TV News Roundup – October 2009 – Week 5
HBO’s ‘Game of Thrones’ full cast with photos
HBO starts shooting its adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s “Game of Thrones” as a pilot next week in Northern Ireland, with additional locations in other countries. Though HBO has plenty of competing projects in development, this is the sort of sprawling and expensive production networks don’t typically like to pilot unless they’re pretty confident they’re also going to series.
Clean sweeps: Fox pushes ‘Dollhouse’
Just as Fox hinted, the network will push the struggling “Dollhouse” off its lineup for November sweeps and will air higher-rated programming instead. Fox will then burn off “Dollhouse” (sorry, no other way to look at it), by airing episodes in two-hour chunks for three Fridays in December.
V’s new Diana tells us: Will she eat a guinea pig?
“It completely re-invents the material, actually,” star Morena Baccarin said last week. “It’s a re-imagining of the old one, so it’s the same concept. Aliens come down from space. You have the conflict between them and humans. Why are they here? The show in the ’80s was more about communism and totalitarianism, and our show plays a little bit more with the terrorist aspect, which is more the reality of the world we’re living in now. And the characters are different. I’m not Diana. I play Anna.”
Marc Guggenheim leaving ‘FlashForward’
Co-creator David Goyer stepping in as sole showrunner
There’s been a change at the helm of another freshman drama recently picked up for a full season, ABC’s “FlashForward.” Co-showrunner/executive producer Marc Guggenheim is leaving the series, with co-creator/exec producer David Goyer stepping in as sole showrunner.
David Fincher teams with MRC for TV series
I can’t help but picture MRC’s sitcom “Surviving Suburbia” crossed with “Seven”…
Media Rights Capital has teamed with David Fincher for a new series, “House of Cards.” Based on the book and British miniseries of the same name, “Cards” will be adapted for U.S. audiences as a one-hour drama with director Fincher executive producing with the film’s writer, Eric Roth. The political-thriller novel written by Michael Dobbs, former Conservative Party chief of staff, is set at the end of Margaret Thatcher’s tenure as prime minister and follows a British politician with his eye on the top job.
HBO renews ‘In Treatment’
HBO has renewed the half-hour drama series for another cycle, which will begin production in New York in early 2010 for a premiere later in the year. Star Gabriel Byrne is set to return as Dr. Paul Weston, with casting on the other roles expected to begin shortly.
NBC picks up ‘Community,’ ‘Parks’ & ‘Mercy’
NBC has picked up full seasons of Thursday-night comedies “Community” and “Parks and Recreation,” as well as its Wednesday night medical drama “Mercy.” All three have shown stability in their time periods in recent weeks.
Fox prefering not to meet actors cast in pilots
The network is phasing out traditional in-person network tests, in which finalists for each role audition for network executives who choose a winner. Taking a page from the feature world, where screen tests are prevalent in casting a role, Fox is opting for taped network tests. After passing live tests for the producing studios, actors’ performances are being filmed and sent to the network for judging. Fox gave studios guidelines on what it’s looking for in a test: actors should be off-book and free to move around, the test should include close-ups, etc.
Fremantle eyes int’l co-produced series
Says reality-driven TV strategy has ‘run its course’
With the global broadcast business in turmoil, Fremantle Corp. principal Irv Holender insists he’s found a perch in the eye of the storm for the traditional game show, soaps and reality series distributor: co-producing commercial dramas with international partners. “We’re trying to get away from reality and the type of shows that have no shelf life or evergreen value,” Holender said as Toronto-based Fremantle completed a host of pre-sales at MIPCOM. “We find that not only is there a market for dramas and suspense series and thrillers, it’s a market that is needing content,” he added.
Microsoft watches ‘Family Guy,’ pulls out of special
“We initially chose to participate in the Seth and Alex variety show based on the audience composition and creative humor of ‘Family Guy,’ but after reviewing an early version of the variety show it became clear that the content was not a fit with the Windows brand. We continue to have a good partnership with Fox, Seth MacFarlane and Alex Borstein and are working with them in other areas. We continue to believe in the value of brand integrations and partnerships between brands, media companies and talent.”
Lost’s Final Season Breakup
Winter Olympics to ruin everything.
According to executive producer Cartlon Cuse, ABC will air the first few episodes in January and then take a time out for the Winter Olympics. The Olympics aren’t even airing on ABC, but Lost will still take a break and resume the season in early March.
Edward James Olmos on the Future of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA – More Could Be on the Way!
According to Olmos, some of the future movies could be about where the final five Cylons came from and how were they created; what really happened to Starbuck and what she was; or if you want to know what happened after the finale ended you MUST buy “The Plan” … if you love the “Galactica” universe and want to watch more adventures, you’ve got to buy a DVD or Blu-ray of “The Plan”. And with that, hit the jump to watch me and Olmos talk about “Battlestar Galactica” and the future of the franchise:
“Law & Order: Criminal Intent” Kills One of Its Own
I told you a few weeks ago that “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” was letting go of three main players: Vincent D’Onofrio, Kathryn Erbe, and Eric Bogosian. Now I can tell you this: one of their characters will die. “CI” just finished filming an episode in which one of the three is murdered. That’s the exit show for the other two as well. I am told by “CI” insiders that Erbe, especially, is very unhappy with the way things have worked out over there. “She was told everything was going fine, and then they were fired.” Whoever was murdered isn’t too happy, either.
‘EastEnders’ creates teen spinoff
Soap ‘E20′ to be available only online
The 13-part “EastEnders: E20,” a reference to the London zip code, will bow in the run-up to the flagship BBC soap’s 25th anniversary in February. Move marks the first time that “EastEnders,” which commands a viewing share of about 40% for BBC1, has experimented in the online space. For the Web show, four teenage characters have been created by a team of rookie writers who will also create video blogs and other behind-the-scenes material. Episodes are to be between six and 12 minutes long.
CW orders more ‘Vampire Diaries’
‘Melrose’ scores additional five episodes
The CW has given a full season order to frosh hit “The Vampire Diaries” while also giving a vote of confidence to its struggling “Melrose Place” redux. While not giving “Melrose” a full back nine (which “Vampire Diaries” received), the show still scored an order for five additional segs.
But Wait, There’s More…
- ABC developing ‘I’m With Stupid’
- Quartet’s Web idea now an ABC project
- Sebastian Roche joins ‘Fringe’
- Mike White on His HBO Pilot ENLIGHTENED, THEM and SCHOOL OF ROCK 2
- ‘Glee’ DVD to be released midseason
- Lisa Kudrow, Dan Bucatinsky set for Showtime’s ‘Rapture’
- Two new projects in works at NBC
- ‘Southland’ moving toward TNT
- ABC to pre-empt ‘The Forgotten’
- TNT greenlights George Clooney pilot
- Angie Harmon set to star in TNT’s ‘Rizzoli’
- TV Land network orders up pilots, original programming
- ‘Little Prince’ returns to TV
- Homeboyz, Kenyan production company, making TV toon for West
- NBC deals with Adam Carolla, Don Cheadle, Aaron McGruder
- Ashlee Simpson-Wentz leaving ‘Melrose’
- ‘Eagleheart’ pilot ordered for Adult Swim
The Fine Print
This is by no means meant to be a comprehensive roundup of the entire weeks’ news. All stories are chosen by me for no other reason than that they got my attention and might capture yours. If something you think is more important chime in on the feedback; we’d love to hear comments and have a conversation about it.
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