sf/f TV development news - 2013

Re: the state of sf/f TV development for 2012-13

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

 

Re: the state of sf/f TV development for 2012-13

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

 

Re: the state of sf/f TV development for 2012-13

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

 

Re: the state of sf/f TV development for 2012-13

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

 

Re: the state of sf/f TV development for 2012-13

The Futon Critic database is the easy cheat sheet.

For updates, I follow Deadline.

 

Re: the state of sf/f TV development for 2012-13

With Once Upon a Time the darling of the new broadcast season, the whole fantasy genre is going to be even more prevalent next year. Starting with...

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.

 

Re: the state of sf/f TV development for 2012-13

 

Re: the state of sf/f TV development for 2012-13

Well, that's the first one to make the claim that it's part of the trend. Gotta be part of a trend!

Edit: and they're still rolling in...

RIP (NBC) - single-camera comedy about a reluctant angel, a “Kindness Guru” who happens to be an asshole who dies and in order to get to heaven is forced to return to earth and help people with the help of his simple minded brother.‬

Oh what the heck, that could be fun. If Breaking In doesn't make it (and it is being given a second chance), they could cast Christian Slater as the asshole and Michael Rosenbaum as the simpleminded brother.

 

Re: the state of sf/f TV development for 2012-13

Another one reported by Deadline Hollywood:

 

Re: the state of sf/f TV development for 2012-13

"Time travel fantasy-musical"? Okay, I'm making an executive decision and booting that over to the sci fi category.

 

Re: the state of sf/f TV development for 2012-13

Ghosts, Trans-Humans and KGB Agents on SyFy Development Slate

Ghost Projekt

Seeing Things

And on the space opera front:

Untitled Robert H. Wolfe Project

I like this last one best of all. I need some outer space action!

 

Re: the state of sf/f TV development for 2012-13

Wow, RHW is still in the business? Well, I hope his show does really well, although I'd prefer if he put more emphasis on the writing for the episodes instead of making tons of background info like he and his staff did for Andromeda.

 

Re: the state of sf/f TV development for 2012-13

Wow, at least SyFy is making an attempt at a space opera. I hope they don't have this and Blood and Chrome compete for a single pickup.

 

Re: the state of sf/f TV development for 2012-13

Sure, he never left. Since Andromeda, he's worked as a producer on The 4400, The Dresden Files, The Gates, and most recently (and currently?) Alphas, as well as creating and producing a failed paranormal-romance pilot called Scarlett (which was going to be shot in New Orleans, but Katrina hit on the very day they started filming so they had to move it, and then it didn't get picked up anyway) and writing a draft of Syfy's second attempt at a Riverworld adaptation (though RHW says the aired version is unrecognizably altered from what he wrote).

Why "instead of?" Why can't it be both? They had Allsystems.org up and running months before the show premiered, so it's not like it somehow prevented them from devoting their attention to the scripts. (And I think Allsystems was mostly Zack Stentz & Ashley Miller's work anyway.) There's no question that Robert was very hands-on when it came to Andromeda's writing, considering how quickly the show fell apart when he was fired as its showrunner. The problems with that show when Robert was around were never with its writing, only with the cruddy production values and shoestring budget.

 

Re: the state of sf/f TV development for 2012-13

AH HAH! I knew if I was patient, a gen-ew-INE space opera would emerge from the morass of ghost cops. Even tho I didn't care for Andromeda, RHW did great work on DS9 and I have high hopes for his new show.

I dunno if we should hold our breaths regarding Blood & Chrome, though...might be DOA?

And Kevin Sorbo.

 

Re: the state of sf/f TV development for 2012-13

I see... most of that stuff was never on my radar beyond its existence and/or anything I saw about didn't mention Wolfe.

My issue with stuff like the All-Systems University is that, for the most part, it's never actually integrated into the show itself. It's a peeve I have with a lot of media these days, regardless of where it comes from, because for the most part, these sorts of things tend to be tossed out the window anyway as the production grinds on or they are critical to the story in a way that can compromise the quality of the work for those in the audience who aren't aware that this stuff is out there.

As for Andromeda's writing, I can't really recall it being anything too spectacular, although that might have been more a result of the performances and/or direction.

 

Re: the state of sf/f TV development for 2012-13

I really like this premise. If there's one thing I'd like to see space opera TV do more (besides, you know, exist and be good) it's tackle transhumanism head on, as has of course been done in literature and elsewhere. Star Trek turned it into something criminal and Battlestar Galactica was more interested with its Cylons, so we don't often get space opera where humanity's medical and cybernetic technology is tinkering around the line of what human means.

I'd say there were some problems with the writing. Andromeda had a lot of solid episodes during RHW's tenure ("Angel Dark, Demon Bright" comes to mind), but also a fair smattering of lousy ones and some pretty awkward attempts at humour - thinking mostly of Beka Valentine's quips. It was a pretty uneven first season.

But yeah, Allsystems.org was an impressive bit of pre-show marketing. Andromeda is actually the first series I was excited about before it aired thanks to the internet, and while it never lived up to those expectations I do have a soft spot for the first year.

 

Re: the state of sf/f TV development for 2012-13

Well, yes and no. If he had producers and directors strong enough to ride herd on him and keep his self-indulgences in check, he could do a really good job as an actor. The problems came when that ceased to be the case, when he was basically given free rein to do what he felt like and his ego pretty much took over the show.

(This is why I have so much respect for Eliza Dushku as a producer on Dollhouse. She could've made it a self-indulgent star vehicle for herself, but instead she was content to step back and let the ensemble flourish, to the point that her character didn't even play the pivotal role in the series finale.)

But again, the problem there isn't with the ASU content itself as with the show. When Robert, Zack, and Ash created all that backstory, I don't think they appreciated just how much their creativity would be hampered by the tiny budget and the production team's lack of experience. They created all these exotic aliens with the intent of using them in the show, but then what the inexperienced makeup artists produced was a cheap-looking mess, so they had to dial back on the aliens. It took them three years to figure out how to do a Vedran, and the end result was so lame that they never did it again. So it wasn't a writing problem, it was a cost/production problem. The show was doomed by the fact that Majel Roddenberry sold it to the skinflint Tribune Entertainment, whose priority was always to minimize costs in the short term no matter how much it damaged a show, rather than a production company that would actually nurture the show creatively.

 

Re: the state of sf/f TV development for 2012-13

Well, the RHW project sounds like it has possibilities. The first two seasons of Andromeda were great, and the show would probably be listed among the classic Space Operas if he had been able to continue till the end. I hope this gets picked up.

 

Re: the state of sf/f TV development for 2012-13

Hmmm.... does anyone know when exactly all the ASU stuff was hashed out? Because if it was made before Majel sold the rights to Tribune, the level of detail would make sense. If it was after, then that was a total lapse of judgment on their part if they knew anything about how cheap Tribune could be. Actually, in all honesty, it seems like they conceived Andromeda in such a way that it would've probably been better as a video game than a television series. I say that because I don't think they did enough to establish the Commonwealth itself and how things were fairly good before throwing everything into the terrible future where everything was fractured and all around bad for everyone, plus all the harder scifi staples like non-humanoid aliens that aren't really practical on TV budgets even today.

That said, since RHW's new show doesn't seem like it'll be too out there in terms of character design, it shouldn't have too many problems with budget even if it doesn't get as much money as SGU.