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[RatskyWatsky]

WGN America Developing ‘Black Wall Street’ From ‘Underground’ EPs

Set in Tulsa, OK, in the opening decades of the 20th century, Black Wall Street examines the strong middle-class African-American community that built up in the divided city. Owning businesses and employing many whites in the segregated state, the Greenwood area of Tulsa was a haven for black professionals and raised capital for its own entrepreneurs and ventures. In May 1921, several white attackers burned the neighborhood in a two-day rampage that saw 300 die and the community devastated and largely forgotten for decades.

 

[Dan]

I'm surprised that someone as big as Downey Jr. is willing to work with Pizzolatto after the disaster that was TD s2.

Robert Downey Jr believes in redemption.

Also, let's be honest, RDJ doesn't have high standards. For his big personal project The Judge he hired the director of The Change-Up and Fred Claus.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

Robert Downey Jr believes in redemption.

Also, let's be honest, RDJ doesn't have high standards. For his big personal project The Judge he hired the director of The Change-Up and Fred Claus.

...Good point!

 

[berzeli]

‘The Departed’ TV Series Based On Oscar-Winning Movie In Works At Amazon

Written by Detroit 1-8-7 creator Jason Richman, The Departed puts a new, updated spin on the two-way-undercover concept in the Scorsese movie, which was set in Boston and dealt with the Irish mob, and the Hong Kong original Internal Affairs.

Inspired by the films, The Departed TV series is set at present-day Chicago, amidst the shifting tides of warring ethnic drug gangs. In it, a young cop goes undercover to infiltrate a ruthless Latino gang, which simultaneously plants its own man in the police department. The show follows these two embattled moles as they attempt to fulfill their mission and stay alive.

Not entirely sure how they'll sustain the premise over multiple seasons. But could be decent.

 

[Cornballer]

- Variety: USA Network Developing Con Artist Drama Starring ‘Star Trek’s’ John Cho

Insiders tell Variety the cabler is developing “Connoisseur,” an hourlong drama hailing from Gary Lundy, “Hand of God” creator Ben Watkins and “Star Trek’s” John Cho, who will star in the series.


“Connoisseur” centers around Clay Park (played by Cho), a brilliant con artist who dupes the wealthiest, most powerful people in the country into paying millions for fake wine, but his hustle forces him into a deadly bargain with an organized crime syndicate, puts him in the cross-hairs of the FBI, and unearths the details of a tragedy that fractured his family years ago in Korea.

Not entirely sure how they'll sustain the premise over multiple seasons. But could be decent.

Seems like an anthology might work better.

 

[jerry113]

- Variety: USA Network Developing Con Artist Drama Starring ‘Star Trek’s’ John Cho

I'm happy to see my boy Cho getting leading star work. Breaking boundaries.

 

[Dan]

‘The Departed’ TV Series Based On Oscar-Winning Movie In Works At Amazon

Not entirely sure how they'll sustain the premise over multiple seasons. But could be decent.

Without spoiling the movie, yeah... that sounds silly.

But then, The Departed was already a very bloated version of Infernal Affairs, so I guess Hollywood might as well just bloat it up even more.

Also, moving it Chicago is kinda funny, since that means The Chicago Code beat them to half the show already, since it had a huge undercover gang infiltration throughline.

Between this and casting news for Get Shorty and Snatch television adaptations... c'mon studios, everyone's getting lazy and just licensing crime movies.

 

[KonradLaw]

Liked Detroit 1-8-7 and liked Departed. So I'm interested

 

[berzeli]

Sci-Fi anthology series based on short stories by Philip K. Dick in the works for Channel 4, starring Bryan Cranston written by Ronald D. Moore
This is neat.

It just got neater:
Top US and British Writers Join Forces for new drama

Tony Grisoni (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas), Jack Thorne (Harry Potter & The Cursed Child, Skins), Matthew Graham (Life on Mars, Doctor Who), Kelly Marcel (50 Shades of Grey, Saving Mr. Banks) and David Farr (The Night Manager) join writers and executive producers Emmy-nominated Ronald D. Moore (Battlestar Galactica, Outlander) and Michael Dinner (Justified, Masters of Sex) for the forthcoming ten-part anthology - with Oscar nominated Bryan Cranston (Trumbo, Breaking Bad) confirmed to both executive produce and appear in the series.

In other UK news:
BBC One and Agatha Christie Productions LTD strike deal for seven new Christie dramas over four years

BBC One and Agatha Christie Productions Ltd have cemented a unique production deal that will see Agatha Christie Ltd‘s production arm deliver seven new Christie adaptations over the next four years. They will begin by working with Mammoth Screen on the first of these adaptations.
The first of the novels to be adapted is Ordeal By Innocence; other titles so far confirmed include Death Comes As The End, a groundbreaking murder mystery set in Ancient Egypt; and The ABC Murders, a race against time to stop a serial killer who is operating across 1930s Britain.

Following the critical success of And Then There Were None for BBC One in December 2015, Agatha Christie Productions Ltd and Mammoth Screen will begin working with Sarah Phelps as she continues her connection with Christie by adapting Ordeal By Innocence, one of Agatha's own personal favourite novels. Further writers will be announced in due course, as Christie's most celebrated works are adapted over the four years with the chosen titles demonstrating her extraordinary range.

In addition to the seven new titles, filming is currently underway on The Witness For The Prosecution, adapted by Sarah Phelps, directed by Julian Jarrold and starring Toby Jones, Andrea Riseborough, Kim Cattrall, David Haig, Billy Howle and Monica Dolan.

Eric Idle to star in BBC Two Christmas special with Professor Brian Cox

Shane Allen has today announced that Eric Idle is to star in a one-hour Christmas Special for BBC Two.
The Entire Universe is a unique collaboration from the creators of Spamalot, starring Professor Brian Cox, and combines fascinating facts about the birth of the universe with larger-than-life comedy characters penned by the legendary Eric Idle.

In this special programme, Professor Brian Cox will initially appear in the manner to which he is accustomed by giving an auspicious scientific Christmas lecture.

However, upon turning up to the infamous Rutland Weekend Television, he soon realises he is in fact in a major musical put on by the Muriel Tritt School of Music and Dance, choreographed by Arlene Phillips.

Throughout the programme, Professor Brian Cox continues to patiently mentor Eric in an attempt to make up for his entire lack of education in science. The result is an extraordinary explosion of comedy, music and dance depicting the birth of The Entire Universe - in just one hour.

This is weird and I love it.

 

[berzeli]

Vampire Drama ‘Let The Right One In’ Gets TNT Pilot Order, Tomorrow Studios EPs

TNT has finalized a deal for a pilot order to Let the Right One In, a drama based on the best-selling novel by Swedish author John Ajvide Lindqvist. Criminal Minds and Teen Wolf creator Jeff Davis wrote the script and serves as executive producer with Marty Adelstein (Aquarius, Teen Wolf) and Becky Clements (Aquarius) of Tomorrow Studios and Simon Oakes (Let Me In) of Hammer Films. The pilot is being produced by Tomorrow Studios in association with Turner’s Studio T.

Let the Right One In is an eerie drama about a young boy, long tormented by his classmates, who finds solace in a friendship with a charismatic female vampire who appears to be near his age. The vampire settles into the boy’s small Vermont town with her mysterious caretaker, just as a series of bizarre murders begins attracting the attention of law enforcement.

Fuck.
I have zero confidence in this turning out well.
Dear America, please stop ruining one of my absolute favourite books/films.

ABC Nabs ‘Doomsday’ Drama Produced By Carol Mendelsohn With Big Commitment

In what is believed to be the biggest sale so far this season, ABC has landed Doomsday, a thriller drama from producer Carol Mendelsohn (CSI), writers Mark Bianculli & VJ Boyd (Justified) and Sony TV. I hear ABC got the project in a three-network bidding by giving it a pilot production commitment that has series penalty behind it.

Written by Bianculli and Boyd, Doomsday starts in the aftermath of 9/11, when the U.S. government institutes a secret think tank featuring the most creative minds in science and entertainment that is tasked with dreaming up man-made disaster scenarios and their possible solutions. Because the hypothetical ideas are deemed extremely dangerous, the list is sealed and the program shut down. But when a catastrophe occurs that’s ripped from the pages of the missing doomsday book, the team is brought back years later to prevent the disasters of their own making.

Uh, sure.

Anna Paquin, Allen Leech, Shawn Doyle Committed To ‘Bellevue’ CBC Crime Drama

True Blood alum Anna Paquin has been set to star in Bellevue, an eight-part detective drama set in a blue-collar Canadian town. Actress-turned-writer Jane Maggs and producer/director Adrienne Mitchell co-created the series which will also star Downton Abbey‘s Allen Leech and Shawn Doyle (House Of Cards). Muse Entertainment (The Kennedys) and Back Alley Film Productions (Bomb Girls) are producing for Canadian broadcaster the CBC. Shooting starts September 19 in Montreal.

The action takes place in a small town where a lot of ‘good people’ who ‘live right’ take it upon themselves to make sure the neighbors do too. Paquin is Detective Annie Ryder, a cop whose intense and brazen personality has always been at odds with her hometown. When a transgender teen goes missing, Annie dives in to unravel the disappearance that suggests foul play, despite finding herself in a difficult position as she must cast suspicion on people she has known all her life.

This sounds like a step above the usual cancon fair. Between this, Moira Walley-Beckett's Anne Of Green Gables (that still is funny), and the Sarah Polley Alias Grace series CBC is doing some really interesting things.

And now the second part of the BBC spree:
BBC Two announces intense new drama series MotherFatherSon from acclaimed author and screenwriter Tom Rob Smith

BBC Two has commissioned MotherFatherSon, a brand-new eight-part drama series from best-selling author and screenwriter Tom Rob Smith (Child 44, The Farm, London Spy).
A political and psychological thriller, MotherFatherSon sits at the intersections of police, politics and the press, as much a family saga as it is a savage, unflinching study of power and how even the mightiest of empires can be in peril when a family turns on each other.

Overall I quite liked London Spy. So hopeful for this one.

BBC One announces adaption of Jessie Burton’s sumptuous period thriller The Miniaturist

BBC One has commissioned a three-part adaptation of Jessie Burton’s The Miniaturist. Produced by The Forge, the adaptation will be written by John Brownlow (Fleming, Sylvia). A haunting period thriller, The Miniaturist tells the story of a house where, beneath the lavish beauty and privilege, lies forbidden passions and dangerous secrets.
Set in 1686, eighteen-year-old Nella Oortman knocks at the door of a grand house in the wealthiest quarter of Amsterdam. Full of hopes and dreams, she has come from the country to begin a new life as the wife of wealthy merchant, Johannes Brandt. But instead of Johannes, she's met by his cold sister Marin and quickly realises that nothing is as it seems in the Brandt household. When Johannes finally appears he presents her with an extraordinary wedding gift: a doll's house replica of their home. It is to be furnished by an elusive Miniaturist, whose tiny creations mirror what is happening within the house in unexpected ways and seem to be predicting and unravelling the future with unsettling accuracy.
As Nella begins to uncover its secrets and those of the Brandt household she realizes the escalating dangers that await them all. Does the Miniaturist hold their fate in her hands? And will she be the key to their salvation or the architect of their downfall?

BBC Comedy and Fudge Park announce White Gold

BBC Comedy and Fudge Park Productions today announce White Gold, an original six-part comedy series written and directed by the award-winning Damon Beesley (The Inbetweeners series and movies) and commissioned by Shane Allen Controller, Comedy Commissioning.
White Gold will star Ed Westwick, (Gossip Girl, Son Of Rambow), Joe Thomas (The Inbetweeners, Fresh Meat), James Buckley (The Inbetweeners, Rock & Chips) and Lauren O’Rourke (Drifters, This Is England 90).
White Gold is the story of a double-glazing showroom in Essex in 1983, led by charismatic salesman Vincent (Ed Westwick). Smart, handsome and cocksure, Vincent will happily break the rules if it guarantees a sale. It’s a story of dodgy shenanigans, scams and petty rivalries - alongside free-flowing drugs, cash and sex.

BBC Two announces brand new six-part drama adaptation of the Man Booker Prize-winning novel The Luminaries

BBC Two has commissioned Working Title Television to produce The Luminaries, a six-part drama series, which will be written by its award-winning novelist Eleanor Catton.
A 19th century tale of adventure and mystery set on the Wild West Coast of New Zealand’s South Island in the boom years of the 1860s gold rush, The Luminaries tells an epic story of love, murder and revenge, as men and women travelled across the world to make their fortunes.
The story follows defiant young adventurer Anna Wetherell, who has sailed from Britain to New Zealand to begin a new life. There she meets the radiant Emery Staines, an encounter that triggers a strange kind of magic that neither can explain. As they fall in love, driven together and apart by fateful coincidence, these star-crossed lovers begin to wonder: do we make our fortunes, or do our fortunes make us?

Besides that awful, awful, awful last line in the description I'm quite excited about this.

BBC One announces The Split - a new original drama series from acclaimed Bafta and Primetime Emmy award-winning screenwriter Abi Morgan and Sister Pictures

From Bafta and Primetime Emmy award-winning writer Abi Morgan (River, Suffragette, The Hour) and and Bafta-winning executive producer Jane Featherstone (Broadchurch, River, Humans) comes The Split, a new original drama series for BBC One produced by Sister Pictures.
The Split examines the fast-paced circuit of high-powered female divorce lawyers through the lens of three sisters - Hannah, Nina and the youngest, Rose. Hannah and Nina are leading divorce and family law lawyers working for rival firms, whilst Rose is still searching for her place in life.
...
The Split is set in London, the divorce capital of the world, where competition for clients is fierce. Over the course of the series personal and professional lives intertwine as we encounter a surprising array of cases, scandalous affairs and big-figure settlements, in a drama that examines the very fabric of 21st century marriage, the meaning of commitment and the nature of the ever-changing idea of family.

New Jed Mercurio drama series Bodyguard commissioned for BBC One

BBC One has commissioned a brand new six-part drama series from the team behind critically-acclaimed drama series Line Of Duty.
Created and written by Jed Mercurio and produced by World Productions, Bodyguard is a contemporary thriller featuring the Royalty and Specialist Protection Branch (RaSP) of London's Metropolitan Police Service. Set in and around the corridors of power, this original drama tells a fictional story following a team of RaSP officers whose duties involve protecting royals, politicians and diplomats. The team is led by a Specialist Protection Officer, the Bodyguard of the title, a heroic but volatile Gulf War veteran expected to lay down his life for the powerful - whether they deserve it or not.

Line of Duty is amazing, so this should be worth checking out.

Charlotte Moore announces adaptation of critically acclaimed young adult novel Noughts and Crosses for BBC One

Malorie Blackman’s enthralling story of first love in a dangerous, adrenalin-fuelled fictional dystopia is to be adapted by Levi David Addai with Matthew Graham for a new BBC One series, produced by Mammoth Screen.
Divided by their colour but united by forbidden love and burning injustice, Sephy and Callum are fighting for more than simply the right to be together, in a contemporary dystopian State where strict race laws make daily existence a matter of life and death.

Sephy is a ‘Cross’, a member of the black ruling class and daughter of a prominent politician. Callum is a ‘Nought’, a white member of the underclass who were once slaves to the Crosses. The two have been friends since early childhood but that’s as far as it can go for Noughts and Crosses must never fall in love. Against a background of prejudice, distrust and powerful rebellion mounting on the streets, a passionate romance builds between Sephy and Callum which will lead them both into terrible danger.

Uh. Um. Please don't fuck this up, this really could end up disastrous.

 

[berzeli]

Bruce Lee-Inspired Crime Drama ‘Warrior’ From Justin Lin & ‘Banshee’ Co-Creator Gets Cinemax Pilot Order

Cinemax has given a pilot order to Warrior, a crime drama based on original material written by Bruce Lee. Warrior has been a passion project for both the late martial arts icon and Fast & Furious helmer Justin Lin who is executive producing the pilot with an eye to direct. The pilot was written by Jonathan Tropper, co-creator of Banshee, Cinemax’s first homegrown primetime drama hit.

Set against the backdrop of San Francisco’s Chinatown in the aftermath of the Civil War, Warrior tells the story of a young martial arts prodigy, newly arrived from China, who finds himself caught up in the bloody Chinatown Tong wars.

This sounds like it really could be something.

A couple of ABC comedies which don't sound that exciting:
‘Splitting Up Together’ Comedy From Emily Kapnek & Ellen DeGeneres Gets ABC Put Pilot Commitment

Splitting Up Together, a single-camera comedy from Ellen DeGeneres’ A Very Good Prods. and Warner Bros TV, has landed at ABC with a put pilot commitment. The project will be written by Emily Kapnek, reuniting with ABC where she created comedy series Suburgatory and Selfie, also produced by WBTV, where Kapnek has been under an overall deal.

Based on the 2016 Danish series created by Mette Heeno, Splitting Up Together is the story of a couple whose marriage is reignited by their divorce.

ABC Nabs ‘Start Up’ Comedy Starring & Directed By Zach Braff As Put Pilot

Scrubs star Zach Braff is returning to series television and to ABC as the star of Start Up, a single-camera comedy, which has received a put pilot commitment. Braff, who also is set to direct, is reuniting with Scrubs co-executive producer Matt Tarses on the Sony TV/Davis Entertainment project, which ABC landed in a competitive situation with multiple networks pursuing.

Written by Tarses, Start Up is based on the podcast Start Up by Alex Blumberg. It is a show about all the things that happen — the good, the bad and the ugly — when a guy (Braff) in his mid-30s with a wife and two kids makes the crazy decision to quit his good job and dive into the brave new world of starting a business. (The title of the comedy will likely change as it matches the name of a new Crackle drama series.)

Oh, and the Let the Right One in series still sound abysmal.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

Bruce Lee-Inspired Crime Drama ‘Warrior’ From Justin Lin & ‘Banshee’ Co-Creator Gets Cinemax Pilot Order

This sounds like it really could be something.

I have a mighty need!

 

[torre_avenue]

Today, in holy shit this is so fucking dumb why god why news, Fox is so desperate they're remaking King Arthur into a police procedural.

The drama, which landed at Fox in a competitive situation with a script plus penalty commitment, reimagines the legendary stories of King Arthur in a police procedural. When an ancient magic reawakens in modern-day Manhattan, a graffiti artist named Art must team with his best friend Lance and his ex, Gwen — an idealistic cop — in order to realize his destiny and fight back against the evil forces that threaten the city.

This sounds like a bad 30 Rock joke. Holy shit, the amount of creative bankruptcy here is killing me: first off, why a graffiti artist? Did his ex know he was a graffiti artist and let him commit crimes? Are the Knights of the Round Table going to become a gang? Is the Lady of the Lake going to become Lady, a stripper with a heart of gold, working in the nefarious Lake night club? Is Excalibur going to be a AR-16?

 

[RatskyWatsky]

Today, in holy shit this is so fucking dumb why god why news, Fox is so desperate they're remaking King Arthur into a police procedural.



This sounds like a bad 30 Rock joke. Holy shit, the amount of creative bankruptcy here is killing me: first off, why a graffiti artist? Did his ex know he was a graffiti artist and let him commit crimes? Are the Knights of the Round Table going to become a gang? Is the Lady of the Lake going to become Lady, a stripper with a heart of gold, working in the nefarious Lake night club? Is Excalibur going to be a AR-16?

 

[Cornballer]

- THR: NBC Turning 'Oliver Twist' Into Contemporary Female-Driven Procedural

Twist's logline is as follows: A sexy contemporary take on Oliver Twist with a struggling 20-something female (Twist) who finally finds a true sense of family in a strange group of talented outcasts who use their unique skills to take down wealthy criminals.

 

[berzeli]

Today, in holy shit this is so fucking dumb why god why news, Fox is so desperate they're remaking King Arthur into a police procedural.

- THR: NBC Turning 'Oliver Twist' Into Contemporary Female-Driven Procedural

Trad. broadcast networks are dead. Dead.

 

[Dan]

Broadcast TV was a mistake. It's nothing but trash.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

"Hey, I have a great idea for a TV show! Sexy Oliver Twist! It's not creepy, though, really! Because in this, Oliver Twist is going to be an adult woman! A sexy adult woman! Named Twist! And it's going to be a crime procedur-"

 

[Cabbagehead]

WGN America Developing ‘Black Wall Street’ From ‘Underground’ EPs

America ain't ready for this! Bring it WGN, people need to know and remember.

 

[KonradLaw]

The sad thing is that if somebody wanted to turn King Arthur into modern crime drama then it actually can be done in a kickass way:

 

[Cornballer]

- USA Orders ‘The Sinner’ Crime Drama Pilot Starring & Produced By Jessica Biel

USA Network has given a pilot order to The Sinner, a crime thriller executive produced by and starring Jessica Biel (The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea). This marks Biel’s return to series television in a regular role for the first time since she exited 7th Heaven at the end of Season 10 in 2006.

Created and written by Derek Simonds (The Astronauts Wives Club) based on Petra Hammesfahr’s book of the same name, the project is being produced by Universal Cable Prods. Antonio Campos (Simon Killer) will direct the pilot. Biel is executive producing with her producing partner Michelle Purple through their company Iron Ocean Films, alongside Simonds and Campos.

In The Sinner, overcome by an inexplicable fit of rage, a young mother (Biel) commits a startling and very public act of violence – and to her horror has no idea why. The event launches an inverted and utterly surprising crime thriller whose driving force is not the who or the what – but the why. A rogue investigator finds himself obsessed with uncovering the woman’s buried motive, and together they travel a harrowing journey into the depths of her psyche and the violent secrets hidden in her past.

 

[berzeli]

In lol lol lol news (and to enjoy this fully you might need to be Swedish):
Patrick Nebout to Adapt Jan Guillou’s Hamilton Books

Dramacorp founder Patrick Nebout is developing an international spy-thriller series based on the Hamilton books from the Swedish author Jan Guillou.

The Hamilton books center on Swedish intelligence officer Carl Hamilton who, having been trained by the US Navy SEALs, becomes part of an illegal black ops cell within the Swedish military. Guillou himself was imprisoned for espionage after exposing a similar illegal spy organization within the Swedish military. He later used his knowledge of the world of intelligence and counter-intelligence as the basis for his 12 Hamilton novels.
...
Petter S. Rosenlund, head writer of NRK’s The Heavy Water War (Saboteurs in the U.K.), has been attached as head writer.

Now a brief history of adaptions of the Hamilton books:

• Codename Coq Rouge (Täcknamn Coq Rouge) | 1989 film | Hamilton played by Stellan Skarsgård
• The Interrogation (Förhöret) | 1989 TV movie | played by Stellan Skarsgård
• Enemy's Enemy (Fiendens fiende) | 1990 TV miniseries | played by Peter Haber
• The Democratic Terrorist (Den demokratiske terroristen) | 1992 Film | played by Stellan Skarsgård
• Vendetta | 1995 film, 1996 TV miniseries | played by Stefan Sauk
• Tribunal | 1995 TV movie | played by Stefan Sauk
• Hamilton | 1998 film, 2001 TV miniseries | played by Peter Stormare <- features Mark Hamill because you can't live forever on Star Wars residuals
• Hamilton: In the Interest of the Nation (Hamilton - I nationens intresse) | 2012 film | played by Mikael Persbrandt
• Agent Hamilton - But Not if it Concerns Your Daughter (Hamilton 2: Men inte om det gäller din dotter) | 2012 film | played by Mikael Persbrandt

And now a brief history of good adaptions of the Hamilton books:

I can not overstate how much I'm looking forward to this.
Seriously.
The latest attempt ended up so botched they had to scrap the planned third instalment. (The first two were shot practically back-to-back and for some godforsaken reason they released the first two films within eight months of each other)
It will be glorious.

 

[Cornballer]

- FX Developing AI Horror Drama ‘Basilisk’ From Francis Lawrence & Curtis Gwinn

FX has put in development Basilisk, a drama from former The Bastard Executioner and The Walking Dead writer Curtis Gwinn and The Hunger Games director Francis Lawrence.

Written by Gwinn, Basilisk is described as a gritty horror series that follows an atheistic college therapist and her computer-genius patient as they find themselves pulled into a plot to awaken a malevolent, god-like artificial intelligence.

- TV Series Adaptation Of ‘Throne of Glass’ Books From Mark Gordon Co. Set at Hulu

Sarah J. Maas’ best-selling Throne of Glass book series is headed to television. Hulu is developing Queen of Shadows, an epic fantasy adventure TV series based on the books, from the Mark Gordon Company, which will serve as a studio on the project. Kira Snyder (The 100) will write the adaptation, with Anna Foerster (Underworld: Blood Wars) set to direct the potential pilot episode.

Queen of Shadows follows Celaena Sardothien, a complicated female assassin with a mysterious past who only wants her freedom. Now beholden to an increasingly tyrannous king, Celaena will become a reluctant hero against the multitudes of forces that threaten to destroy her world. Along the way she will make friends, enemies, and lovers, and be wildly underestimated by all of them.

 

[dead souls]

Bastard Executioner and Walking Dead writer?

No thanks FX.

 

[Busty]

Abrams and Meryl 'Smell like Streep for cheap" Streep are teaming on a limited series based on a hit ( ¯\_(&#12484_/¯ ) novel called The Nix.

The first novel by Nathan Hill is a sprawling generational tale that focuses on a hippie-era mother who gets national press exposure for throwing rocks at a conservative governor on the presidential campaign trail. Before you know it, her estranged son — a professor, aspiring novelist and general underachiever — seizes an opportunity to get himself out of debt by writing a scathing profile of his estranged mother. CAA handled the auction for the book, which was just published by Knopf.

Streep will star and Abrams will produce and 'will likely' direct a few episodes too. If I had to put money on it I'd say that this will probably end up at HBO as an 8 episode limited series.

http://deadline.com/2016/09/meryl-s...ted-series-warner-bros-television-1201815226/

 

[RatskyWatsky]

Abrams and Meryl 'Smell like Streep for cheap" Streep are teaming on a limited series based on a hit ( ¯\_(&#12484_/¯ ) novel called The Nix.



Streep will star and Abrams will produce and 'will likely' direct a few episodes too. If I had to put money on it I'd say that this will probably end up at HBO as an 8 episode limited series.

http://deadline.com/2016/09/meryl-s...ted-series-warner-bros-television-1201815226/

This sounds like the exact sort of thing HBO lives for.

 

[KonradLaw]

Abrams and Meryl 'Smell like Streep for cheap" Streep are teaming on a limited series based on a hit ( ¯\_(&#12484_/¯ ) novel called The Nix.



Streep will star and Abrams will produce and 'will likely' direct a few episodes too. If I had to put money on it I'd say that this will probably end up at HBO as an 8 episode limited series.

http://deadline.com/2016/09/meryl-s...ted-series-warner-bros-television-1201815226/

I haven't read a premise as boring as this since The Slap.

 

[Cornballer]

- Deadline: Vince Gilligan Developing HBO Limited Series About Cult Leader Jim Jones

In one of the first major pieces of new development outside of the Breaking Bad universe, Vince Gilligan has signed on to write and executive produce Raven, a limited series for HBO abut Jim Jones, the infamous leader of the Peoples Temple cult who led his followers to a mass murder-suicide in Jonestown, Guyana. On Raven, Breaking Bad creator/executive producer Gilligan is reuniting with the AMC series’ executive producer/director Michelle MacLaren who is set to direct the limited series. The two are executive producing the project with actress Octavia Spencer, who had optioned the source material for the limited series — the non-fiction book Raven: The Untold Story of Jim Jones and His People by Tim Reiterman, a journalist who survived the events in Guyana — more than four years ago. Reilly Smith, who had secured the rights of the book with Spencer, will co-produce. Sony Pictures TV, where Gilligan and his High Bridge Prods. are based, is the studio. There are no plans for Spencer to act.

Raven is described as the definitive history of Peoples Temple from its idealistic beginnings to its terrible end in Jonestown. The adaptation will focus on Jim Jones, but also on his followers, who, by and large, were ordinary people of good will. It tells the mysterious story of how so many of them came to give up their lives for this man.

 

[berzeli]

- Deadline: Vince Gilligan Developing HBO Limited Series About Cult Leader Jim Jones

HBO is dangerously close to being exciting again.

 

[Cornballer]

- Deadline: ‘The Terror’: Tobias Menzies To Star In AMC Anthology Series From Scott Free

The Outlander co-star Tobias Menzies is set as a lead in The Terror, AMC’s anthology drama series based on the bestselling 2007 novel by Dan Simmons. Scott Free, Alexandra Milchan’s Emjag Productions, Entertainment 360 and AMC Studios are producing the 10-episode straight-to-series drama set to premiere in 2017.

Written by feature writer David Kajganich, who co-showruns with Soo Hugh, the series is set in 1847, when a Royal Navy expedition crew searching for the Northwest Passage is attacked by a mysterious predator that stalks the ships and their crews in a suspenseful and desperate game of survival. It is a fictionalized account of Captain Sir John Franklin’s lost expedition of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror.

Menzies will play a member of the Royal Navy. It marks his reunion with AMC, where he recently co-starred in limited series The Night Manager, which is nominated for 12 Emmy Awards.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

- Deadline: ‘The Terror’: Tobias Menzies To Star In AMC Anthology Series From Scott Free

Very nice!

 

[Cornballer]

Very nice!

Yeah, he's a good fit for that.

 

[dead souls]

Tobias Menzies to star in everything.

He gets around, not that I'm complaining

Spoiler

for once.

 

[Norwegian Rudo]

Tobias Menzies to star in everything.

He gets around, not that I'm complaining

Spoiler

for once.

Actors doing more than one show at once is fairly common in the UK. Tamsin Greig for one always seems to have 2-3 shows going and still finds time to appear in other things.

With Hollywood now more and more adapting a shorter season format I'm sure it will happen more there as well. We've already seen a few examples, like Constance Zimmer having a prominent guest starring arc on AoS on her break from UnReal.

 

[Khoryos]

- FX Developing AI Horror Drama ‘Basilisk’ From Francis Lawrence & Curtis Gwinn

They're making a show based on Roko's Basilisk?

LessWrong must be *furious*.

 

[Funky Papa]

- Deadline: ‘The Terror’: Tobias Menzies To Star In AMC Anthology Series From Scott Free

Fantastic news. I recently read the book and I thought it'd make a fantastic TV show, specially since it's a fairly slow read and most of the tension is created by created a sense of dread extended over months. I'm curious about hg how they are going to portray the

Spoiler

Tuunbaq

and all the crazy scenes with similarly psychedelic

Spoiler

Inuit mythology.

 

[berzeli]

- Deadline: ‘The Terror’: Tobias Menzies To Star In AMC Anthology Series From Scott Free

Long-Lost Ship From New AMC Series ‘The Terror’ Found

“We congratulate the Arctic Research Foundation on finding The Terror 168 years later,” AMC president of original programming Joel Stillerman told Deadline. “Apparently they’ve never heard of a spoiler alert.”

lol.

 

[berzeli]

Let's play a game everyone, this is the description of the show. Guess which network picked it up.

Up In the Air and X-Men: First Class co-writer Sheldon Turner has teamed with Charlie&#8217;s Angels hack McG for a buddy cop drama with a twist, which has landed at [blank] with a script commitment plus significant penalty.

Spoiler

Of course it is Fox. link

And in, weirder news:
Hulu Nears Series Order For 9/11 Drama &#8216;The Looming Tower&#8217; From Dan Futterman, Alex Gibney & Legendary TV

a 10-episode straight-to-series order to The Looming Tower, a drama based on Lawrence Wright&#8217;s Pulitzer Prize-winning nonfiction book that chronicles the events that led to the September 11 terrorist attacks. The project hails from Oscar-nominated writer Dan Futterman (Foxcatcher, Capote), Oscar- and Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney (Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, Taxi to the Dark Side) and Legendary Television.

That is some serious talent.

Also
Netflix Orders &#8216;She&#8217;s Gotta Have It&#8217; Spike Lee Series Based On His Landmark Movie

Thirty years after Spike Lee burst into the American indie scene with the 1986&#8217;s She&#8217;s Gotta Have It, the filmmaker is revisiting his debut feature on the small screen. Netflix has given a 10-episode series order to She&#8217;s Gotta Have It, a contemporary update of Lee&#8217; groundbreaking film, which helped usher in the American independent film movement of the 1980s and paved the way for other black filmmakers.
...
Lee is set to direct all episodes of the series, which he created and executive produces with his producer wife Tonya Lewis Lee. Netflix is he studio.[sic]

Which is pretty damn exciting!

 

[RatskyWatsky]

Also
Netflix Orders ‘She’s Gotta Have It’ Spike Lee Series Based On His Landmark Movie

Which is pretty damn exciting!

Interesting that Lee's remaking his own film. Should be interesting!

 

[Dan]

- Deadline: Syfy Orders Pilots For AI Drama ‘The Machine’, ‘Haunted’ & ‘Happy!’ Adaptation

The first of the Grant Morrison and Brian Taylor collaborations has been ordered to pilot by Syfy. They're also working on a Brave New World adaptation.

Happy! is based on Grant Morrison (Batman, The Invisibles) and Darick Robertson’s graphic novel. It follows Nick Sax – an intoxicated, corrupt ex-cop turned hit man — who is adrift in a world of casual murder, soulless sex and betrayal. After a hit gone wrong, his inebriated life is forever changed by a tiny, relentlessly positive, imaginary blue winged horse. Morrison and Brian Taylor (Crank, Gamer) will write and executive produce. Neal Moritz, Pavun Shetty and Toby Jaffe of Original Film (The Fast and the Furious franchise) will also executive produce. Taylor will also direct the pilot.

Frankly, I don't think Happy! is fit for anything longer than a movie, but there it is.

Also:

The Machine is set in a world that is being transformed by the emergence of artificial intelligence. The project explores the epic conflict between man and technology through the lives and motivations of six interwoven characters – each of whom holds the key to humanity’s victory or its destruction. The Machine feature helmer Caradog James will executive produce with Red & Black Films. The film’s producer, John Giwa-Amu will also executive produce the pilot.

The Haunted is a supernatural horror-drama about four siblings who reunite following their parents’ deaths. As they try to overcome their fractured personal relationships they find that they must also face the literal ghosts from their past in order to survive. Noga Landau (Tau, The Magicians) wrote the pilot and is also a co-executive producer. Author James Frey and Todd Cohen of Full Fathom Five will executive produce.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

Walton Goggins To Star In ‘Keeping It Real’ Showtime Comedy From Charles Randolph, Nat Faxon & Jim Rash

Titled Keeping It Real, the dark comedy is created/written by Charles Randolph, an Oscar winner for co-writing The Big Short, and has two other writing Oscar winners, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash (The Descendants), attached to direct.

Keeping It Real chronicles a narcissistic but well-intentioned movie star (Goggins) who travels to global hot spots and inserts himself into international incidents, only to create more chaos.

This sounds like it could be incredible.

 

[Funky Papa]

Walton Goggins To Star In ‘Keeping It Real’ Showtime Comedy From Charles Randolph, Nat Faxon & Jim Rash





This sounds like it could be incredible.

The mere notion of Goggins playing an agent of chaos is almost laugh inducing.

Yes please.

 

[Dan]

- Deadline: CBS Nabs ‘S.W.A.T.’ Drama Inspired By Movie From Shawn Ryan, Justin Lin, Neal Moritz & ‘FNL’ Alum With Big Commitment

EXCLUSIVE: CBS has landed S.W.A.T., a drama series loosely inspired by the 2003 Sony movie that was based on the 1975 TV series produced by Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg. The project, executive produced by The Shield creator Shawn Ryan, Neal H. Moritz (Preacher), Justin Lin (Scorpion) and Aaron Rahsaan Thomas (The Get Down, Friday Night Lights), has received a pilot production commitment from the network with series penalty behind it.

...

Written by Sleepy Hollow alum Thomas with Fast & Furious helmer Lin possibly directing, S.W.A.T. is described as an intense, action-packed procedural following an African-American SWAT lieutenant torn between loyalty to the streets and duty to his fellow officers. He is tasked to run a new unit of highly trained but rugged outcasts who are the last stop for solving crimes in Los Angeles.

- THR: NBCUniversal Teams With Tom Hardy's Production Company on Two TV Shows

Hardy Son & Baker, set up by Hardy and partner Dean Baker, will produce Pendulum, based on the crime thriller by Adam Hamdy, and Trees, a science-fiction graphic novel series from award-winning comic book writer and New York Times bestselling author Warren Ellis and illustrator Jason Howard.

Pendulum, which is to be published in the U.S. next year by Quercus, will be adapted by author Hamdy and sees an everyman targeted for death by a serial killer, delving into the digital underworld.

...

Meanwhile, Trees is set 10 years after the arrival of a vast alien presence, who stand on the Earth’s surface like trees and do not move or communicate. Appearing not to acknowledge human life and society, the series follows the silent pressure and strange changes they exert on global communities from China to the Arctic Circle.

Trees is pretty great, so I'll be interested to see how that develops.

Walton Goggins To Star In ‘Keeping It Real’ Showtime Comedy From Charles Randolph, Nat Faxon & Jim Rash





This sounds like it could be incredible.

Will it be subtitled The Sean Penn Story?

 

[Cornballer]

- Deadline: ‘Mogadishu, Minnesota’: Elvis Nolasco, K.C. Collins Among Nine Cast In HBO Drama Pilot

HBO is building out the cast for its drama pilot Mogadishu, Minnesota, executive produced by Zero Dark Thirty and The Hurt Locker‘s Kathryn Bigelow.

Elvis Nolasco (American Crime), K.C. Collins (RoboCop), Rif Hutton (Hotel Transylvania), Ezana Alem (Oasis), Hanad Abdirahman Abdi, Selam Tadese, Prince Abdi, Yusra Warsama and Liya Kebede (The Best Offer) have joined the cast. All will be regulars if the pilot is picked up to series.

Mogadishu, Minnesota is a family drama that grapples with what it means to be American – among the Somalis of Minneapolis.

 

[Dan]

- Deadline: ‘Mogadishu, Minnesota’: Elvis Nolasco, K.C. Collins Among Nine Cast In HBO Drama Pilot

Shoots in October. It'll be interesting to see if it gets picked up. It'd be something very different among HBO's current drama lineup.

 

[Cornballer]

- Deadline: &#8216;The Terror&#8217;: Tobias Menzies To Star In AMC Anthology Series From Scott Free

More casting news for the series. Looking forward to this one:

- &#8216;The Terror&#8217;: Jared Harris To Star In AMC Anthology Series; Three More Cast

Jared Harris (Mad Men, The Crown) is set to star in AMC&#8217;s anthology drama series The Terror, based on the bestselling 2007 novel by Dan Simmons. Scott Free, Alexandra Milchan&#8217;s Emjag Productions, Entertainment 360 and AMC Studios are producing the 10-episode straight-to-series drama set to premiere in 2017. Additionally, Game of Thrones&#8217; Ciaran Hinds, Paul Ready (Cuffs, Utopia) and Adam Nagaitis (Houdini and Doyle, Suffragette) round out the cast.

 

[Cornballer]

- ‘Snowfall’ Cocaine Drama Picked Up To Series By FX

FX is moving ahead with Snowfall, giving a 10-episode series order to John Singleton’s drama inspired by the early days of the crack cocaine epidemic in Los Angeles in the early 1980s.

The series pickup comes after the cable network saw the second pilot for the project, originally piloted last year. The first pilot was written/executive produced by Boyz N The Hood director Singleton and Eric Amadio, and directed by Singleton. Dave Andron was then brought in as executive producer/showrunner. He co-wrote the new pilot with Singleton and Amadio. It was directed by the Belgian directing team of Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah (Black, Image), with veteran Thomas Schlamme joining as executive producer. There were also casting changes, with new actors brought in alongside returning leads Damson Idris and Sergio Peris-Mencheta.

“Dave Andron, Tommy Schlamme, John Singleton and Eric Amadio have delivered a riveting and beautiful pilot and we can’t wait to start work on the series,” said FX’s Nick Grad.

Snowfall is a one-hour drama set against the infancy of the crack cocaine epidemic and its ultimate radical impact on the culture as we know it. The story follows numerous characters on a violent collision course, including: Franklin Saint (Damson Idris), young street entrepreneur on a quest for power; Gustavo Zapata (Sergio Peris-Mencheta), a Mexican wrestler caught up in a power struggle within a crime family; Teddy McDonald (Carter Hudson), a CIA operative running from a dark past who begins an off-book operation to fund the Nicaraguan Contras; and Luica Villanueva (Emily Rios), the self-possessed daughter of a Mexican crime lord.

 

[Dan]

Good for Snowfall. The Terror has certainly grabbed a great cast. Maybe I should get around to reading the book.

- THR: Taika Waititi Planning 'What We Do in the Shadows' TV Spinoff

'Paranormal Event Response Unit' will follow the two cops that appeared in the hit 2014 mockumentary as they attempt to keep residents of the New Zealand capital safe from supernatural beings.
The supernatural beings lurking in New Zealand capital Wellington are set to come out of the darkness once more in an upcoming TV spinoff to Taika Waititi's mockumentary What We Do in the Shadows.

The procedural comedy series Paranormal Event Response Unit — conceived by Waititi and Flight of the Conchords star Jemaine Clement, who played the 862-year-old vampire known as Vladislav in the 2014 hit — will follow naive police officers Karen and Mike (who had minors roles in the film) as they attempt to keep Wellington residents safe from all manner of mythical beasts.

Broadcast funding agency NZ On Air has granted $1 million towards making the six 30-minute episodes, which will screen on local channel TVNZ 2.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

Ioan Gruffudd, Joanne Froggatt to Star in Sundance Miniseries Thriller

The Forever and Downton Abbey alums are set to star in Sundance’s Liar, a six-episode thriller produced in conjunction with the UK’s ITV.

Per Sundance, the forthcoming miniseries tells the story of Laura Newell (Froggatt), a school teacher fresh out of a relationship who reenters the dating scene with Andrew Ellis (Gruffudd), a surgeon who just so happens to be the father to one of her students. Together they share a night that changes both of their lives forever, with neither fully aware of the ramifications their meeting will have on each other or their loved ones as secrets, lies and deceit are brought to light.

What a cast lol.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

Olivia Williams & Harry Lloyd To Co-Star In Starz Drama Series Counterpoint

Manhattan alumna Olivia Williams and Harry Lloyd are set to star opposite J.K. Simmons in Counterpart, Starz’s upcoming straight-to-series drama series.

Described as an espionage thriller with a metaphysical twist, Counterpart is the story of Howard Silk (Simmons), a lowly cog in a bureaucratic agency who discovers that the agency he works for is really guarding a crossing into a parallel dimension. Through Howard and his counterpart on the other side, the show will navigate themes of identity, what-ifs and lost love. Starz ordered two 10-episode seasons in 2015.

Nice to see that Starz is still moving forward with this!