sf/f TV development news - 2013

[stj]

Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

This is an extremely religious society. The supposedly ancient gender stereotypes are doing very well, thank you. It's the 21st century that's not too healthy. The supposedly secular values in movies and TV are too often imaginary, lip service, something contradicted by the real story. When they are real, they are quite often viewed as the equivalent of off-color jokes. Those a little more lax in their religious observances can be amused and congratulate themselves on their broad-mindedness too. The more rigorous believers still have their own menu, even if there isn't an official passing on whether this or that is kosher. Plus they get to congratulate themselves on fighting for decency in what the rest of us watch.

 

[Kegg]

Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

The gender comments are interesting as the contrast is given between del Toro's vampires and 'traditional' 'tuxedo-clad studs,' which seems a pretty explicit nod to Bela Lugosi's Dracula, who comes from a movie I haven't often heard said to skew female.

Another vampire series, but don't worry, it's on FX so it'll be for guys. Damon Salvatore types need not apply!

You forgot to mention it's by Guillermo 'Pan's Labyrinth' del Toro, which pretty much guarantees I'll at least watch the pilot.

He cited everything from Luther to Sons Of Anarchy, Game Of Thrones, The Sopranos, Deadwood, The Wire, Boardwalk Empire, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia and Justified as influences.

But not The Walking Dead? Betcha that series above all is why this show is being made.

In fairness, of the shows on that list I've seen (basically all but Luther, Sons of Anarchy and Philadelphia) I'd consider them all better TV shows than Walking Dead.

But sure, the success of Walking Dead (and maybe another genre TV series based on a novel series - give you a hint, it's mentioned in the above list) is no doubt why this got greenlit... but doesn't mean it needs to faff about with underwritten characters.

Well, we'll see.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

It's extraordinary how much of pop culture is driven by ancient gender stereotypes. Nobody got the memo that the 21st century is here.

Network TV will never get that memo. Their business is built on stereotypes because that's the easiest way to sell airtime to advertisers. And it looks like it's having a strong influence on basic cable too, not surprising since they are partly ad-based as well.

And there's always the possibility that their mean-spirited stereotypes are largely correct.

The gender comments are interesting as the contrast is given between del Toro's vampires and 'traditional' 'tuxedo-clad studs,' which seems a pretty explicit nod to Bela Lugosi's Dracula, who comes from a movie I haven't often heard said to skew female.

Something from the 30s can't really be compared to modern movies and TV shows, culturally or business-wise, but just imagine how that would play if released today. It would be far too slow and lacking in gore for the modern movie audience.

In fairness, of the shows on that list I've seen (basically all but Luther, Sons of Anarchy and Philadelphia) I'd consider them all better TV shows than Walking Dead.

I'm not thinking about quality so much as ratings in motivating FX's interest. I'm sure they are expecting it to have the same sort of audience appeal.

And TWD seems like a perfectly respectable show in terms of quality anyway. I know S2 was slow at times but I appreciated the time they took to build the characters and their relationships. It can't be all mayhem, all the time. That would be exhuasting for the audience and expensive for the production.

Ron Moore is adapting The Knights Tale for ABC. Not really genre, but I thought it was worth mentioning anyway...

 

[sojourner]

Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

How is A Knight's Tale not genre?

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

Were there fantasy elements in the movie? I can't recall any, been a long time though.

 

[Christopher]

Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

The article describes it as "a medieval fantasy incorporating modern music and themes." Wikipedia calls the movie a "romantic adventure comedy," though. Perhaps the idea is that the intentional anachronisms, the modern elements inserted into the 14th century, are the "fantasy" aspect. Kind of a stretch, though.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

Yeah I remember the anachronistic music but the overall effect never struck me as fantasy, more like some weird stylistic choice. If they throw in a dragon for the guy to fight, then it's fanatsy. On ABC I wouldn't rule that out.

Speaking of stretching the definition of genre, CBS is sticking a toe into the sci fi waters again. Knowing them, this will be as much sci fi as Person of Interest is.

Intelligence, which has been bought by CBS, is based on unpublished book Dissident by John Dixon and centers on a man gifted and cursed with a top-secret experimental microchip implanted in his brain that makes him computer-like in the way he sees and processes information.

 

[sojourner]

Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

^Sounds like Jake 3.0.

 

[Christopher]

Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

^Not really, because Jake 2.0 was about an agent with enhanced physical ability, not mental/perceptual. This sounds more like Chuck meets Psych, at least where the nature of the ability is concerned.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

On CBS, I expect it to be squarely in the quirky-detective tradition, more like Perception, The Mentalist and Elementary than a real sci fi series. There seems to be no end to demand for shows like that, even though its an exceedingly narrow topic that doesn't need twenty shows about essentially the same thing,

 

[Christopher]

Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

^Well, I doubt there's any one person who watches 20 shows about the same thing, but there are at least tens of millions of people in a given major network's audience, some of whom might like some shows about a given thing but not like other shows about it, due to the cast and the characters and the writing/directing style and other considerations. For instance, I like CSI and CSI:NY but don't watch CSI: Miami because I've never liked David Caruso. And I like Body of Proof but got bored with Unforgettable, and I like the cast of Castle but I don't watch Bones because I don't find Emily Deschanel appealing (and can take or leave David Boreanaz). So having multiple shows in the same genre strikes me as being about trying to achieve a balance between having an established network brand and having a broad enough appeal for a wide audience.

After all, is it really any different in other media? How many hundreds of murder mysteries or romance novels can you find right next to each other on any bookstore's shelves? They're all the same basic kind of story, and no one person has time to read all of them, but they're all there because fans of a given genre can still have different tastes and prefer some authors or some characters to others.

 

[Kegg]

Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

Something from the 30s can't really be compared to modern movies and TV shows, culturally or business-wise,

Not really what I was getting at, though. The commenter contrasted the vampires of The Strain to a 'traditional' depiction of vampires, and Bela Lugosi is the earliest example offhand of a studly tuxedo-clad vampire I could think of, and very likely the vampire the phrase had in mind.

I'm not thinking about quality so much as ratings in motivating FX's interest.

Well yeah but the issue is what he's influenced by, not what made it make market sense. By the same token, that AMC has Walking Dead and HBO has Game of Thrones means both channels have behemoth (for cable) hits that amount to geeky programming... and of course that FX has had its own horror-themed success with American Horror Story (and one of the few things that show has said they'll never do is vampires), so there's that.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

Angsty teen aliens on the CW.

The CW is boosting its sci-fi cred with Oxygen, an alien drama in the vein of District 9 ... Oxygen follows a high school pilot program, the first attempt to integrate a group of humanoid aliens stranded on earth who until now have been living in forced segregation. The program is complicated by the prejudices and competing agendas on all sides, and could be saved or destroyed by a burgeoning romance between a human girl and alien boy.

And of course they'll all look like crawdads and not Ian Somerhalder.

Anyway, seems like sf/f is getting a lot of attention this year, considering how early in the process it is. It's a challenge even to keep up with it all.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

Something from the 30s can't really be compared to modern movies and TV shows, culturally or business-wise,

Not really what I was getting at, though. The commenter contrasted the vampires of The Strain to a 'traditional' depiction of vampires, and Bela Lugosi is the earliest example offhand of a studly tuxedo-clad vampire I could think of, and very likely the vampire the phrase had in mind.

Or maybe he was thinking aout the vampires played by Gary Oldman, Frank Langella, Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, or even George Hamilton's comic take, since they're all the same basic type - sexy, seductive and suave. And tragic, can't forget tragic!

But he pretty obviously meant the tuxedo vampires are for girls, so if he meant Lugosi's Dracula, then he thinks Lugosi's Dracula is for girls. That certainly is the ancestor of the suave vampire type that leads straight to Damon Salvatore, who I'm sure has worn a tuxedo at least once.

And come to think of it, the Del Toro vampires are more like the Borg than zombies, with the whole stinger idea. Maybe they aren't part of any vampire tradition and come from space horror.

After all, is it really any different in other media? How many hundreds of murder mysteries or romance novels can you find right next to each other on any bookstore's shelves?

But on the next shelf over, there's a bunch of space opera novels. TV doesn't have that kind of diversity because of the limited number of slots compared with even a bookstore, never mind Amazon's infinite shelf space.

I get annoyed at seeing too much of the same crap taking up the few shelves available. What we need is Amazon for TV, well I know Amazon is trying that. With infinite shelf space, there should be room for underserved genres.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

This is an extremely religious society. The supposedly ancient gender stereotypes are doing very well, thank you. It's the 21st century that's not too healthy. The supposedly secular values in movies and TV are too often imaginary, lip service, something contradicted by the real story. When they are real, they are quite often viewed as the equivalent of off-color jokes. Those a little more lax in their religious observances can be amused and congratulate themselves on their broad-mindedness too. The more rigorous believers still have their own menu, even if there isn't an official passing on whether this or that is kosher. Plus they get to congratulate themselves on fighting for decency in what the rest of us watch.

That about sums it up.

And there's always the possibility that their mean-spirited stereotypes are largely correct.

Only because people are largely conformist and mimic what they see on TV.

 

[Enterprise is Great]

Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

J.J. Abrams, "Children of Men" writer developing fantasy drama at NBC

In his foray into American television, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón has teamed with J.J. Abrams for a high-concept drama, which just landed at NBC with a pilot production commitment. Cuarón is set to direct the pilot, which he will co-write with Mark Friedman (Home Of the Brave). It is about a girl in possession of a great gift/powers — which will come into their own in seven years — and the man who is sprung from prison to protect her from those trying to hunt her down .

 

[Kegg]

Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

Wait. Del Toro? Cuaron? So when does Inarritu get his TV series?

Or maybe he was thinking aout the vampires played by Gary Oldman, Frank Langella, Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, or even George Hamilton's comic take,

Then he probably wouldn't be saying traditional, as none of those are that old. Or to rephrase: Not exclusively them. If we're talking about a tradition of sexy tuxedo vampires, then it's one that would include more contemporary vampires like those and older examples like Lugosi or say Lee.

And come to think of it, the Del Toro vampires are more like the Borg than zombies, with the whole stinger idea.

As far as vampires go it does make one think of the vampires of I Am Legend.

 

[Ayelbourne]

Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

I doubt it's actually supposed to be the German word "Wunderland." (no Umlaut) Remember how Wonderland was called "Underland" in Tim Burton's Alice film? I think it's probably just a pun along those lines.

Wunderland isn't supposed to have an Umlaut, is it?

No. Still, as a german, I have to say, "Wunderland" does indeed sound dumb. Then again, this is a matter of personal taste.

in other news: Has Incursion been discussed yet?

It's Starz' and Steven S. DeKnight's new show after Spartacus ends this season.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/11/starz-incursion_n_1665928.html

Incursion follows a squad of soldiers fighting a war against an alien race, and each season the showwould be set on a different planet. "Grittily realistic combat, darkly complex characters and intrigue on a cosmic scale will permeate the tale of fighting men and women facing the pressures of war and an enemy unlike any ever seen"

Premise sounds promising and I can absolutely see DeKnight pulling it off.

 

[Borgminister]

Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

That sounds kind of like The Wire in terms of changing settings, gritty combat and darkly complex characters.

 

[Christopher]

Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

in other news: Has Incursion been discussed yet?

It's Starz' and Steven S. DeKnight's new show after Spartacus ends this season.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/11/starz-incursion_n_1665928.html

Incursion follows a squad of soldiers fighting a war against an alien race, and each season the showwould be set on a different planet. "Grittily realistic combat, darkly complex characters and intrigue on a cosmic scale will permeate the tale of fighting men and women facing the pressures of war and an enemy unlike any ever seen"

Premise sounds promising and I can absolutely see DeKnight pulling it off.

I have mixed feelings. I like the idea of spending a whole season to explore and develop each planet; it's how I would've approached a Star Trek series or similar premise given the opportunity, because you can't even begin to portray the diversity of an entire planet in just one hour. But I think the format would work better on a show dedicated to exploration and worldbuilding. If it's just one battlefield after another, that doesn't seem as interesting. I find war stories rather boring. And I'm so sick of dark-and-gritty for the sake of dark-and-gritty. It's been done to death by now. Let's see some optimism.