sf/f TV development news - 2013

[RJDiogenes]

Both Gothica and Penny Dreadful have possibilities-- but I won't be able to watch Penny Dreadful first run either.

 

[Deckerd]

Here's a longer descrption in much the same vein:

Lena Haloway is content in her safe, government-managed society. She feels (mostly) relaxed about the future in which her husband and career will be decided, and looks forward to turning 18, when she’ll be cured of deliria, a.k.a. love. She tries not to think about her mother’s suicide (her last words to Lena were a forbidden “I love you”) or the supposed “Invalid” community made up of the uncured just beyond her Portland, Maine, border. There’s no real point—she believes her government knows how to best protect its people, and should do so at any cost. ...

Sounds like a variation on Equilibrium.

 

[DarthTom]

Sounds like a variation on Equilibrium.

And both surprisingly don't seem to replicate Orwell's 1984 enough to be plagiarism but have very similar themes.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

GRR Martin signs development deal with HBO.

No indication if he's be adapting his own writing or doing something original. I'd love to see what he'd do with sci fi.

 

[Kegg]

GRR Martin signs development deal with HBO.

No indication if he's be adapting his own writing or doing something original. I'd love to see what he'd do with sci fi.

His first novel, The Dying Light, was a work of space opera. I haven't read it yet, but it does sound like something that could work well as a miniseries or something.

 

[sojourner]

Didn't he do the Wild Cards series of books? That'd make an interesting HBO series.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Haviland Tuf would make a fantastic HBO series.

Wild Cards would be great, too.

 

[Christopher]

Didn't he do the Wild Cards series of books? That'd make an interesting HBO series.

Wild Cards is a shared-universe series created and written by many authors, but Martin is the principal editor of the series and one of its main contributors.

 

[Kegg]

Didn't he do the Wild Cards series of books? That'd make an interesting HBO series.

Syfy already has the rights to those, and intends to make some kind of movie deal with it.

He's also written a period piece vampire novel set in the American South titled Fevre Dream, if HBO wants more of that True Blood lucre... but since his deal is development, I'd assume it would be helping to shape original TV product.

 

[Greg Cox]

Fevre Dream would make a great miniseries.

 

[Enterprise is Great]

Emma Roberts Lands Lead in Fox's Delirium

Roberts will play Lena, the defiant teen who's the main character in the bestselling young adult trilogy by Lauren Oliver upon which the show is based. The novels are set in a world where love has been outlawed and can be eradicated through a procedure. In the books, Lena falls in love 95 days before she's scheduled to undergo the process.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

So weird FOX is thinking of doing that show, it sounds more like CW's thing.

 

[JD]

Yeah, it's weird to think of the network that is doing The Following, and did Prison Break and 24 doing that kind of a show.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

They need to do some kind of sci fi action adventure for guys.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

The Leftovers gets order at HBO.

Damon Lindelof’s first series project since Lost, drama The Leftovers based on Tom Perrotta’s 2011 book, has received a pilot order at HBO where it had been in development since last summer.

...

The Leftovers, produced by WBTV, takes place after the Rapture happens but not quite like it’s supposed to. It is the story of the people who didn’t make the cut… and a world that will never be the same.

Sounds fun. HBO pilots have a better track record of going to series vs. the carnage that takes place on broadcast.

EDIT: here's a pilot that just got worth checking out. Mike from Breaking Bad joins Bloodline.

Jonathan Banks has been cast in the NBC drama pilot Bloodline, written by David Graziano and directed by Peter Berg. It is about Bird, an orphaned young girl caught in the struggle between two warring families of mercenaries and killers. Mentored by a Chinese man, Bird has to accept the quest to find and defeat her mother in mortal combat if she is to ever lead a normal life. Banks will play Leo, Bird’s maternal grandfather who decides to abandon her as an infant. A long descendant of Greek hitmen, he owns a hitman company full of long-lost relatives.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Big news on The Man in the High Castle adaptation!

Syfy said today it has sealed a deal to adapt the Hugo Award-winning tome with Frank Spotnitz (The X-Files, Hunted) attached to write and exec produce. Ridley Scott’s Scott Free will produce with Headline, Electric Shepherd Productions (the production arm of Dick’s estate) and FremantleMedia International. Producers are Ridley Scott and Stewart Mackinnon. Spotnitz will write the first two hours and supervise the writing of the second two hours, Syfy said today.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

That's weird, BBC announced that a couple of years ago, wonder if it's a co-pro?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/oct/07/ridley-scott-sci-fi-philip-k-dick-bbc-drama

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Deadline says "Some of the puzzle pieces have since shifted." Which implies that the BBC is no longer involved. Probably just SyFy's baby now.

Any ideas for the lead role? I always envision PK Dick heroes as a cross between Paul Giametti and Steve Buscemi, although they generally end up looking like Harrison Ford and Tom Cruise by the time they make it to the screen.

More news today, Josh Holloway has a new sci fi(isn) show.

Based on unpublished book Dissident by John Dixon, Intelligence is centered at U.S. Cyber Command and focuses on a unit that has been created around one agent with a very special gift — a microchip has been implanted in his brain that allows him to access the entire electromagnetic spectrum. Holloway will play Gabriel Black, a former Navy SEAL and dedicated intelligence officer.

Sounds like an unexciting premise, but hey, it's Josh Holloway! I won't be fussy. Maybe they can get Zach Levi for the lead role?

 

[JD]

Interesting. I liked Holloway on Lost so that's enough to get me to keep and eye on this.

 

[Christopher]

Based on unpublished book Dissident by John Dixon, Intelligence is centered at U.S. Cyber Command and focuses on a unit that has been created around one agent with a very special gift — a microchip has been implanted in his brain that allows him to access the entire electromagnetic spectrum. Holloway will play Gabriel Black, a former Navy SEAL and dedicated intelligence officer.

Huh? So it's Geordi La Forge 2.0? That's a pretty narrow power set for a superpowered secret agent. Unless it includes an ability like Gary from Alphas to pick up and manipulate computer data.