TV News Roundup – August 2010 – Week 4
Hitchhiker’s Guide creator’s new Doctor Who-inspired TV show
As fans of the late Douglas Adams and his Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series, we’re thrilled the BBC is producing an hourlong broadcast based on another one of his books, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency. But guess what? That’s good news for Doctor Who fans, too. Because Dirk Gently, as it turns out, is based in part on the fourth Doctor’s famed unaired episode, “Shada.”
How HBO spent $200 million on ‘The Pacific’
Landing scene alone cost $13,500 per take
It cost about $217 million to make “The Pacific,” the most expensive miniseries ever, with another $10 million for a multiplatform marketing campaign — offset by about $20 million in rebates from Australia, where much of the shooting took place. The scene where Sledge (Joseph Mazzello) lands on Peleliu alone cost about $5 million, says co-executive producer Tony To. It involved 300 actors working over four days on a beach at Rocky Point in Australia’s rugged Queensland. And even this was relatively economical. Efficiency began at the casting stage, when HBO and the producers (led by executive producers Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman and Steven Spielberg) decided to forgo big stars. Each of the leads was paid double or triple SAG scale, which is about $700 a day; regular extras were paid about $70 a day; and special extras (who did stunts or were in dangerous scenes) up to $150 a day, To says. For the Peleliu landing, shot in fall 2007, the production provided uniforms with netting and helmets that were exact replicas of the original for more than 300 actors. During the entire series, costume designer Penny Rose dressed the cast in 3,000 uniforms made from 215,000 square feet of herringbone twill, specially woven in India on old-fashioned looms to replicate the 1940s weave.
Allison Miller Joins Steven Spielberg’s Terra Nova
Allison Miller will join the previously cast Jason O’Mara in Terra Nova, the Steven Spielberg-produced dino-drama set to premiere next year on Fox, Variety reports. The big-budget series, which has been given a 13-episode order, centers on a group of people in the year 2149 who, in an effort to escape their dying planet and save humanity, travel through a portal to prehistoric Earth — Terra Nova. Miller, whose credits include NBC’s short-lived Kings and the Zac Efron feature 17 Again, will play Skye, a veteran Terra Nova resident who takes the son of O’Mara’s character under her wing.
Chuck To Add Bond, A-Team In New Season
Not only will Timothy Dalton be appearing for multiple episodes as part of the season’s storyline about Chuck’s missing mother (as confirmed by Deadline Hollywood), but Entertainment Weekly has the scoop that The Expendables‘ Eric Roberts, Avatar‘s Joel David Moore and WWE wrestler Batista will appear as Casey’s “A-Team” in the season’s fifth episode, appearing to help Adam Baldwin’s character out of a tight spot.
‘Modern Family’ creator: Why I took on Hulu
Look, I’m not naive; I understand why big media backed Hulu — to stave off piracy and to gain some control in the online space — but I don’t believe Hulu’s upside outweighs the potentially disastrous long-term effects. Network TV has some distinct advantages over the music and newspaper industries. Sharing a few songs from an album requires very little bandwidth. News is available from a wide variety of sources. But at the risk of sounding like a pompous ass, nobody but a show’s creator and producers is capable of delivering that particular show. I acknowledge that Hulu’s easy accessibility probably keeps some people from pirating. But a respected industry analyst says less than 5% of TV content is being stolen today. Even if that number quadruples as broadband speeds improve, that means 75% of the audience will still be perfectly happy with the present model. And, to quote that analyst, “The logic of ‘I’m having trouble getting paid for my content, so let me give it away for free’ probably drives Wall Street to allocate capital to other industries.”
Not so shiny: Plenty of drama for Buffy creator Joss Whedon
He says that the cancellation of Firefly not only made him “the sourest man alive” but had an unexpected and potentially devastating side effect. “I stopped having ideas, which for me is an extremely rare experience,” Whedon says. “It was something much more subtle [than losing hope], it took away my ability to think in terms of episodic television. For years.”
‘Twin Peaks’ revisited: ‘Maybe we shouldn’t have solved the mystery’
“When you make something, you don’t know what’s going to happen when you release it into the world,” says Lynch. “And when something like ‘Twin Peaks’ goes like it did, you just stand back and you just can’t … there’s no … you did not control and make it happen. Something else is going on.”
The Office Might Replace Steve Carell From Within
“A lot of us want [to promote] from within, because we think we have such a strong cast, but we’ll see,” said producer Warren Lieberstein about possibly tapping one of the existing Office regulars to fill Carell’s soon-to-be vacant shoes. “I’m really excited about this season and seeing if there’s someone from within that we could promote. That would be amazing.”
Rod Serling says he was never able to make real science fiction
“‘Cause, see, I love science fiction, but I’m an aficionado, not a contributor, and I say this, you know, with no stupid, dumb, dumb humility at all. I’m am purely a Johnny-come-lately. I am perhaps the least scientifically knowledgeable man in the whole writing group, and I bow with great deference and respect to the real masters, you know, Asimov and Bob Heinlein and Sturgeon and all the rest of them. And these, of course, and yourself included, because you write pure science fiction. I can adapt science fiction I think quite adequately, but I can’t create it on an original level.”
‘Saturday Night Live’ adding three comics
Reports: Two from Chicago, ‘Scrubs’ alum joining show
Will Forte may be leaving NBC evergreen “Saturday Night Live,” but three new cast members will join the show, according to reports. “Scrubs” star Taran Killam and two Chicago comics – Paul Brittain and Vanessa Bayer – are the additions to the show this fall, the New York Post on Monday summarized various reports. It also raised the question if the fact that three young performers are being added may mean more cast departures.
‘No Ordinary Family’ adopts ‘Twilight’ vamp Jackson Rathbone
Coming up necks for Twilight bloodsucker Jackson Rathbone: A potentially recurring role on ABC’s No Ordinary Family. The 25-year-old actor—whose two summer films, Eclipse and The Last Airbender, collectively grossed nearly $1 billion worldwide—will play Trent Stafford, a high school classmate of Kay Panabaker telepathic Daphne. Trent was recently the victim of a home invasion robbery, and I’m guessing Daphne will join forces with her superhero parents to help catch the perp.
Greg Grunberg thinks ‘there has to be’ a Heroes movie coming
No, I think there has to be [a movie]. But I also predicted they wouldn’t just out and out cancel it, so what do I know [laughs]. It makes business sense to do something—there’s a huge fanbase that wants some sort of conclusion and I think the actors want to do it. It’s not about making a fortune to come back—we all appreciate the fans so much, I think if the call went out, we’d all be on board.
‘Modern Family’ creator praises ‘Glee’
“I really admire that ‘Glee’ has broken the mold and found a new way to do things. I respect that incredibly. It’s a shame we both came out the same year and we’re at the same studio so we’re both often pitted against each other. I really respect the show they’re doing. My daughter’s went to the ‘Glee’ concert, hopefully there’s room for everybody.”
Doctor Who promises ‘game-changing cliffhanger’ as series split in two
Showrunner Steven Moffat says 13-part series will reach ‘earth-shattering climax’ at Easter then return for autumn run
“I kept referring to a mid-season finale. So we are going to make it two series – seven episodes at Easter building to an earth-shattering climax, a cliffhanger we could never normally do because it would be too long before it came back. An enormous game-changing cliffhanger that will change everything,” Said Steven Moffat. “…The wrong expression would be to say we are splitting it in two. We are making it two separate series….Tart that I am, we will now have two first nights and two finales, twice as many event episodes as we had before.
‘Robot Chicken’ duo in Web reality experiment
Viewers get to decide every major decision for someone
“Robot Chicken” creators Seth Green and Matthew Senreich are launching an online reality experiment in which viewers decide every major decision a person makes for six weeks. In “ControlTV,” a twentysomething man is told what to wear, what to eat, where to work and who to date in real time by users online. The high-concept premise has Green and Senreich partnering with Ford and Sprint Nextel as embedded advertisers (the protagonist will drive a 2011 Ford Fiesta, and a Sprint phone will be used in the program). The show launches in the fall on the DBG Video Network.
But Wait, There’s More…
- Complete List of Emmy Winners
- Matt Smith on Neil Gaiman’s Doctor Who script: ‘Oh, lord!’
- Lea Michele not ‘pretty enough’ for roles
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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