recent casting news on sci fi pilots

[Temis the Vorta]

I'll start with the most exciting one! Maybe Skiffy can redeem itself at last?

"Saved by Zeroes" - Michael and Jonathan Silverman are set to star in the project, created by Rosenbaum and based on his personal experiences. It revolves around two friends, former actors on a science fiction show that has since developed a cult following, who have hit rock bottom and must work together to get their lives back on track.

This is different from the other TV pilot about a bunch of fans who resurrect their favorite cancelled cult sci fi show.

"This is such a personal idea of Michael's stemming from his experience on 'Smallville,' " he said. "There is a lot of character depth to it."

I haven't been following Smallville. Has there been a lot of juicy behind the scenes rancor or something? Can Rosenbaum convince Alison Mack to join the cast?

Rosenbaum got the inspiration for the show while attending numerous sci-fi/comic book conventions while on the long-running WB/CW series. He describes "Zeroes" as "Galaxy Quest" meets "Eastbound & Down."

This is gonna be good...I love how he calls it "Non-tourage."

Also, casting for

The Walking Dead - We got the fugly looking sidekick but still no lead, I'm rooting for Mark Pelligrino. As someone on another site said, "he looks like the kind of guy who can make the hard choices in a zombie apocalypse."

Haven - Eric Balfour, the fugly guy from an early season of 24, apparently plays a mysterious and possibly villainous character. That's kind of interesting, can he act?

The Gates - Lead is some guy I don't remember from Minority Report. At least he's hot, that's good for starters.

Betwixt - Nobody I've heard of, but the lead guy is cute...

The Cape and No Ordinary Family - For the former, the most notable casting is Summer Glau as a spunky investigator and James Frain as a super-nemesis. For the latter, the casting is an implied spoiler for the most recent seasons of both Dexter and Damages, so beware (though both are great news for this show!) And little Jimmy Kirk is the superpowered son.

 

[Aragorn]

I haven't been following Smallville. Has there been a lot of juicy behind the scenes rancor or something? Can Rosenbaum convince Alison Mack to join the cast?

Maybe there's a lot of character depth in the new show because of how lacking it was on his last show?

Also, what exactly has he done after leaving Smallville? Hang out with Shelly Long, Wayne Rogers and TR Knight?

 

[Temis the Vorta]

In my Get This Actor a Job thread, someone reminded me that Keifer Sutherland will be freed up for another TV gig soon. Maybe he's our lead of The Walking Dead.

I'd like to see Matthew Fox as a zombie.

 

[auntiehill]

^ But, wouldn't that be typecasting?

 

[Aragorn]

How about Milo and Matthew in a show together? They can try to out face-contort each other!

 

[nx1701g]

Unfortunately the only show I'm looking forward to is "The Walking Dead".

I haven't been following Smallville. Has there been a lot of juicy behind the scenes rancor or something? Can Rosenbaum convince Alison Mack to join the cast?

She is the only person not signed on for Season 10.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

^ But, wouldn't that be typecasting?

Zombies usually aren't so...expressive.

How about Milo and Matthew in a show together? They can try to out face-contort each other!

Speaking of Milo, I know Gamer was a travesty but I still like the concept. It could be a cool TV series, but here's the thing: all the regular actors play both themselves as human players and the avatars in the game, who are sentient VR critters and have distinct personalities. They feel oppressed and hate the players who created them. We could have actors like Milo and Matthew bitching at themselves for being such asshats! If you cast the roles just right, this could be great stuff.

 

[Aragorn]

^ So... Tron: The Series?

 

[Temis the Vorta]

^ So... Tron: The Series?

But with a wide variety of scenarios, you know...ancient Rome, Wild West, just like TOS (sheesh, why hasn't this been done yet, it's the most obvious idea ever!)

As for TRON, what's up with that becoming a TV series?

 

[Aragorn]

I think self-centered characters spending all their time in self-indulgent fictional fantasy worlds has been done before... it was called Star Trek: Voyager.

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

No casting yet, but another SFF show that's been given the go-ahead is Camelot. Starz has made a 10-episode order. It'll be produced by the team behind The Tudors and will film in Ireland, premiering sometime in the first half of 2011. They're looking to Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur for inspiration.

 

[Mistral]

No casting yet, but another SFF show that's been given the go-ahead is Camelot. Starz has made a 10-episode order. It'll be produced by the team behind The Tudors and will film in Ireland, premiering sometime in the first half of 2011. They're looking to Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur for inspiration.

They'd do better to look to Camelot 3000 for inspiration. The standard legend has been done to death.

 

[Admiral_Young]

I'm most looking forward to "The Cape" and "Camelot" but that "Saved by Zeroes" seems interesting.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

No casting yet, but another SFF show that's been given the go-ahead is Camelot. Starz has made a 10-episode order. It'll be produced by the team behind The Tudors and will film in Ireland, premiering sometime in the first half of 2011. They're looking to Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur for inspiration.

They'd do better to look to Camelot 3000 for inspiration. The standard legend has been done to death.

I really don't know what approach would work. They all seem bad.

Christian religious angle - won't appeal to a modern sf/f audience, and the audience that goes for religious stuff doesn't go for sf/f.

"LOTR" approach with actual sorcery, dragons, etc - done to death and then some.

"Historical" approach in a realistic time period - besides the argument of what time period is "realistic," this approach gives you a bunch of hairy barbarians slumping along through the mud. No lovely castles, shining armor, or any of that fun stuff. An ugly, boring Camelot isn't worth bothering with.

What I'd do: increase the sf/f content by simply deciding that the story takes place during the late Middle Ages, but in an alternate reality where you could have Richard the Lionheart riding a frakkin' dragon in the Crusades. Haven't seen that one before.

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

AMC have announced that they've ordered The Walking Dead to series. It'll have a six-episode first season, which will begin production in June in Atlanta and premiere in October. Given the start date for filming there should be lots of casting news soon.

 

[Kegg]

Camelot has been done 'realistically'; there was a movie about the fellow the King Arthur legend is supposed to be based off a while back; though I heard that played fast and loose with historical incident as well.

Never heard of it? Not surprised, I heard it bombed hard.

Speaking of Milo, I know Gamer was a travesty but I still like the concept. It could be a cool TV series,

Indeed. In fact, it is a cool TV series (well, I like Caprica, anyway.)

I think a TV series about an MMO set in a near-future has a lot of potential, which is why I like the New Cap City arc of Caprica so damn much. Really, I'd watch a TV show about players forming guilds and the level and geargrind and the virtual economics and the real time trading but I feel it'd probably be totally alien to most people, i.e. those who have never played an MMO. It's like an epic soap opera of guilds rising and falling, betraying and reforming; geeks living in little fantasy bubbles and boasting of their DPS prowess and PvP skills. Real untapped potential there, but then that's also my navel-gazing at work.

 

[Peter the Younger]

Camelot has been done 'realistically'; there was a movie about the fellow the King Arthur legend is supposed to be based off a while back; though I heard that played fast and loose with historical incident as well.

Ah yes, the "real story" of Arthur... featuring Lancelot.

As for the shows, I think Rosenbaum's sitcom has potential, and I'd really like to see Skiffy branch out a little, so fingers are crossed to that one.

Based on the other descriptions, I'm guessing the "creepy small town full of secrets" idea was spoken too loudly at Spago's one day, and every eager beaver producer went out to make their own version. Seems like this happens every season with some concept or other.

The Walking Dead sounds intriguing, though. Making a kickass zombie show should be a no-brainer.