TV News Roundup – January 2010 – Week 2
‘Spartacus’ producers defend sex scenes
A critic says “Spartacus” has the most graphic sex scenes ever in a TV series. Here’s producer Steven DeKnight’s response: “Who doesn’t like sex? We’re all sexual beings and back in the Roman times there was a completely different ideas about sex. We wanted to explore that. It was extremely common to have sex with your slaves. Is it graphic? I personally don’t think its that graphic. There’s some very steamy things. It’s not pornographic in any way. The sex scenes always come from a place of character — it’s always about power, it’s about love, it’s about loss … sex and violence — it goes together like peanut butter and chocolate.”
We’re all Joes here: New G.I. Joe, Transformers coming to TV
New animated versions of G.I. Joe and Transformers are coming soon to a television near you, courtesy of Hub, Discovery Communications and Hasbro toy company’s new cable brand for children’s programming.
CBS greenlights ‘Hawaii Five-O’ remake pilot
CBS has greenlighted an updated version of the classic cop series from hot feature scribes Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci and “CSI: NY” executive producer Peter Lenkov. It is described as an updated take on the original series that is centered on an elite branch of the Hawaii State Police headed by Steve McGarrett and answerable only to the governor.
The five faces of Zoe that you’ll see in Caprica
“I’ve done a scene where I play three characters in one,” Caprica star Alessandra Torresani said. “Season 1.5, the second half, third episode into it. Besides just that, I get to play five completely different characters, which is not like any female 16-year-old show character that I’ve ever seen before in my life.”
Joss Whedon Says Goodbye To “Dollhouse”
“The only regrets I have about it are the things I didn’t do right. 26 hours of television is a lot of time to tell story, and everybody involved was great. I just look back and go, ‘I wish I had figured some things out a little earlier.’ But that’s all the time I have for regret. It is what it is.”
HBO: ‘Game of Thrones’ dailies ‘look fantastic’
HBO programming chief Michael Lombardo says the dailies for highly anticipated fantasy series “Game of Thrones” look “fantastic” and the project looks very strong for a series pickup.
Discovery, Hasbro reveal kids TV brand
The Hub launching with franchises from both companies
Discovery Communications and Hasbro have revealed their new children’s network brand — the Hub. The Hub will launch in the fall and reach about 60 million homes on what’s currently the Discovery Kids network. The Hub will have a mixture of live action, animation and game shows. Hasbro properties such as “Transformers” and “My Little Pony,” and Discovery Kids franchises like “Adventure Camp” and “Flight 29″ will have a presence on the network.
U.S. version of Being Human to have Supernatural tie-in
Mark Stern, Syfy’s EVP for Original Programming, revealed the names of the show’s writers at the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour—husband-and-wife duo Jeremy Carver (Supernatural) and Anna Fricke (The CW’s Privileged). “[He's] kind of got the genre cred, and Anna comes out of a more character-based drama world, so between them they’ll be really interesting,” Stern said. Stern also indicated that he hoped the series would be ready for a summer launch. Syfy has ordered 13 episodes of the new series.
J.J. Abrams on the STAR TREK Sequel, LOST, FRINGE, and NBC’s UNDERCOVERS
There are little threads and elements, here and there, but truthfully, when we started it, we didn’t know exactly what was in the hatch. We had ideas, but we didn’t know to what extent it would be. The notion of The Others was there, but we didn’t know exactly what that would mean. Damon hadn’t come up with the idea of flash forwards yet. To see where we are and what they’ve created is insanely gratifying and it’s something that no one could have predicted, at the beginning of it. The evolution of it is really part of their glorious experiment of taking a show that we were all, at the beginning, saying, “How do you make this a series?,” and to see what Damon and Carlton have done is amazing to me.
Why ABC’s not giving up on V and FlashForward. Yet
“[Its prospects are] really good,” ABC Entertainment Group President Stephen McPherson said. “We love [FlashForward]. [David Goyer has] been fantastic. He was talking about season two when he pitched the show. He’s had such a kind of long-term vision for it. That was one of the things that made us comfortable about it. So we’re excited to be able to air consecutive episodes. I think as much as taking the break has its downside, I think the ability to really take a beat after this fall launch, adjust some things, make some changes and move forward is great.”
Fringe could mimic Lost with a fixed end date
“Just as with Lost, we didn’t get to a place until the third season where we were saying, ‘OK, we need to know where halfway is,’” Abrams said. “And I feel like that’s something that, … if we’re lucky enough to continue going, I do think that at a certain point it would be a really smart thing to start to say, ‘OK, let’s figure out … what the actual date is so we sort of know … how far we should push things.’”
7 things we CAN tell you about Lost’s final season
“The season premiere picks up right after the finale,” Cuse said. “And we really don’t want to say too much about it. We’ve obviously been very circumspect about the sixth season. … Primarily because there’s this big cliffhanger. Juliet hits this bomb, there’s a white flash. What happened? Jack and Faraday were postulating that that was going to re-set the clock, and the Oceanic 815 would fly along and land in Los Angeles if she taps that bomb. And something else happens. Maybe they’re still stuck on the island. We don’t really want to … give away what the show is going to be this season. … That’s why we’ve been very circumspect about what we’ve said and haven’t shown any new footage.”
Dave Foley, Kevin McDonald go back to ’80s
Set for CBC comedy series about a reunited rock band
Satirical comics/actors Dave Foley and Kevin McDonald have signed with Canadian indie producer No Equal Entertainment to develop and star in a half-hour 1980s nostalgia comedy for Canwest Global Communications Corp. The comedy series “Big in the 80s” will be executive produced by J.B. Sugar, Jonathan Kesselman and McDonald and Foley, both of whom are best-known for their 1990s sketch comedy series “Kids in the Hall” on the CBC.
ABC renews ‘Modern Family,’ two others
‘Cougar Town’ and ‘The Middle’ also returning
ABC has handed out early renewals to its three promising freshman comedy series, “Modern Family,” “Cougar Town” and “The Middle.” In the fall, ABC made a risky move by launching a two-hour comedy block with all-new series on Wednesdays. All but canceled “Hank” have performed solidly. The overachiever is “Modern Family,” from Steve Levitan, Christopher Lloyd and 20th TV, which has been widely praised by critics and has been the strongest performer for the network on the night.
HBO sets date for ‘Treme’
David Simon series to premiere April 11
HBO has set April 11 as the premiere date for a new David Simon series, “Treme,” about how the citizens of New Orleans rebuild their lives following the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Ten-episode skein is Simon’s most recent collaboration with the net following “The Corner,” “The Wire” and Iraq war miniseries “Generation Kill.” “Wire” thesps Wendell Pierce and Clarke Peters, as well as Khandi Alexander of “The Corner,” are part of a large ensemble.
But Wait, There’s More…
- Could Joss Whedon be planning a new series with FX?
- AMC developing miniseries ‘Black Gold: The Teapot Dome Scandal’
- Jessica Parker Kennedy joins J.J. Abrams pilot ‘Undercovers’
- Fox greenlights two pilots, untitled Adam Goldberg comedy and ‘Midland’
- Starz might not renew ‘Crash’
- Tom Hanks: ‘Pacific’ producers sparred with HBO
- ABC picks up relationship comedy pilot centering on two sisters
- Spielberg, Discovery teaming for doc on the rebuilding of World Trade Center site
- Spike Lee returning to Katrina tragedy for HBO ‘NCIS: LA,’ ‘Good Wife’ renewed
- ‘Certain’ renewal for Ray Romano show, ‘Men of a Certain Age’
- Carla Gallo, Jose Zuniga land roles in Ben Stiller’s ‘Station’
- J.J. Abrams casts actor-writer Ben Schwartz for ‘Undercovers’
- PBS chief: Kids inundated with ads
- Rob Zombie directing ‘CSI’ episode
- Dollhouse’s Dr. Saunders has one more big surprise in store
- ABC Family renews ‘Secret Life of the American Teenager’ and ‘Make It or Break It’
- Matthew Perry project a go at ABC
- Harold Perrineau, Cynthia Watros returning for ‘Lost’ final season
- BBC America sets ‘The Choir,’ a nonscripted show similar to ‘Glee’
- Spike to air ‘Facing Ali’ documentary
- Ricky Gervais: May Cross Over to American “Office”
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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