ARCHIE'S ANGELS

If you love the 2009-2010 US Network season you will adore 2010-2011. According to Variety, ABC is close to ordering a pilot for a "modern version" of Charlie's Angels.

The original Charlie's Angels ran from 1976 to 1981 on ABC and was a detective show about three young women working for the secretive and invisible boss of the Charles Townsend Detective Agency. Charles "Charlie" Townsend was voiced by a pre-Dynasty John Forsythe and the show, created by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts (producers of Mannix), made Farrah Fawcett a worldwide sex symbol. TV czars Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg were executive producers.

Josh Friedman (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) will write and exec produce the new "Angels". Leonard Goldberg and actress/producer Drew Barrymore, who starred and produced in the 2000 movie adaptation and its sequel, are involved in the project (http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118011272.html?categoryid=14&cs=1).

The original Charlie's Angels series was a conventional cop show with a difference: beautiful young women with a wardrobe specially designed to catch the eyes of male viewers. It popularized the expression "T&A TV". Do Acapulco H.E.A.T, The Dream Team or She Spies ring a bell to the suits at ABC?

Tip to ABC: replace Hank next season by a remake of Three's Company.

WE WANT INFORMATION

You won't get it.

[Absolutely No Spoiler Alert!] Brian Lowry (Variety) reviews the AMC miniseries remake of The Prisoner starting next week on US cable channel AMC. If I know what to think of the idea of a "reinvention" of Patrick McGoohan's masterpiece and of the far too long Comic-Con trailer, I don't know what to think about this review.

Great lines of Brian Lowry's piece: « Granted, Ian McKellen could hold an audience by reading from a dictionary ». It's so true that I hear that many viewers will watch for McKellen, who plays Two. I also like Lowry's « Disney backlot-type surroundings », in June I wrote about « glimpses of a Disneyland meets Meadowlands Village ».

At least, unlike Anna in the V remake, Two doesn't blink. Don't blink.

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117941588.html?categoryid=32&cs=1

COUNTDOWN TO OBLIVION

Effective today we will note the TV show casualties of the US Network season 2009-2010 (The list will be updated when necessary):

The Beautiful Life (CW)

Southland (NBC)

Eastwick (ABC)

Hank (ABC)

Dolhouse (Fox) - According to Michael Aussiello, Josh Whedon's show bites the dust (http://ausiellofiles.ew.com/2009/11/11/this-just-in-dollhouse-axed/).

NAME THAT TUNE... NOT

French journalist Alain Carrazé, renowned television expert often heard or seen on French media, and consultant (through his company 8 Art City), has a popular internet video blog about TV series.

In his latest episode (1) he talks about the progressive extinction on US Network television of TV series regular scores, from the title theme (Neil Patrick Harris made a joke about that during Primetime Emmys) to even incidental music, and explains why songs are the only commercial concession to the musical illustration of an episode.

I must say that I consider this phenomenon one of the most irritating problems of contemporary American "generalist" television. To talk only of my favourite TV series, which is British, I can't imagine an episode of Doctor Who without the theme composed by Ron Grainer. A title theme is the signature of a show, its calling card, almost its DNA map.

Incidental music is the "sound blood" of a series. What would be Mission:Impossible without an incidental theme called The Plot? Would Lord Brett Sinclair be the same driving his Aston Martin without Ken Thorne's music? And in a nightmare represent yourself these two shows without their title themes but with just title cards.

(1) http://www.8artcity.com/le-videoblog-dalain-carraze/452-les-bandes-originales-de-series-une-espece-en-voie-de-disparition (In French)

SAVE THE CHEER... SHOWRUNNER

The UK may think twice before fully embracing the US Showrunner system in its TV industry (1) as it seems that another showrunner of an ABC series will give up the keys of the soundstage.

After Marc Guggenheim (FlashForward) and Scott Peters (V), The Forgotten exec producer/showrunner Lukas Reiter is, according to The Hollywood Reporter (2), "not expected to continue" after the choice of ABC to pick up five more episode of the crime drama.

And we learn in the same THR story that ABC drops Eastwick. Based on John Updike's book The Witches of Eastwick, this adaptation is in fact the third attempt to make a TV show out of it (after two failed pilots in 1992 and 2002). Director David Nutter was meant to be the "lucky charm" of this TV version (there's of course the 1987 movie adaptation with Jack Nicholson) with his record of having all his pilots picked up to series (http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117999808.html?categoryid=1300&cs=1).

But that was not enough for what everybody expected to be Desperate Housewives meets Charmed (or is it the reverse?) and it's too bad for the talented Canadian actor Paul Gross.

(1) http://leegoldberg.typepad.com/a_writers_life/2009/10/the-writer-is-god.html
(2) http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i1239cf1a1e13f6232b46e94ce94a799e

COLLISION ON ITV1

Collision, the ITV1 high profile five-part serial created by Anthony Horowitz (Crime Traveller, Midsomer Murder, Foyle's War), starts tonight and will be shown on five consecutive nights - like what the BBC did for Torchwood: Children of Earth.

Written by Anthony Horowitz and Michael A. Walker, Collision stars Douglas Henshall (Primeval) as John Tolin and Kate Ashfield as Ann Stallwood. Tolin and Stallwood are two police officers investigating on a major road tragedy and the mysteries beyond the crash. These mysteries involve millionaire property developer Richard Reeves (Paul McGann), government cover-ups, and more.

Shot on 10 weeks on 120 locations with a 73-person cast (among which Phil Davis and Lenora Crichlow), the five episodes of Collision are directed by Marc Evans. This production Greenlit (http://www.greenlit.co.uk/collision.html) is actually Peter Fincham’s first new independent drama commission, with director of drama Laura Mackie, since joining ITV as director of television.

After the magnificent Murderland, with the great Robbie Coltrane, it's really good to see ITV playing again on a field which made the reputation of quality of British TV all over the world. We'll see if the five nights stripped programming inspired by the Torchwood miniseries (1) will not ruin the huge potential of Collision. The widely popular Torchwood is an extension of the profitable Doctor Who franchise and its series three (reduced to an event miniseries format) was frantically awaited worldwide.

9th-13th November 9pm (British Time) on ITV1

See also:

http://www.itv.com/presscentre/presspacks/collision/default.html
http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/production/on-location/collision-itv1/5007369.article
http://www.douglashenshall.com/Douglas_Henshall_Collision.html
http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/news/analysis/serials-and-the-stripped-show-making-waves/5003804.article

(1) International version is in two parts. Collision is distributed by Portman.

MOONRAKER: THIRTY YEARS AGO

Our readers know about the 6th Salon des séries TV et ciné, organised by French association Sérialement Vôtre, which took place in Paris on October 24. Among the debates there was a presentation and discussion about Moonraker, the 11th James Bond film.

Moonraker is the only 007 adventure co-produced by France and Great Britain. The website of Sérialement Vôtre publishes a report about the discussion around this movie with French guests implied in the production

This story is available in English (http://serialement-votre.etron.fr/?p=720) and you'll learn some interesting anecdotes.

THE END IS NOT ENOUGH

[17.20 - French Time] Roland Emmerich, the director/producer of the disaster movie 2012 (opening next week in the US) confirmed to Entertainment Weekly that a television series version is in the pipeline.

« The plan is that it is 2013 and it’s about what happens after the disaster », Emerich told EW (http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2009/11/04/2012-tv-planned/). But what is fascinating in the Entertainment Weekly story is that ABC would run the show.

After the six month flashforward and the giant spaceships, now the world after its end. If it is true that ABC picks up the show they'll have to rebrand the network "FEMABC".

Imagine, next we'll have When Time Ran Out - The TV series. End of the world, Ma?

"LIFE" WITHOUT MARS

According to Broadcast, Jane Tranter - BBC Worldwide L.A. EVP of Programming and Production, bets on the duo behind Life on Mars, to sell a project from BBC Worldwide's Los Angeles production branch to US network ABC.

Ashley Pharoah and Matthew Graham, who are also creators of Ashes to Ashes and, er... Bonekickers, run Monastic Productions - their own production company. Their script is pitched as "a Californian Cop show with a British twist" (http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/news/international/tranter-turns-to-pharoah-and-graham/5007681.article). Broadcast adds that Julie Gardner (former executive producer of Doctor Who) would exec produce and precises that unlike the Life on Mars US remake for ABC, Graham and Pharoah would be "heavily unvolved".

"A Californian Cop show with a British twist"? Does that mean another US show with a Brit star? As long as it doesn't imply Philip Glenister with an American accent.

INTERVIEW OF THE FRENCH-SPEAKING VOICE OF THE DOCTOR (BEANS ON TOAST)

Our friends of Beans On Toast (http://www.doctor-who.fr/), the most important French-speaking resource on the Whoniverse (Doctor Who, Torchwood, The Sarah Jane Adventures, etc), publish today a joint interview of Belgian actor David Manet - also a dubbing artist, and David Macaluso - the dubbing director of Doctor Who since 2005.

David Manet is the French voice of The Doctor as incarnated by Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant.

http://www.doctor-who.fr/d_itw_david.php (In French)

LIFE ON MARS?

[22.16 - French Time] Chuck executive producer Scott Rosenbaum has been named showrunner/executive producer of the remake of V, premiering today on ABC.

Scott Rosenbaum replaces showrunner Scott Peters, who stays executive producer (http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118010788.html?categoryid=14&cs=1). This comes after the news that the new V will go on hiatus after only four episodes (http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/cult/a179211/v-to-go-on-hiatus-after-four-episodes.html) and the scrapping by the network of an ambitious plan to cover the skies of 15 major American cities with giant red "V"s to promote the debut of the show.

« [Still,] this isn't the sort of news you want to break on the day of a show's premiere. (Not that I think it will matter -- the premiere of "V" will likely do well in the ratings, but I'm not so sure about the next few weeks) » writes James Hibberd in The Live Feed (http://www.thrfeed.com/2009/11/v-swaps-showrunners.html).

The first four episodes of V are meant to end with a cliffhanger and the show is supposed to return in spring should the ratings of this first batch justify it. The 2009 version of the classic miniseries is scheduled to resume production in January (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i86ae90f3122997621998ffb7a2773776).

http://abc.go.com/shows/v

See also:

http://tattard2.blogspot.com/2009/10/lizards-eat-skywriting-campaign-for.html

TENNANT GOES STATESIDE

[6.08 - French Time] According to The Hollywood Reporter, David Tennant (Doctor Who) will make his American Television debut.

Rex is Not your Lawyer is a one-hour pilot for a legal dramedy greenlit by NBC. Rex Alexander, played by Tennant, is a top Chicago lawyer who begins suffering panic attacks and takes up coaching clients to represent themselves in court(http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i8161b51e045b5cf6f1b2296423bf7743).

Doc Martin meets Hitch? Will David Tennant be the next Hugh "House" Laurie? Will he be replaced by Christian Slater if a series is ordered like what happened for Rupert Penry-Jones, the Spooks and Whitechapel star? Coincidentally your humble servant reads on Nikki Finke's Deadline.com that Adrian Pasdar is let go from Heroes (http://www.deadline.com/hollywood/adrian-pasdar-let-go-from-nbcs-heroes/) - Now they can cast Pasdar in the US House of Cards or they can remake Profit.

Humble tip to the Peacock: drop the title. And in continental Europe "Rex" evokes an Austrian cop show starring a German shepherd dog. The idea of Tennant playing an attorney escaped from a David Kelley show suffice.

THE TOBOLOWSKY FILES (/FILM)

Loyal readers of this blog know how much we appreciate Stephen Tobolowsky both as an actor and as an individual.

Stephen Tobolowsky is one of the most brilliant and interesting American actors. He's one of these consumed professional actors who give sense to a movie or to the episode of a TV series episode with his single presence at the service of a character, a script and a director. Not to mention the fact that only his name could make your humble servant watch two episodes of Heroes (only two, sorry).

Every movie buff should see Stephen Tobolowsky's Birthday Party, Robert Brinkmann's wonderful 2005 film (http://www.stbpmovie.com/). In STBP, Stephen (in real life I can't call him Stephen, I keep calling him "Sir" - I can't call a legend by his first name) invites the viewers at his home to listen him telling stories about his life and his career.

Stephen Tobolowsky knows how to tell a story. When he begins, Mark Twain, O. Henry, Woody Allen, Roald Dahl and all the Gods of wittiness do surf on his voice. When you listen to him, even the worst salade nicoise can taste like caviar (believe me). In The Tobolowsky Files, a new podcast series from /Film, the great Stephen Tobolowsky tells stories about life, love, and the Entertainment industry. And in the very first episode, he recalls anecdotes about Halloweens past, along with their attendant sexiness, fun, humiliation, and danger.

Just enjoy.

http://www.slashfilm.com/2009/10/29/introducing-a-new-film-podcast-the-tobolowsky-files-episode-1-sex-death-and-halloween/

See also:

http://tattard2.blogspot.com/2008/05/stephen-tobolowskys-birthday-party.html
http://tattard2.blogspot.com/2008/05/stephen-tobolowsky.html
http://tattard2.blogspot.com/2009/05/stephen-tobolowsky-talks-about-glee-fox.html