SECOND LIFE

[6.08 - French Time] Marchlands , Episode One. Three different families living in the same house in 1968, 1987 and 2010 are linked by the spirit of the 1968 family daughter, who died in mysterious circumstances.

ITV1 aired yesterday the premiere episode of the awaited Marchlands (formerly The Oaks), a five-part series from ITV Studios which is actually the British remake of The Oaks, a 2008 unpicked pilot developed for American network Fox. It's the result of an innovative 2008 deal between ITV and Fox to identify properties on their respective slates that could be developed for the other’s home market. The original pilot, written by David Schulner and directed by Michael Cuesta (Dexter), featured British actress Sienna Guillory, Jeremy Renner and a pre-Glee Matthew Morrison. It was produced by Shawn Ryan.

Marchlands, first commission to come from the collaboration between ITV Studios and Fox, is written by Stephen Greenhorn (Doctor Who) and directed by James Kent. It stars Alex Kingston (Doctor Who, ER), Jodie Whittaker, Dean Andrews (Ashes to Ashes), Shelley Conn (Mistresses), Elliot Cowan, Denis Lawson, etc. The story is a compilation of everything from the Poltergeist and Amityville franchises to the US chiller TV movies of the seventies and the work of Dan Curtis.

The British treatment of The Oaks has all mentioned above, plus shades of Sapphire & Steel (1979-1982) and the two Hammer television series of the eighties - in less scary. Should Marchlands be a hit it would be an amusing answer to the US Being Human and all those Brit shows remade by American networks. After all ITV remade wonderfully Who's the Boss? as The Upper Hand between 1990 and 1996.

On Channel 4 Marchlands would have been a gloomy crime drama. Its genesis is far more interesting than the drama itself, and we'll see who from ITV and Fox takes advantage of the 2008 deal. In the United States it's ABC which ordered a remake of ITV Studios's Identity, not Fox, and the next thing from this ITV/Fox partnership is apparently a British version of Dharma & Greg your humble servant is not looking forward to watch.

http://www.itv.com/presscentre/presspacks/marchlands/default.html

See also:

http://www.deadline.com/2011/02/abc-picks-up-marc-cherrys-hallelujah-pilot/
http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news/2010/07/21/itv-studios-and-twentieth-century-fox-television-distribution-announce-first-commission-from-innovative-creative-partnership-36571/20100721itv01/

LAW & ORDER LA: CRIMINAL INTENT?

Law & Order: Los Angeles (aka LOLA), Dick Wolf’s most recent extension of the L & O franchise, is going on an indefinite hiatus.

NBC's Law & Order: Los Angeles, which was scheduled to return on February 8, will now be held back, with its return date and slot to be determined. Earlier this month, Deadline broke the news that three actors of the show where leaving: Regina Hall, Megan Boone and Skeet Ulrich (1). D.D.A. Ricardo Morales, the character played by Brit thespian Alfred Molina will become a detective. Let's hope for Morales that they have better hairdressers at the LAPD.

Meanwhile, on Monday, NBC's new midseason superhero drama The Cape attracted just 6.2 million viewers and was down 31% from its two-hour premiere on Sunday, January 9. With The Cape, the Peacock channels the spirit of 90s syndication shows (NightMan, anyone?) (2) on what we can presume a bigger budget scale. The same night the network launched David E. Kelley's new (what else?) legal drama Harry's Law, starring Kathy Bates. Which almost gives regrets that NBC didn't pick up Rex is not your Lawyer - as bad as this pilot starring David Tennant looked (3).

And Fox picks up a drama pilot project from Tim Kring (Heroes). Touch is centered on a father who discovers that his autistic, mute son can actually predict events before they happen. Since a 2008 deal with ITV Studios, Fox has a British "second market" for that sort of things: on February starts Marchlands, the ITV1 remake of Fox's 2008 unpicked pilot The Oaks.

(1) http://www.deadline.com/2011/01/more-lola-shakeup-skeet-ulrich-out-too/
(2) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuaK-gis9VQ
(3) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4cqRsvu9t0

http://www.deadline.com/2011/01/nbc-tweaks-midseason-schedule-parenthood-stays-put-lola-benched/
http://www.deadline.com/2011/01/ratings-rat-race-harrys-law-debut-ok-cape-falls-cbs-sitcoms-hit-viewer-highs/
http://www.deadline.com/2011/01/fox-picks-up-tim-kring-drama-pilot/

See also:

http://tattard2.blogspot.com/2011/01/marchlands-itv1.html

MARCHLANDS (ITV1)

[13.35 - French Time] ITV has just announced that the first episode of Marchlands (formerly The Oaks), a five-part series from ITV Studios,will be aired by ITV1 on Thursday, 3 February 2011.

Marchlands is the British remake of The Oaks, a 2008 unpicked pilot developed for American network Fox and which followed three different families living in the same house in the 1960’s, 1980’s and present day. These families were linked by the spirit of the 1960’s family’s daughter, who died in mysterious circumstances.

The new drama is the fruit of a 2008 deal between ITV Studios and Fox to identify properties on their respective slates that could be developed for the other’s home market. The original pilot, written by David Schulner, featured British actress Sienna Guillory and a pre-Glee Matthew Morrison. Marchlands is the first commission to come from the collaboration between ITV Studios and Fox and is written by Stephen Greenhorn.

Alex Kingston (Doctor Who, ER) and Jodie Whittaker star alongside Dean Andrews (Ashes to Ashes), Shelley Conn, Elliot Cowan, Denis Lawson, etc. Kate Bartlett, Kate Lewis and Stephen Greenhorn exec produce and Chrissy Skinns produces. The 5 x 60-minute series is directed by James Kent and filmed on location around London.

http://www.itv.com/presscentre/marchlands/ep1week05/default.html
http://www.itv.com/presscentre/pressreleases/programmepressreleases/itvcommissionstheoaks/default.html

See also:

http://tattard2.blogspot.com/2010/07/oaks-officially-announced-by-itv.html
http://tattard2.blogspot.com/2010/03/itvs-triple-bill.html