sf/f TV development news - 2013

Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

It was Dish, but I believe it's back on now.

 

Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

Speaking of Dish, did everyone see this hilarious promo they did? You don't need to see The Walking Dead, we'll show some old monster movie and that's just as good!

 

Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

Well, I have no idea what the problem was between DISH and AMC, but it makes sense that they would offer their customers something to compensate. Any company would (hopefully) do something like that under similar circumstances This is a little lame, but they probably realize that; makes me feel a little sorry for them.

 

Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

I tend not to feel sorry for corporations, even when they are doing something hilariously lame. Whichever VP or CEO's idea it was, they are being paid handsomely not to frak up ridiculously like that.

 

Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

ABC, Shonda Rhimes developing sci-fi thriller

 

Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

Shonda Rhimes tries her hand at sci fi.

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.

 

Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

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?

 

Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

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.

 

Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

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?

 

Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

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.

 

Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

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

 

Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

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

 

Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

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.

 

Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

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.

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.

 

Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

Just noticed this, from Bob Iger:

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.)

 

Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

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.'

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...

 

Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

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.

 

Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

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!

 

Re: sf/f TV development news - 2012

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