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TV Pilots |OT| The Season's Dead, But Development Hell is Forever

TheOddOne

Member
- First Trailer Released for WGN America's 'Salem'

Fun fact about the show:
Salem (then Malice) was originally sold to FX last summer. Then came the setting for American Horror Story: Coven, with the third installment of the hit FX series revolving around witches. I hear, with FX’s blessing, Fox21 president Bert Salke took the project to WGN, which embraced it. Salem reunites 20th TV chairmen Dana Walden and Gary Newman with Cherniss and Tribune CEO Peter Liguori, who worked together when Liguori and Cherniss were at Fox. “As WGN America launches its strategy of programming distinctive original content, Salem is the perfect vehicle, and Gary, Dana, Bert and everyone at 20th with whom we have worked in the past is the perfect studio for us to begin this journey,” Liguori said. Added Newman and Walden, “Our studio has had a long and successful relationship with Peter and Matt, so we are thrilled to be back in business with them on this fantastic new project.” Salem is expected to kick off an aggressive expansion of WGN’s programming slate.
 

Dan

No longer boycotting the Wolfenstein franchise
Did they have fancy witch-testing dunking chairs back in the day for real?

Sundance Channel Developing NRA Drama ‘Cold Dead Hands’



Sounds pretty cool. Sundance is on a roll right now.

Sounds interesting, at least from Sundance. If this were Showtime I'd have the completely opposite reaction, expecting some cheap 'edgy' dramedy.

I'm waiting on the premiere date for The Red Road.


Hmm... in general I'm not sure I'd trust a documentary series about the "start of the digital revolution" funded by Microsoft... but looking into the mass burial of ET cartridges sounds safe enough.
 

Dan

No longer boycotting the Wolfenstein franchise
- First trailer for Sundance's The Red Road.

Premiering in February for a 6 episode season. James Gray directed the pilot.

THE RED ROAD is a hard-hitting drama that revolves around a local cop (Martin Henderson) struggling to keep his family together while simultaneously policing two clashing communities: the small town where he grew up and the neighboring mountains, home of a Native American tribe. After a terrible tragedy and coverup occurs involving the cop's wife (Julianne Nicholson), an unholy alliance is forged between the cop and Phillip Kopus (Jason Momoa), a dangerous member of the tribe that will come back to haunt all involved.
 
Does Jason Mamoa possess the ability to move his own facial muscles? I swear, every time I see him he has that same exact look on his face.
Intriguing trailer. Happy to see Julianne Nicholson pick up more work.
Also, argh @ the generic February date. Give me a specific day Sundance!
It's the same situation with The Americans. February is coming soon - pick a date.
 

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
It's the same situation with The Americans. February is coming soon - pick a date.

FXX has a bunch of stuff slated for a general February as well. It's annoying because it's just a little over a month away. We're not in the UK, ffs, so announce your dates ahead of time people!
 
FXX has a bunch of stuff slated for a general February as well. It's annoying because it's just a little over a month away. We're not in the UK, ffs, so announce your dates ahead of time people!
The annoying thing is that I'm sure they know when it's airing. They're just holding out for now.
 

Dan

No longer boycotting the Wolfenstein franchise
Everyone was waiting for the Hannibal date so they could be sure to steer clear.
 
I came across the trailer for CBS's Holloway-led Intelligence again. Man, I really hope they're able to capture the same kinda beautiful magic that Person of Interest runs on. Holloway deserves a good show.


tumblr_static_ann_perkins.gif


I'm so fucking in.
 

Dan

No longer boycotting the Wolfenstein franchise
Looks like this show was never mentioned here. I compiled everything revealed over the last couple months.

HBO's ordered a half-hour dark comedy pilot called The Brink. Pilot is shooting the first two weeks of January.

Writers: Roberto Benabib, Kim Benabib
Director: Jay Roach
Executive Producers: Jay Roach, Roberto Benabib, Jerry Weintraub, Kim Benabib (co-)
Cast: Tim Robbins, Jack Black, Pablo Schreiber, Maribeth Monroe, Geoff Pierson, Eric Ladin, Esai Morales, Mimi Kennedy (recurring), Ryan Curtona (recurring).

The Brink is described as an epic dark comedy focusing on a geopolitical crisis and its effect on three disparate and desperate men: U.S. Secretary of State Walter Hollander (Robbins), lowly Foreign Service officer Alex Coppins (Black) and ace Navy fighter pilot Zeke Callahan (Schreiber). These three compromised souls must pull through the chaos around them to save the planet from World War III.

Linkage: one, two, three, four, five, six.
 

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
Fox Pilot ‘Wild Blue’ Not Going Forward

Fox has opted not to make drama pilot Wild Blue, which was ordered and partially cast last season before being pushed off-cycle. The project, an upstairs/downstairs look at the working men and women aboard an aircraft carrier, had a long development history.

Shame, I thought that one sounded cool.

HBO's ordered a half-hour dark comedy pilot called The Brink.

I'll give it a shot because it's HBO, but it doesn't sound appealing to me at all.
 

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
FX Reunites With Denis Leary, Orders Comedy Pilot Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll

Written by and starring Rescue Me‘s front man/co-creator, the mouthful-of-a-project follows Johnny Rock, a middle-aged musician who desperately wanted to be rich and famous but missed out on that chance 25 years ago by indulging in too much booze, weed and cocaine… and pills and cough medicine… and sex with band mates’ girlfriends.
Nonetheless, he now will labor to get his near-legendary 1990′s band The Heathens back together, to make another go at success.

“Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll is a terrific script and concept with Denis Leary’s signature brand of comedy,” FX Network original programming president Nick Schrier said in a statement. “We’re thrilled to have [Denis] back home at FX.”

Leary in turn said, “I am very excited to be returning to FX where working with Nick [Grad of FX Productions], Eric and [FX boss] John Landgraf has been one of the best creative experiences of my life. Plus, I hear they have much better swag now.”
 

TheOddOne

Member
- NBC impregnates Zoe Saldana for 'Rosemary's Baby' miniseries
"Star Trek" and "Avatar" star Zoe Saldana will play mother-to-be Rosemary in the adaptation of Ira Levin's 1967 suspense novel, which has now been transplanted to a Paris apartment with a dark past. Scott Abbott and James Wong wrote the script, which will be directed by Oscar and Emmy nominee Agnieszka Holland.

Shooting on "Rosemary's Baby" will begin soon.

"Zoe has proven that she is one of our most gifted actresses and we think she has the perfect combination of spirit and gravitas to take on the title role from Ira Levin’s infamous novel," blurbs Quinn Taylor, Executive Vice President, Movies, Miniseries and International Co-Productions, NBC Entertainment. "With Zoe leading the cast under the direction of Agnieszka Holland, this reimagined event miniseries is off to a great start."

In addition to signing on to star, Saldana will also executive produce along with Cisely Saldana and Mariel Saldana.
Well this is what.
 

Dan

No longer boycotting the Wolfenstein franchise
I'm sure no one would get me interested in a Rosemary's Baby miniseries on NBC, but Zoe Saldana sure ain't going to do it. And her sisters are getting EP credits? LOL.
 
More casting on this via FX press release:
LOS ANGELES, January 8, 2014 – FX has finalized its casting on the drama series pilot Hoke, starring actor/producer Paul Giamatti, with Oona Chaplin, John Carroll Lynch, Robert Wisdom, Jordi Mollà and Tammy Blanchard rounding out the cast. Hoke is produced by FX Productions, and production on the pilot will begin this spring in Miami.

Scott Frank wrote and will direct the pilot episode, and he will be Co-Showrunner with David Manson if Hoke goes to series. Frank, Manson, Curtis Hanson, Carol Fenelon, Paul Giamatti and Dan Carey are Executive Producers.

Hoke is a darkly comedic drama based on Charles Willeford's series of novels Sideswipe, New Hope for the Dead and The Way We Die Now. It is a story of mid-life crisis and murder that features the hardboiled and possibly insane homicide detective, “Hoke Moseley” (Giamatti), in pre-chic Miami circa early 1980s.

Oona Chaplin plays “Ellita Sanchez,”
a sharp young homicide detective recently promoted from dispatcher to Hoke’s new partner.

John Carroll Lynch plays “Bill Henderson,”
an old guard Miami PD detective and Hoke’s former partner who is equally as miserable in the recently diversified department.
Robert Wisdom is “Major Brownley,”
the head of the Miami PD Homicide Squad who has a long history with Hoke and his antics.

Jordi Mollà plays “Armando Zuniga,”
a sociopathic Cuban man who arrives on the shores of Miami in the rumpled, faded clothing of a peasant Cuban refugee and integrates into the city posing as a famous poet of the Cuban people.

Tammy Blanchard plays “Loretta Hickey,”
the striking mother of a murdered drug addict who Hoke comes across while investigating the case.
 

TheOddOne

Member
Comedy Central is really trying:
COMEDY CENTRAL® GREENLIGHTS “BIG TIME IN HOLLYWOOD, FL” TO SERIES

PASADENA, January 10, 2013 – Comedy Central is going big time! The network has greenlit 10 episodes of the weekly, half-hour scripted series, “Big Time in Hollywood, FL,” it was announced today by Kent Alterman, President, Content Development and Original Programming, Comedy Central.

Produced by Red Hour and Brillstein Entertainment Partners, “Big Time in Hollywood, FL,” is executive produced and written by Alex Anfanger and Dan Schimpf, along with Red Hour’s Ben Stiller, Debbie Liebling, Stuart Cornfeld and Mike Rosenstein, and Brillstein Entertainment Partners’ Lee Kernis and Brian Stern. Anfanger will also star in the series, along with Lenny Jacobson, Kathy Baker, Stephen Tobolowsky and Jon Bass. Schimpf directed the pilot.

“Ben, Alex and Dan have fulfilled my career-long dream of having a show based in Hollywood, FL,” said Alterman.

“’Big Time’ combines the directorial style of Hitchcock, the acting prowess of Streep, the budget of House of Payne, and the nutritional value of Velveeta. I think people's minds will be blown wide open. For real," said Stiller.

“Big Time in Hollywood, FL” follows two delusional brothers and self-proclaimed filmmakers, played by Anfanger and Jacobson, who are kicked out of their parents’ house and forced to fend for themselves for the first time in their lives, leading them on an epic journey in pursuit of their American dream. Baker and Tobolowsky will co-star as the brothers’ parents. Monika Zielinska and Adam Londy are the Executives in Charge of Production for Comedy Central.
 

Empty

Member
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-25680447
12 Years a Slave director Steve McQueen is working on a drama about the lives of black Britons for the BBC.

The 44-year-old told The Daily Mail the drama would be "epic in scope" and follow the lives of a group of friends and their families from 1968 to 2014.

"I don't think there has been a serious drama series in Britain with black people from all walks of life as the main protagonists," McQueen said

"It is too early to announce the details, but it is incredibly exciting to be working with the hugely talented British director who has rapidly become one of the finest directors in the world," BBC drama controller Ben Stephenson said.

i want this bad
 
Quick mention of Incursion during today's Starz panel at TCA:
Starz has been in the straight-to-series business long before it became the hot production model it is today. The premium channel’s version includes assembling a small writers room and doing a lot of preproduction work before a series gets a green light. The network recently did it with Outlander and also has done it with Incursion, the alien saga from Spartacus creator Steven DeKnight. Starz did location scouting and creature creation on the sci-fi project, but it has been put on the back burner for the moment as the network has another big-production drama on its hands in Michael Bay‘s pirate series Black Sails, in addition to David Goyer’s Da Vinci’s Demons. But Incursion is still very much alive, Albrecht said. DeKnight has a couple of other projects in the works at the network under his overall deal, including an adaptation of the Italian drama Romanzo Criminale.
I imagine that it's still a long way off if they're ever going to get to it.
 

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
each episode to be helmed by a different A-list director, focusing on one commandment and its evolving significance

LOL

Some of those episodes are going to suuuuuuuck.

Gus Van Sant (Good Will Hunting), Lee Daniels (Lee Daniels’ The Butler), Wes Craven (A Nightmare on Elm Street), Michael Cera (Juno) and Jim Sheridan (In the Name of the Father) are among the directors signed on to each helm an installment in WGN America’s previously announced 10-episode Ten Commandments miniseries, it was announced Sunday at the Television Critics Association winter press tour.

Each filmmaker will direct one commandment each and assemble their own creative team in doing so.

Source
 

TheOddOne

Member
Oh, this is the Latin James Bond thing.

Press release:
EL REY NETWORK ANNOUNCES SUMMER 2014 DEBUT OF 'MATADOR (WT),' NEW, ORIGINAL ACTION SERIES FROM K/O PAPER PRODUCTS' ROBERTO ORCI AND ALEX KURTZMAN

Network Founder/Chairman Robert Rodriguez Directs First Episode of Modern Day James Bond Style Adventure

Pasadena, CA - January 12, 2014 - During a presentation at the bi-annual gathering of television critics, El Rey Network announced that "Matador" (WT), an original, scripted action series produced by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman's K/O Paper Products, will premiere in Summer 2014. The coveted writing/producing team (Sleepy Hollow, Fringe, Star Trek and Transformer franchises) will begin production on the 13-episode, hour-long drama, marking the second original series from Robert Rodriguez's genre-busting network. The first scripted project, Rodriguez's highly-anticipated "From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series," will premiere on March 11, 2014. Production on "Matador" will begin in Los Angeles early this year.

Irreverent and action-packed, "Matador" chronicles the unlikely rise of Antonio "Matador" Bravo, a popular soccer star, who comes to be known as much for his playboy antics off the field as his dynamic moves on it. But what his fans and family don't realize is that it's all a cover--in truth, he is a skilled covert operative executing missions for a little known branch of the CIA. In this modern day take on a James Bond origins story, "Matador" has the kind of fame and notoriety that affords him access to powerful circles of corruption and villainy. But, in balancing the dueling roles in which he's been cast, he will be forced to confront the question of his true identity...and it is this mission which will prove to be his most dangerous.

Robert Rodriguez, El Rey Network's Founder and Chairman, said: "This is exactly the kind of programming we envisioned from the get-go - 'Matador' is action-packed, irreverent and kick-ass entertainment to its core." He added: "The K/O team really understands our brand and has the means to cut through the clutter with fresh and contemporary themes that will speak to our viewers."

"We're thrilled to be working with El Rey Network on this new series," said Roberto Orci, co-founder, K/O Paper Products. "The network has given us a platform to expand our reach to young millennials and we are excited to bring 'Matador' to El Rey's passionate audience."

"Matador" (WT) is co-created by Roberto Orci, Andrew Orci, Dan Dworkin and Jay Beattie. Executive Producers are Jay Beattie and Dan Dworkin (who are also showrunners); Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, and Heather Kadin of K/O Paper Products; and Robert Rodriguez along with FactoryMade Ventures and El Rey Network co-founders John Fogelman and Cristina Patwa. Beattie and Dworkin are writing the first episode which will be directed by Rodriguez.
 
- Deadline: Netflix Orders Series ‘Marco Polo’ From Weinstein Co.
After months of negotiations, Netflix has closed a deal for its newest original series Marco Polo, a nine-episode drama of politics, manipulation and deadly warfare among clashing empires. The project, originally set up at Starz, will premiere on Netflix in late 2014. It will be produced by the Weinstein Co. at the new Pinewood Studios, Malaysia. Originally a co-production of the Weinstein Co. and Electus, the project received a 10-episode straight-to-series order by Starz in January 2012. Seven scripts were written for the series, which was supposed to film in China, something no other U.S. show has done, which proved a complex and difficult proposition. A year and a half later, last August Starz released the project, and it was taken to Netflix, which made an offer for a nine episodes to be filmed in Malaysia. Directors Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg (Kon-Tiki) and executive producer and director Dan Minahan (Game of Thrones) have boarded the series, created and executive produced John Fusco (Hidalgo), which is set in 13th century China, a world replete with astonishing martial arts, sexual intrigue, political skullduggery and spectacular battles. “John Fusco and his team have created a timeless tale of power, adventure, betrayal and lust that combines deft storytelling and cinematic ambition,” said Ted Sarandos, Netflix Chief Content Officer. Added TWC Co-Chairman Harvey Weinstein: “With the glowing success of series like House of Cards and Orange is the New Black, it’s clear that Netflix is breaking tremendous ground in the realm of streaming original content. We could not be more excited to partner with them on this project, along with the creative tour de force of John Fusco and his talented team.”
 
- EW: Michael Cera returning to TV in FX comedy pilot
The actor has been cast along with actor John Hawkes (Deadwood) in How And Why, an FX comedy pilot. The logline: How And Why is the “story of a man who can explain how and why a nuclear reactor works, but is clueless about life.”

The behind-the-camera talent is impressive too — the pilot is written and directed by Academy Award-winning screenwriter Charlie Kaufman, the screenwriter of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Being John Malkovich.
 

ivysaur12

Banned
So, I made this thread last year when Fox hadn't murdered pilot season like they murdered Firefly. Pilot season, undoubtably, will become less of a thing with one of the major players not participating this season.

But even more importantly... I feel like we're getting to a point where we might need a TV |OT| in Community where we can roll all of this together into one thread. Obviously, Ratsky's amazing "what is premiering when" threads should keep going in Off-Topic, but this seems like something that should happen.

What does everyone think?
 
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