sf/f TV development news - 2013

[Sto-Vo-Kory]

While I'd love to see the return of Tales From The Darkside, I wonder if it can be true to the original without Romero and needing to fit the CW brand. Hopefully Kurtzman and Orci will be involved in name only.

Hopefully the third name on the list, Joe Hill, will be the driving force for this show. He's a capable novelist, an excellent comic book writer, and I'd love to see what a TV show from him would be like. The world was denied a Locke & Key TV series; here's hoping this new TFTD will make it to broadcast.

Episodic anthologies are a tough sell, though. The only current anthology show that comes to mind is the Haunting Hour on the Hub network. American Horror Story is close, but lasts a full season instead of independent episodes like the original Tales from the Darkside.

 

[JD]

It's Sfy and fantasy so I'll gladly check it out, but the concept for Beowulf alone doesn't do a whole lot for me.

 

[RJDiogenes]

They're way too busy to be involved much if at all beyond the pilot just like JJ Abrams has little to do with his many different series.

That is my hope.

Hopefully the third name on the list, Joe Hill, will be the driving force for this show. He's a capable novelist, an excellent comic book writer, and I'd love to see what a TV show from him would be like. The world was denied a Locke & Key TV series; here's hoping this new TFTD will make it to broadcast.

Episodic anthologies are a tough sell, though. The only current anthology show that comes to mind is the Haunting Hour on the Hub network. American Horror Story is close, but lasts a full season instead of independent episodes like the original Tales from the Darkside.

Joe Hill is Stephen King's kid, right? I'm not familiar with his work, but if it's anything like his dad he could bring that eerie NE vibe to it. I just don't know if that's what the CW would be looking for; I kind of doubt it.

It seems like there's a few anthologies in the works. Every so often they try to make a comeback, but it would definitely be a tough sell in these days of serialized programming. But there's also a Twilight Zone revival in the works and Sciffy is working on something. I've never heard of Haunting Hour, so I'll have to see if I can track it down.

 

[sojourner]

It's funny. Animal Planet had a really well done anthology series a couple years ago. It was called The Lost Tapes and used the "found footage" trope. It dealt appropriately enough with mostly cryptids and beasts of legend and myth. It was very well done and entertaining. Didn't last long though.

 

[Sto-Vo-Kory]

It's funny. Animal Planet had a really well done anthology series a couple years ago. It was called The Lost Tapes and used the "found footage" trope. It dealt appropriately enough with mostly cryptids and beasts of legend and myth. It was very well done and entertaining. Didn't last long though.

That sounds cool. Definitely going to check this out.

Joe Hill is Stephen King's kid, right? I'm not familiar with his work, but if it's anything like his dad he could bring that eerie NE vibe to it. I just don't know if that's what the CW would be looking for; I kind of doubt it.
.

Joe Hill is the son of Stephen King, but goes by Hill in an attempt to make his work stand on its own -- without the benefit of his father's notoriety (something I admire him for). Stylistically, he's very much like his father but his characters tend to much more distinct and fully realized. He certainly would bring a unique voice to the series. Also the New England flavor, hopefully.

 

[RJDiogenes]

^^ That sounds good-- if the CW lets him do it. Tales From The Darkside doesn't sound like the CW's style at all.

It's funny. Animal Planet had a really well done anthology series a couple years ago. It was called The Lost Tapes and used the "found footage" trope. It dealt appropriately enough with mostly cryptids and beasts of legend and myth. It was very well done and entertaining. Didn't last long though.

That does sound pretty cool. I never heard of it, otherwise I would have watched it.

 

[Enterprise is Great]

Ringleader Studios Acquires Colin Wilson’s ‘Space Vampires’ For ‘Lifeforce’ TV Series

IDW, Michael Chiklis Developing ‘Pantheon’ TV Series Based On Actor’s Comic Books

 

[jefferiestubes8]

Machinima And Ridley Scott Cancel Plans For Series Of Sci-Fi Shorts

The partnership between Machinima, Ridley Scott, and Scott’s RSA film and commercial production company could’ve brought the world things you people wouldn’t believe. The collaboration first announced in March 2013 promised 12 shorts made by 12 burgeoning directors, some of which would hopefully catch fire on the internet and spawn fresh franchises to glitter in Hollywood’s derivative darkness. But now all those videos will be lost in time, like tears in rain. The deal is dead.

Scott and company officially called it off with the massive multi-channel network sometime this month.

VideoInk reports and our sources confirm the initiative was 86ed because of scheduling conflicts.

Or not enough money...
http://www.tubefilter.com/2013/11/21/machinima-ridley-scott-cancel-series-of-sci-fi-shorts/

I was looking forward to this. oh well.

 

[sojourner]

Re: Machinima And Ridley Scott Cancel Plans For Series Of Sci-Fi Short

Having a little trouble with cut and paste?

 

[jefferiestubes8]

OPPOSITE WORLDS - new series - SyFy January 2014

OPPOSITE WORLDS TUESDAY, JANUARY 21 AT 10PM

An all-new reality series pitting contestants in a past vs. future competition - featuring a live social experiment - Opposite Worlds will run for 12 episodes over six weeks (two episodes per week), with the second weekly episode featuring a live element (a first for a Syfy reality series). In Opposite Worlds, 14 people from all walks of life face off in opposing teams that live in a house separated into two distinctly different worlds: one past and one future, each with its own unique advantages and disadvantages. Adding to the drama is a glass wall dividing the house into the two environments, allowing the teams to watch, envy and dread each other's every move. Every week, as cast members compete in a series of fast-paced challenges, viewers will be asked to participate in real time on social media and affect the outcome of each player's fate. Opposite Worlds will be Executive Produced by JD Roth, Todd A. Nelson, Brant Pinvidic and Adam Kaloustian for Eyeworks USA.

The series is based on the hit Chilean format, Mundos Opuestos, originally broadcast on Canal 13 and distributed by Banijay International.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mundos_Opuestos_(TV_series)

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/tvnews.php?id=111715

when in the past and when in the (near) future?
Any social experiment is interesting like Beauty and the Geek.

 

[Enterprise is Great]

AMC Orders Pilot for Galyntine

Galyntine is rooted in a both fantasy/action adventure and science-fiction. In the vein of NBC’s Revolution, It takes place at a time after a cataclysmic technology-induced disaster has resulted in a new society that has eschewed any form of technology. This catastrophic event leaves small numbers of survivors scattered around the planet and forced to adapt to isolation and unique challenges. Galyntine is written by Jason Cahill (Halt And Catch Fire) and executive produced by Cahill and Greg Nicotero (The Walking Dead). David Zucker and Ridley Scott will also executive produce through Scott Free’s first-look deal with AMC.

 

[JD]

I like post apocalyptic stuff, so that is intriguing.

 

[Christopher]

Arrgghh... too much SF is about apocalypse or technological regression. I think it's a lazy way to go. It's easier to have technology regress to stuff we had in the past than it is to use one's imagination to think of ways technology could move forward. But I read and watch SF because I want to see things I haven't seen before, things that are new and alien, not just a rehash of medieval times or whatever.

 

[sojourner]

Apocalypse settings are cheaper to produce than high tech future settings.

 

[lennier1]

Apocalypse settings are cheaper to produce than high tech future settings.

Depends, filming in Detroit isn't that cheap either.

 

[sojourner]

Apocalypse settings are cheaper to produce than high tech future settings.

Depends, filming in Detroit isn't that cheap either.

Cheaper than building Detroit of 2500 CE.

 

[Christopher]

Apocalypse settings are cheaper to produce than high tech future settings.

Which is, in a way, my point. They take less expenditure of thought, imagination, and research, and thus are less impressive and interesting to me. You see the same thing when space-opera writers over the decades have written about alien planets corresponding to various eras in Earth's past, so that they're really just disguised historical fiction. I just find that to be a bit of a cheat. When I read or watch something about the future, I want it to be actually about the future, not about the past dressed up as the future.

 

[RJDiogenes]

I was sick of the post-Apocalypse trope after Mad Max.

 

[AviTrek]

Apocalypse settings are cheaper to produce than high tech future settings.

Which is, in a way, my point. They take less expenditure of thought, imagination, and research, and thus are less impressive and interesting to me. You see the same thing when space-opera writers over the decades have written about alien planets corresponding to various eras in Earth's past, so that they're really just disguised historical fiction. I just find that to be a bit of a cheat. When I read or watch something about the future, I want it to be actually about the future, not about the past dressed up as the future.

Gotta love Hodgkin's Law of Parallel Planetary Development

 

[Christopher]

Well, the parallel Earths in TOS were about saving enough money to keep the show on the air, so at least they have an excuse. I'm talking about all the prose SF out there, stories that could depict anything, but that just fall back on medieval aliens fighting with swords and bows. That's simply a failure of imagination.