Failed Fox pilot to be remade by ITV

[Bob The Skutter]

As part of a refresh of their Drama schedule ITV are prepping various new shows to replace The Bill, one of which appears to be a remake of a failed Fox pilot from a couple of years ago called The Oaks. The series was supposed to tell the story of a haunted house and the families that lived there over 30 years.
Looks like it will be 5 one hour episodes.

From Broadcast

A UK remake of Fox’s paranormal US series The Oaks is among a trio of dramas being lined up by ITV in the wake of The Bill being axed.

The Oaks was created by David Schulner and tells the story of a haunted house that is lived in by three different families over three decades.
The series was originally piloted as part of Fox’s 2008/2009 season, when it was hotly tipped as a potential competitor to Desperate Housewives and Grey’s Anatomy, but Fox passed on the full run.
The 5 x 60-minute reworking will be produced by ITV Studios and adapted by Stephen Greenhorn, a former writer on The Bill and creator of BBC Scotland soap River City.
The show grew out of a 2008 deal between ITV Studios and Fox to identify properties on their respective slates that could be developed for the other’s home market.
The Oaks was greenlit by director of ITV drama Laura Mackie and will start filming in July, subject to final contracts. Executive producers Kate Lewis (The Line Of Beauty) and Kate Bartlett (Canterbury Tales, Gunrush) are currently meeting with directors, and Chrissy Skinns (Dead Set) is lined up as producer.

 

[Lonemagpie]

Greenhorn also wrote The Lazarus Experiment and The Doctor's Daughter for Dr Who

 

[Captaindemotion]

Maybe now that 24 has been cancelled, ITV will remake it too. With Ross Kemp as Jake (sic) Bauer and Colin Salmon as Prime Minister Davis (sic) Palmer.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

^Well BBC have just announced a "24 style" real time drama called Siege, so maybe ITV will respond with a 24 remake, but if Law & Order is anything to go by it will take them 4 years to air 1 series.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Doesn't sound like that great of a property but maybe there's more to it than the plot description which sounds rather lackluster if you ask me.

^Well BBC have just announced a "24 style" real time drama called Siege, so maybe ITV will respond with a 24 remake, but if Law & Order is anything to go by it will take them 4 years to air 1 series.

Maybe at the BBC the one hour will actually use 60 minutes of air time.

 

[Harvey]

BBC doesn't need a 24 remake. They've already got Spooks, a superior take on the genre if you as me. Though I suppose it is (probably) wrapping up soon.

 

[scnj]

I'll be honest, I hoped it'd be Virtuality.

 

[Sheep]

BBC doesn't need a 24 remake. They've already got Spooks, a superior take on the genre if you as me. Though I suppose it is (probably) wrapping up soon.

Bring on the Spooks: Code 9!!!

Yes I know Code 9 has been cancelled.

Agreed about Spooks being far superior to 24. Even with the occasionally ridiculous stuff Spooks dishes out, it's NEVER EVER gotten as ridiculous as 24's later seasons.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Doesn't sound like that great of a property but maybe there's more to it than the plot description which sounds rather lackluster if you ask me.

^Well BBC have just announced a "24 style" real time drama called Siege, so maybe ITV will respond with a 24 remake, but if Law & Order is anything to go by it will take them 4 years to air 1 series.

Maybe at the BBC the one hour will actually use 60 minutes of air time.

Well 1 hour of the show will be something like 58 minutes but yeah close enough on the BBC. But ITV have commercials so you're probably talking closer to 48 minutes for an hour.

 

[Vendikarr]

As part of a refresh of their Drama schedule ITV are prepping various new shows to replace The Bill, one of which appears to be a remake of a failed Fox pilot from a couple of years ago called The Oaks. The series was supposed to tell the story of a haunted house and the families that lived there over 30 years.
Looks like it will be 5 one hour episodes.

From Broadcast

A UK remake of Fox’s paranormal US series The Oaks is among a trio of dramas being lined up by ITV in the wake of The Bill being axed.

The Oaks was created by David Schulner and tells the story of a haunted house that is lived in by three different families over three decades.
The series was originally piloted as part of Fox’s 2008/2009 season, when it was hotly tipped as a potential competitor to Desperate Housewives and Grey’s Anatomy, but Fox passed on the full run.
The 5 x 60-minute reworking will be produced by ITV Studios and adapted by Stephen Greenhorn, a former writer on The Bill and creator of BBC Scotland soap River City.
The show grew out of a 2008 deal between ITV Studios and Fox to identify properties on their respective slates that could be developed for the other’s home market.
The Oaks was greenlit by director of ITV drama Laura Mackie and will start filming in July, subject to final contracts. Executive producers Kate Lewis (The Line Of Beauty) and Kate Bartlett (Canterbury Tales, Gunrush) are currently meeting with directors, and Chrissy Skinns (Dead Set) is lined up as producer.

I've read the pilot for this show, and I enjoyed it. I was hoping it would make it on the air.

 

[Trekker4747]

Please let it be Heat Vision and Jack...

Please let it be Heat Vision and Jack...

A UK remake of Fox’s paranormal US series The Oaks is among a trio of dramas being lined up by ITV in the wake of The Bill being axed....

Dammit!

 

[KB24]

MI-5 might be becoming a bit too in the vein of 24 for my tastes. The earlier seasons were unique.

When I first saw this thread I was thinking of a Sean Bean pilot Fox wanted to screw up called Faceless. Isn't ironic that Rupert Penry-Jones was just in some pilot but when it was picked up it was recast with Christian Slater. Now ITV is knocking off American shows.

Frankly I wish they would make more Hornblowers again. And one more Sharpe, whoever is part and parcel with that anymore.

 

[Harvey]

I'd love to see more Hornblower, but word was it was too expensive too keep producing. There was talk of turning the further stories into feature films, but nothing has come of it.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

I remember that premise; I thought it sounded like it had some potential. Weird that ITV would take a premise that is far more open-ended than most - which could run indefinitely - and just make five hours.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

I remember that premise; I thought it sounded like it had some potential. Weird that ITV would take a premise that is far more open-ended than most - which could run indefinitely - and just make five hours.

It'll probably just be a 5 hour first series, and if it's popular they'll go again. Though ITV are being very strange about ongoing drama lately. Going with stuff like Collision, Whitechapel, Boy Meets Girl, which are all either limited series with short runs or stuff that was meant to be then got renewed from popularity. Seems like they prefer to go for short bursts rather than full series and they've been cancelling popular shows in favour of mini-series. Heartbeat, Wire in the Blood, Touch of Frost, and various others have all been cancelled or ended.

 

[Faldor]

also British channels tend to commission a run of 5 - 13 episodes per series and commission more if successful rather then the American model of commissioning 22 and cancelling it.

 

[KB24]

I'd like to see Whitechapel but it isn't available on DVD here. Is that a factor as well, how much you can put on a dvd set or the selling price? The Sopranos has some 4, 6 or 8 ep seasons, but they cost $100 a piece. The Golden Girls, what 26 eps seasons and those sets are $20.

In the end the budget decides the episode number more than the writing or quality. Pity.

Okay, I'm combining my cancellation thread response with my episode versus respond. Not fully functioning!

 

[Bob The Skutter]

^Can't you import them? Or do you not have a multi-region dvd player? Have a look online see if you can remote hack your player.

 

[KB24]

I was hoping Whitechapel would come to netflix before I had to revert to nefarious means, but they are getting a little too big for themselves with the waits and delays on smaller programs. It took almost 2 years to et the next season of MI-5 from them.

I was discussing these things at the Mighty Bean forum also. You would think if ITV is copying US shows and BBC America is importing the hip hits, that more British channels would come to the US. Keep the BBC America flagship, but have a BBC Comedy or BBC History channel for all the great shows that can't be seen. If everyone could see everything that was already made, there wouldn't be a need for all this remake crappage.

On a side note, I love the way SyFy is promoting Merlin as 'an original series' Bull.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

also British channels tend to commission a run of 5 - 13 episodes per series and commission more if successful rather then the American model of commissioning 22 and cancelling it.

American networks often order a half season of a series to see if it'll fly, and then place orders for more if it does. Or they order just a back-door pilot (one or two hours) and don't announce it's a pilot for anything, to save face in case it flops.

Basically, they do everything and anything to try to minimize their risk, especially in the current nasty economic climate, with ad dollars being so scarce.

If everyone could see everything that was already made

Put everything out on DVD (and a whole lot is on DVD if you look for it). The reason for putting something on air is to pay for production. If it's already paid for and produced, then renting/selling DVDs is gravy. Why go to all the trouble of trying to get a timeslot?

there wouldn't be a need for all this remake crappage.

Like it or not, the remake crappage wouldn't stop. It happens because TV execs are risk-averse and they think that buying a known quantity lowers their risk. Funny how rarely it turns out that way.

On a side note, I love the way SyFy is promoting Merlin as 'an original series'

Good old Sigh. Not only is it not original, but Netflix has the S1 DVDs available to queue up in your saved list. So what's the point of airing it at all? It's just taking up a timeslot that should be filled with actual original programming.