2011-12 pilot buzz thread

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

So is he McDreamy or McSteamy? I always get those two mixed up...

He's neither of them. McDermott has never been in Grey's Anatomy. He's best known as the star of The Practice.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

So is he McDreamy or McSteamy? I always get those two mixed up...

He's neither of them. McDermott has never been in Grey's Anatomy. He's best known as the star of The Practice.

I was thinking of Patrick Dempsey. Until this moment, I was only barely cognizant that they are two different people.

You can probably tell that I'm not really into the young-doctors/lawyers-in-love kind of show. (Until I looked it up just now, I thought The Practice was about doctors.)

 

[Obiwanshinobi]

I usually get Dylan McDermott mixed up with Dermot Mulroney.

 

[Witterquick]

Sounds like a soap opera.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Sounds like a soap opera.

That's what I thought too, but FX is a weird place for it. FX skews very male, and although they might try to attract more female viewers, probably not at the expense of their core audience. That's why I'm expecting demons under the floorboards or at the very least an axe murderer or two.

Meanwhile, NBC is back to being screwed.

The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday granted the NFL's request for a temporary stay on an injunction that lifted an owner-imposed lockout on players. That means the lockout is back on, just a couple of days after a Minneapolis judge's decision had lifted it.

They better greenlight everything they have.

 

[Jetfire]

Bring back The Cape!

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Chuck may be in the clear!

I just read something interesting in the deadline comments section: apparently there's a character in American Horror Story who "has a similar background" to the Virginia Tech killer. So maybe this is a non-supernatural type killer-on-the-loose story?

EDIT: Interesting article on what is being shot where. For example:

Reconstruction is set in Missouri and shot in New Mexico. Yeah, they look totally alike.

Locke & Key is set in Massachussetts (as all good supernatural stories are ) and shot in Pittsburgh. Since the story revolves around the mansion, this is a case where the location isn't a big deal as long as it has old mansions.

Terra Nova being shot in Australia is complicating an already messed-up show. They should have opted for Hawaii or Puerto Rico (where The River is being shot) to minimize the time difference. I don't blame them for snubbing Florida, tho, and going for someplace that doesn't look like a pancake.

I love this malarky:

"The primary driving force is what is best creatively for the project," Sharp says.

Shows are usually set in some definite locale (and when they're not, it's an excuse for shooting in Genericsville, USA, aka Canada). What is "best" creatively is of course that locale. So why aren't shows always shot where they're supposed to be?

Hawaii is angling to become the next Hollywood. Good luck to them, considering how pricey everything is there; ever try to buy a carton of milk on Kauai? But Lost proved that Hawaii is a wonderfully versatile place that can mimic a wide range of places for those rare ambitious, globetrotting style shows.

 

[bigdaddy]

They better greenlight everything they have.

BOOOOOOO!!!!

WE WANT FOOTBALL!!!!

BOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

NBC should green light everything anyways, just give every thing a 13 episode order and start throwing everything out there hoping something will stick.

However they should get rid of The Event no matter what.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

WE'RE F*CKED WITHOUT FOOTBALL! WE HAVEN'T HAD A HIT SHOW SINCE THE REAGAN ADMINISTRATION!

Maybe they should start hanging around the other networks' dumpsters and taking the shows they reject too.

 

[bigdaddy]

The Voice is a hit, and Friends and Seinfeld and ER and West Wing. :P

 

[bigdaddy]

Wow is NBC stupid...

http://www.tvline.com/2011/04/tvline-items-love-bites-scheduled-voice-adds-stars/

Now they are going to burn off the show!? Why didn't they do this before?!?! It's not like they don't have any room for it!

 

[Temis the Vorta]

The oh-so-mysterious American Horror Story is going to be "gritty, like Nip/Tuck" and "slightly twisted." What's Nip/Tuck's tone? Over the top, like Desperate Housewives? "Realistic" gritty like BSG?

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

What's Nip/Tuck's tone? Over the top, like Desperate Housewives? "Realistic" gritty like BSG?

Nip/Tuck has a much more down to earth and realistic tone than Desperate Housewives in terms of its acting, music and staging, but then delivers big WTF/OTT moments. The OTT elements are a lot edgier than those in Desperate Housewives.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

So more like Dexter? (She said, hopefully.) A basically realistic milieu but insane, grotesque and hilarious things happen?

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

So more like Dexter? (She said, hopefully.) A basically realistic milieu but insane, grotesque and hilarious things happen?

Yeah, more or less, although mileage varies as to whether Nip/Tuck at times pushed its edgy moments too far over the top.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Too far over the top is better than not far enough! I'm sick of sanitized broadcast shows.

If anyone is wondering about the deafening silence on any substantial information, my hunch is that news will come rolling in over the next few days. Stay tuned...

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

Some plot details have emerged about American Horror Story. It is an actual horror show. The title isn't just metaphoric. From The Hollywood Reporter:

The thriller centers on husband and wife pairing Ben (McDermott) and Vivien Harmon (Friday Night Lights’ Connie Britton) who move from Boston to a haunted San Francisco home in an attempt to rebuild the family after a miscariage and affair.

Living next door is Constance (Jessica Lange) and her daughter with down syndrome who knows more about the Harmon house than everyone realizes. Denis O’Hare joins them as Larry the Burn Guy, a former resident of the home, while the part of teen Tate Langdon has yet to be cast.

Though details for the hotly-anticipated project remain tightly guarded, FX chief John Landgraf was enthusiastic about it’s prospects in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter last month, calling the “really complicated, interesting psychological horror show” an “incredibly ambitious” series that “could define or redefine the genre that [it’s] in.”

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Some plot details have emerged about American Horror Story. It is an actual horror show. The title isn't just metaphoric.

Ah, good news! Sounds like a very interesting show and it's definitely on my list to check out. Good timing, because I needed good news right now. More buzz has come in, and it's what I wanted to hear. A lot of the most interesting sounding shows are looking sketchy: Locke & Key, Alcatraz, 17th Precinct , Reconstruction and Hallelujah.

It figures, since anything I think sounds cool is inevitably weird in some way. Of course, buzz has a tendency to do a 180, so some of these might still come through.

Grimm is said to be looking better than 17th Precinct. If it comes down to one or the other, Grimm is the one with the easier-to-grasp premise so this doesn't surprise me. However, the number of sketchy-buzz NBC shows is suspicious - with football still up in the air, NBC might have to be more lenient this year.

Looking good for: Smash, Exit Strategy, Touch (although it might not be a good series), Prime Suspect, REM, SILA, Wonder Woman, Charlie's Angels, Poe, Pan Am, Once Upon a Time ("Lost in tone and Pushing Daisies in look" - wow!) and Secret Circle.

Person of Interest is mixed. Identity (which interests me solely because it stars Wentworth Miller) is looking good. Awakenings may be too off-brand for CW (or just too weird, even for me!)

Overall, my hopes for a kick-ass pilot season are diminishing rapidly as the field is narrowing in favor of the remakes and predictable stuff, but hey, there's always cable...

 

[Jetfire]

CW

Two pilots seem to be separating from the pack, Kevin Williamson's witch tale THE SECRET CIRCLE and the medical drama HART OF DIXIE, both from Warner Bros. TV. The verdict on the latter is not as unanimous as some still have issues with star Rachel Bilson's believability as a doctor but she reportedly tested very well.

Of CBS Studios' entries, the angel-and-attorney drama HEAVENLY appears the strongest early on, while zombie drama AWAKENING has had only so-so testing despite a very strong script, probably because of the departure from the CW's brand of teen soaps it represents.

Ditto on COOPER AND STONE, which, despite a dash of Gossip Girl as the two female cops at its center are quite the fashionistas, is a straight-forward procedural, something the CW has no history of. And it also didn't come out well, people who have seen it say.

DANNI LOWINSKI cold

Assuming CW cuts Hellcats & Nikita which seems likely they need 4 shows...if they keep 1 then they need 3.

I see Secret Circle & Awakening making through with Hart Of Dixie &/Or Heavenly...I would put Copper And Stone before Heavenly but Heavenly is produced by CBS.

CBS

RINGER - reaction to the pilot has varied from mixed to positive - Sarah Michelle Gellar stars, but it's heavily serialized. CBS has only one serialized drama currently on the air, the acclaimed but modestly rated The Good Wife.

I hope it makes it.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

If anyone cares, here is USA's upfront.

What a whole lotta shows that sound completely uninteresting. Reminds me of CBS. Oh look, a show about hospital bureaucracy, well sign me up.

But this one does sound like it could be good, with the right cast:

THE ENCLAVE (Limited series)
A job opportunity forces a family to move far from their hometown…and nothing is what it seems in their new community. A limited series from writers Andre and Maria Jacquemetton (“Mad Men”).

Some in-depth descriptions of "the best" network pilots. Damn! Locke & Key sounds really good! But it also sounds like the kind of show that falls on its face on broadcast. Maybe the producers should see if AMC, TNT or FX are interested?

I haven't said much about comedies because they sound so interchangeable. But these seem the most interesting: Don't Trust the Bitch in Apt 23, How to Be a Gentleman, and Brave New World.