I'll check out any sci fi doctor show or fantasy cop show or whatever that comes down the pike.

I think it failed because they didn't successfully handle the fantasy. They had the one minute rule, but sometimes the bodies would be talking for over two minutes. Sure it's a small thing, I understand if it was 1:10 but sometimes it just went on and on. If you make up the rules than you should follow the rules. They didn't mix it well at all in my view.

You think it failed because of nitpickers with stopwatches? Really?

In this internet age...would it make sense to have internet/text voting on pilots, to see from the viewers what should be further considered.

The chief value of that would be publicity. Watch our show and vote on which characters you love and which you hate! I can't believe it hasn't been done w/a scripted series before now. Probably too many fragile egos involved. Actors would throw a fit if they knew their character was despised (it's usually more the writers' fault when that happens tho).

But I wouldn't actually base story decisions on what fans say. If the fans are so good at writing shows, why aren't they the ones being paid to write the shows? The producers should just finesse things so that the winning answers are never allowed to frak things up, and I'm sure many if not most of the winning ideas would be flat-out terrible. Maybe make the questions multiple choice so that no terrible ideas are allowed to be options to begin with.

One thing they should definitely do: air pilots and let viewers vote on them. That will give millions of people an investment in the pilots they vote for. Even if the shows turn out to stink, once people have voted for them, they'll be more likely to convince themselves they like the show, and get their friends and family to watch it.

But the honchos who currently decide which shows air will have to put their big fat egos on a shelf to make that idea work. Hollywood egos are the only things standing in the way of these ideas.

 

[BillJ]

The Crossing is the only one that sounds even mildly interesting. Think they're making a mistake dropping the camp elements from Wonder Woman.

 

[FordSVT]

Most of those sound rather lame and unimaginative.

Well, to be fair, and as was mentioned back in the thread, a lot of very popular shows would sound really boring if you reduced their plot to a dozen words.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Predicting that most network shows will turn out lame and unimaginative is about as hard as predicting that the sun will rise in the east tomorrow. But all it takes is one or two of them to be worthwhile, that's more than enough for any given network.

 

[bigdaddy]

But all it takes is one or two of them to be worthwhile, that's more than enough for any given network.

Not NBC.

All I see NBC keeping, that isn't in danger is SVU (unless there are contract issues), 30 Rock, The Office and The Biggest Loser.

NBC needs more hits than other stations this year.

 

[Checkmate]

The only three that I am curious about are 17th Precinct, Grimm and Wonder Woman.

Those are the ones I'm most interested in, too. Grimm in particular because I'm a huge fan of fey lore.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

But all it takes is one or two of them to be worthwhile, that's more than enough for any given network.

Not NBC.

All I see NBC keeping, that isn't in danger is SVU (unless there are contract issues), 30 Rock, The Office and The Biggest Loser.

NBC needs more hits than other stations this year.

I meant in terms of me having enough good shows to watch. I don't care about NBC's bottom line or any other network's for that matter (except that it's sometimes interesting to analyze). Never watched SVU, probably never will.

 

[LitmusDragon]

How about a situation comedy about being an executive at NBC and ordering 21 pilots? I'd watch it.

7th Precinct, Wonder Woman, Grimm, and The Crossing sound kind of interesting.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Or just a sitcom about a network that is struggling and going down the tubes? Just hire staffers from NBC and it writes itself. Whatever happened with Heroes for instance must be comedy GOLD!

 

[Othello]

So, here are the 21 shows NBC has ordered to pilot. What do you think has a chance?

• 7th Precinct (Ron Moore). World ruled by magic, not science (drama, pilot).
  
• Playboy (Chad Hodge). Set in the 1960s, the drama takes a look at the lives of Playboy bunnies (drama, pilot).
  
• Smash (Steven Spielberg, Neil Meron, Craig Zadan, Darryl Frank, Justin Falvey, Theresa Rebeck). Follows a cross-section of characters who come together for the exhilarating ride of putting on a Broadway musical (drama, pilot).
  
• Wonder Woman (David E. Kelley). A reboot of the superhero tale that’s a serious, non-campy take on the DC Comics character (drama, pilot).
  
• Special investigations L.A. (Stephen Gaghan, Peter Chernin, Katherine Pope). In the style of Traffic, the drama is set in the world of crime, law enforcement, and politics in modern-day L.A. (drama, pilot).
  
• Grimm (Jim Kouf, David Greenwalt). Dark but fantastical cop drama about a world in which characters inspired by Grimm’s Fairy Tales exist (drama, pilot).
  
• Prime Suspect (Alexandra Cunningham, Sarah Aubrey, Peter Berg). Series adaptation of the British miniseries (drama, pilot).
  
• REM (Kyle Killen). A procedural hybrid which follows the simultaneous and parallel lives of a detective who can not let go of any aspect of his fractured family after a horrible car accident (drama, pilot).
  
• The Crossing (Josh Brand, Peter Horton). In the aftermath of a difficult war, a Civil War soldier crosses the country and settles into a complicated town where he is welcomed as its savior — whether he likes it or not (drama, pilot).
  
• Kari Lizer project (Kari Lizer). A multi-camera workplace comedy about a relationship-challenged woman who, with the help of her co-workers, guides people through unexpected career transitions and downsizing (comedy, pilot).
  
• Free Agents (John Enbom, Karey Burke, Todd Holland). Based on the UK format, this single camera comedy looks at the attraction between two quirky co-workers who are both on the rebound (comedy, pilot).
  
• Dan Goor project (Dan Goor, Gail Berman, Lloyd Braun). A young doctor joins his parents’ medical practice and spends as much time tending to his family as to his patients (comedy, pilot).
  
• Lovelives (Chris Sheridan, Peter Chernin, Katherine Pope). A sophisticated multi-camera comedy about two couples and their challenges of love and infidelity (comedy, pilot).
  
• I Hate that I Love You (Jhoni Marchinko). Focuses on a straight couple that introduces two of its lesbian friends to one another – which results in instant attraction and a pregnancy (comedy, pilot).
  
• Are you there, Vodka? It’s me, Chelsea (Chelsea Handler, Tom Werner, Dottie Dartland Zicklin, Julie Larsen). Inspired by Handler’s best-selling memoir that will focus on the lives of a group of 20-somethings who live and work together with a very outspoken young woman (comedy, pilot).
  
• Brave New World (Peter Tolan, Michael Wimer). This single-camera workplace comedy follows a group of unusual characters at Pilgrim Village, a theme park that specializes in recreations of New England in 1647 (comedy, pilot).
  
• Ghost Angeles (Henry Alonzo Myers, Josh Schwartz) A young woman speaks to dead people who help her (comedy, pilot).
  
• My Life as an Experiment (Cathy Yuspa, Josh Goldsmith, Jack Black). A single-camera comedy about a magazine writer who immerses himself and his family in his unusual situations for his stories, which always reflect back on his marriage. It’s based on the book by (former EW writer!) A.J. Jacobs. (comedy, pilot).
  
• Parham/St. Claire project (Lennon Parham, Jessica St. Clair). A woman and her new live-in boyfriend find themselves taking in her distraught and pushy best girlfriend who ends up on their doorstep after a divorce (comedy, pilot).
  
• Bent (Ted Quill). Single-camera comedy about a recently divorced Type A single mom who tries hard not to fall for the sexy surfer dude contractor she hires to re-do her kitchen (comedy, pilot).
  
• Untitled Emily Spivey project (Emily Spivey). A cast-contingent project about parenthood through the POV of an acerbic working mom (comedy, pilot)

.

Ones that interest me in bold...

 

[PKTrekGirl]

If I didn't know any better, I would swear that "NBC" stands for 'Nothing But Crap'

Looking down that list, there were several shows where I actually thought you must be puttin' us on, because NO ONE would buy a pilot with such an idiotic premise.

But alas....no "HA! Just kidding, folks!" post ever came. And that really scares me.

 

[bigdaddy]

If I didn't know any better, I would swear that "NBC" stands for 'Nothing But Crap'

I have been saying that for years!

Also the PS3 is Piece of Shit 3.

 

[Mistral]

The only three that I am curious about are 17th Precinct, Grimm and Wonder Woman.

And since it's been said, I'm done with this thread.