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2010-11 pilot pickups

Shameless is a remake of a British show, just about to start it's 7th series. I guess in America it would translate in to a white trash family, living in the projects... Dad's an alcoholic, the mother ran off to become a lesbian and the kids have to raise themselves...

It's actually a pretty good dramady... Series 8 has been picked up in the UK and given a 22 episode run.

From what I hear MTV have also picked up Skins for a US remake, fighting off the CW for the rights, so I wouldn't have much hope. Basically a teen drama focusing on a group of 17 year old friends as they shag, drink and do drugs.
 
Wasn't the CW supposedly going to have a political drama this year involving staffers on capitol hill? I think Brian Austin Green was in the cast. I think they canceled it at the last minute, guess they really felt the need to go with the beautiful life lol.

*edit* wow I just googled Freshman and I see it's a comedy and Ariana Huffington is co-producing it. I really hope it's not 3 liberals, my guess is they'll have 1 typical southern character be a republican, have a 'crazy' liberal from California (maybe SF), and then maybe a Midwest tweener or possibly independent from NE.
 
I think I'm going to start reading more-the lineup doesn't look promising

I'm starting to notice that the quality of today's TV is inversely proportional to the quality of today's video games.

I think there's a lot of fantastic television nowadays, but there's a lot of rubbish too. There's lot that sounds like rubbish but works better than you'd think.

Seems like there's as many bad games as bad shows, to be honest.
 
I think there's a lot of fantastic television nowadays, but there's a lot of rubbish too. There's lot that sounds like rubbish but works better than you'd think.

Seems like there's as many bad games as bad shows, to be honest.

Looking at this list of picked up shows, there isn't one I'd be interested in watching.

In comparison, there's a mountain of games I'm interested in. It's only January and we've already got a game of the year candidate out in the shape of Mass Effect 2.
 
I think there's a lot of fantastic television nowadays, but there's a lot of rubbish too. There's lot that sounds like rubbish but works better than you'd think.

Seems like there's as many bad games as bad shows, to be honest.

Looking at this list of picked up shows, there isn't one I'd be interested in watching.

In comparison, there's a mountain of games I'm interested in. It's only January and we've already got a game of the year candidate out in the shape of Mass Effect 2.

Whereas my media centre is so full I'm having trouble keeping up. There certainly is a ton of rubbish on the air, too.
I have a shelf full of games to play too but not every game is great and for every game I play there must be 10 I ignore, but this generation of games is probably the best there has been... So personally I wouldn't complain about either.

But you're right, a lot of these shows picked up sound rubbish.
 
It's interesting. Make them a mixed group of Democrats and Republicans and you'd have something both wildly unrealistic but also probably fun to watch.

There are three of them, so there might well be one Democrat, one Republican, and one independent.
 
Meanwhile on this side of the pond Outcasts has been picked up for 8 episodes...

Outcasts is set on a recently-discovered planet and tells of the dilemmas, loves and lives of a group of people setting up a new world.
This life-sustaining planet is now home to the surviving population from Earth. Here there is a chance to start again, to bring the lessons learnt from Earth and to put them into action on a new planet.

Set in 2040, Outcasts begins on the day the last known transporter from Earth arrives, prompting great excitement on the new planet: Who is on board? Friends and loved ones? Important supplies and news from Earth? But also many questions: Will the new people bring the problems of Earth with them? Will the mistakes that destroyed Earth be repeated? Will the arrival of a new, would-be leader, rock the fragile and precarious equilibrium of our fresh, unified and courageous new world?

And, most importantly of all, how do you create a new and a better world?
There's 3 pilots airing on BBC Three, amongst which is Pulse.

The Deep

James Nesbitt, Minnie Driver and Goran Visnjic star in a five-part thriller set thousands of feet below the Arctic ice. Simon Donald's story follows the crew of an oceanographic submarine as they search the final frontiers of Earth for unknown and remarkable life forms before inexplicable circumstances then cause catastrophe to strike.
There's also 3 comedies been picked up by Channel 4, The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret, Campus and PhoneShop, all of which you can probably find the pilots on Youtube.

Sounds like a remake of Earth 2 and Seaquest. Not that I'm complaining. I loved both shows and wish they had lasted longer. Hopefully BBCA will pick both of them up quickly instead of waiting to combine season 1 and 2(Survivors grr...).
 
*edit* wow I just googled Freshman and I see it's a comedy and Ariana Huffington is co-producing it.
That's good. No, really, you'd probably what political-types on hand so the show could deal with its issues intelligently, and it'd be nice to think Huffington going into entertainment only amounts to a bit role as a talking bear on a bad Seth MacFarlane show.

There are three of them, so there might well be one Democrat, one Republican, and one independent.
Also good.
 
Boardwalk Empire - chronicles the early 20th century origins of Atlantic City and revolves around Nucky Johnson, who runs a liquor-distribution ring, and Jimmy Darmody, his ruthless flunky
Deadwood called. They want their premise back.
 
I guess in America it would translate in to a white trash family, living in the projects... Dad's an alcoholic, the mother ran off to become a lesbian and the kids have to raise themselves...
If it's on Showtime, I'd expect them to use more imagination than that. That sounds like Married with Children. :D Here's hoping that being on Showtime means that they're going to come up with some really out of the box and not just what we could expect on network TV. The outlook is so bleak that premium cable is where I'm really looking for something, anything worthwhile.

Basically a teen drama focusing on a group of 17 year old friends as they shag, drink and do drugs.
...and that's different from the rest of the CW's lineup how? :rommie:

Not that I'm expecting anything worthwhile from the CW.

Boardwalk Empire - chronicles the early 20th century origins of Atlantic City and revolves around Nucky Johnson, who runs a liquor-distribution ring, and Jimmy Darmody, his ruthless flunky
Deadwood called. They want their premise back.

Eh? Early 20th C New Jersey is far enough afield from late 19th C South Dakota that there's no overlap. Or do you expect no one to ever make a historical drama about criminals ever again?

If you want to complain about lack of originality, this thread gives you plenty of ammo. Why go after one of the very few shows that has a bit of originality? How many other historical dramas do you see on the list? Pretty much this one and The Borgias. Versus eighty seven million cop shows.

And the lawyer shows are gaining. Another one!

Untitled drama -- previously known as "Justice"-- revolves around a former Supreme Court Justice who bails from the Court in order to start his own legal practice.

Mostly crap from CBS.

"Livin' on a Prayer" revolves around a Pittsburgh couple who are dating -- and mulling the next stage of their relationship.

Snore.

Redlich/Bellucci drama - follows the world of a female NYPD detective who has a special ability that allows her to remember everything.

Gugh.

"Defenders" revolves around two Las Vegas defense attorneys.

Fugh.

"The Pink House" -Buddy comedy centers on two guys who move to L.A

Mugh.

"Chaos" - drama centers on a group of rogue CIA operatives.

That one could be fun. One point to CBS (a network I've almost completely given up on). And why is the CIA suddenly popular? Is it the Chuck factor?
 
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The Borgias - The Tudors, only this time with medieval Italians. They should cast actors like James Gandolfini and Zachary Quinto. Or how about this: Al Pacino as the decrepit, corrupt patriarch, still detemined to hang onto his power while the younger vultures circle. Done right, this could be a sleazy, crazy hoot
Jeremy Irons has already been cast as Rodrigo Borgia, who seems to be the corrupt patriarch. And given Rodrigo Borgia's future career, I don't think those young vultures are going to be terribly successful...

The Borgias is being done by the same people as The Tudors, so it will probably be filmed in similar areas and have a primarily British cast.
 
Ech. I'd prefer they at least attempt to get the ethnicity right. :rommie: Not to mention the scenery! Are they really not going to shoot the dang thing in Italy? Hardly any point in doing a story about Italy, then...
 
I dunno. The Tudors was filmed in Ireland, I believe. Rome filmed in Italy and that was a major reason why it was so hideously expensive, so I wouldn't be surprised if The Borgias filmed elsewhere.
 
You can pass Ireland off as England. Italy is another matter altogether. And what about convincing Medieval cities? Florence is a bit hard to fake.
 
I guess in America it would translate in to a white trash family, living in the projects... Dad's an alcoholic, the mother ran off to become a lesbian and the kids have to raise themselves...
If it's on Showtime, I'd expect them to use more imagination than that. That sounds like Married with Children. :D Here's hoping that being on Showtime means that they're going to come up with some really out of the box and not just what we could expect on network TV. The outlook is so bleak that premium cable is where I'm really looking for something, anything worthwhile.

There's some fairly out there stuff on the original show. A drug dealing Irish Catholic Family who basically rule the area, with a closested gay son who writes straight erotica, one who falls in love with a prostitute and lets her keep her job so long as he gets it free and one who upon getting out of prison decides to go straight, right after he kills some of the families rivals.

A new cop who falls in love with the 15 year old daughter, and they start a relationship while trying to hide it from everyone, only to get found out after he gets accused of rape because he pissed on a rape victim in the bushes not know she was there.

An old woman who decides to start up a brothel after her husband dies.

It does read fairly bland or stereotypical, but actually works really well in the tone of the show.

Oh and when I say the dad is an alcoholic, I don't mean he likes a beer, I mean staggering, slurring, talking to himself, doing anything for money so he can stay in the pub drinking all day, every day, alcoholic.
Basically a teen drama focusing on a group of 17 year old friends as they shag, drink and do drugs.
...and that's different from the rest of the CW's lineup how? :rommie:

Not that I'm expecting anything worthwhile from the CW.
It's actually on MTV, which is probably worse.

It's different in that, while there's a sense of heightened reality to it, it's one of the more realistic and graphic teen dramas out there, and it's an actual proper drama, not dumbed down cos that's what the kids want... although I wouldn't expect that from MTV (or The CW for that matter).

Each episode mostly focuses on a different member of the group, and so far the second series has been the best, the most serious stories, the strongest writing.
 
It's actually on MTV, which is probably worse.

It's different in that, while there's a sense of heightened reality to it, it's one of the more realistic and graphic teen dramas out there, and it's an actual proper drama, not dumbed down cos that's what the kids want... although I wouldn't expect that from MTV (or The CW for that matter).

Each episode mostly focuses on a different member of the group, and so far the second series has been the best, the most serious stories, the strongest writing.

I preferred the first two seasons of Skins with the original cast to the new group mainly because the whole Effy/Cook/Freddie triangle is really annoying and Cook is probably the most irritating and stupid character the show has created yet. How hard is it to write the character? Just have him mumble something and try to sound badass and then shout IM COOK!

The only saving grace of the 3rd series going into 4th is the whole Emily/Naomi relationship and how it develops. I also like that they have an autistic character who isn't treated like a complete outcast by everyone else.
 
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