NADIE HABLARA DE NOSOTRAS CUANDO HAYAMOS MUERTO

This week some US network dramas were axed and today NBC announced its 2012-2013 fall schedule, blah, blah, blah.

« You say you want a revolution. Well you know, We all want to change the world. »

You can find the body count of the finishing season here: http://tvline.com/2012/01/03/2012-renewal-scorecard-whats-coming-back-whats-getting-axed-whats-on-the-bubble/

The NBC's 2012-2013 fall schedule is here: http://www.deadline.com/2012/05/nbcs-2012-13-fall-schedule-four-nights-of-comedy-the-voice-no-loser-or-smash/

We already have a high concept show and a franchise TV spin-off. Plus ça change, plus...

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

STOP ME IF YOU'VE HEARD THIS ONE BEFORE BUT... (PART II)

[21.12 - French Time] EW's Michael Ausiello reports exclusively that The CW's version of Nikita, which debuted last month, will soon get a retooling.

Ausiello explains that the network is looking to "lighten the show’s somber mood and jack up its title character’s love life" in order to boost the young female demo.

Several new characters would be introduced, including a confidant and potential love interest for Nikita.

http://ausiellofiles.ew.com/2010/10/12/nikita-getting-a-slight-tweak/

See also:

http://tattard2.blogspot.com/2010/09/for-your-eyes-only.html

OPEN SEASON

[6.56 - French Time] Tonight is THE night. Fall US Network season officially starts with five new shows: one on Fox (Lone Star), two on NBC (The Event and Chase) and two on CBS (Mike & Molly and Hawaii Five-O).

- Lone Star (Fox) is another attempt to bring back the supersoap genre on network television. In May, Fox Entertainment president Kevin Reilly described Lone Star as "a modern Dallas set against the Texas oil industry". We'll see if it ends with such luminaries like Titans (2000) or Dirty Sexy Money (2007), or if it worths the beginning of a comparison with Dallas. On cable, TNT has ordered a pilot for an update of the latter. Please someone tell Hollywoodland the 1980s are over.

- On NBC, the new conspiracy thriller The Event follows renewed Chuck. The pick-up of another "high concept show" after the predictable demise of ABC's FlashForward remains a mystery stronger than the pitch of this hyped new drama. Even those who celebrated FlashForward as the Second Coming (i.e. the new Lost) are cautious on this one but apparently Fox has a new high concept project, helmed by Ryan Murphy and Howard Gordon. Please someone tell Hollywood the 1990s are over.

The Event is followed by Jerry Bruckheimer's Chase, about US marshals chasing fugitives.

- But tonight The Event is not the event... On CBS, new sitcom Mike & Molly will be followed by the heavily promoted (no pun intended) modern version of Hawaii Five-O. Alex O'Loughlin (Moonlight, Three Rivers) plays Steve McGarrett, a decorated Naval officer who returns to Oahu to investigate his father’s murder. He stays in Hawaii as a cop with his own task force.

The trailers show us basically an action-packed buddy movie, or Hawaiian Heat (a forgotten 1984 cop drama) with explosions and VFX - can they emulate Jerry Bruckeimer's movies every week? Scott Caan seems to steal the show as the new Danny Williams, which is rather embarassing because McGarrett was the epitome of charisma as played by Jack Lord in the original (1968-1980). Please someone tell... oh, whatever.

http://www.deadline.com/2010/09/fall-season-launch-overnights-ageism-and-the-big-fours-standings-going-in/
http://www.deadline.com/2010/09/fyi-fall-tv-premiere-dates/

FOR YOUR EYES ONLY

Unlike NBC, which spared us temporarily another pathetic remake of a television classic when it passed (for now) a new Rockford Files, CBS and the CW stick to their new takes on Hawaii Five-O and Nikita. Tonight premieres the latter, starring Maggie Q (Mission Impossible III) in the title role.

Nikita began as a 1990 movie directed by Luc Besson, with Anne Parillaud as a young criminal woman trained to be an assassin by a top-secret government agency. The story (written by Besson) was remade three years later in the US as Point of No Return, with Bridget Fonda. In 1997 the movie(s) became a television series called La Femme Nikita and produced in Toronto for USA Network, with Peta Wilson as Nikita. Quebecer superstar Roy Dupuis played Michael, Eugene Robert Glazer was "Operations" - ruthless head of Section One, Alberta Watson (The Sweet Hereafter) was his right-hand woman Madeline, etc.

Cancelled in 2001, the show still has a strong cult following and influenced series like Alias (2001), 24 (2001), or Spooks (2002). The 2010 Nikita is co-exec produced by McG (Charlie's Angels, Chuck) and its pilot is directed by Danny Cannon. The premise: Nikita, the best assassin of an undercover agency called The Division, goes rogue and her former employers want her back at any price before she destroys them. Meanwhile, young Alex (Lindsy Fonseca) becomes the Division's newest recruit after her death is faked by the agency.

Among the other cast members, Shane West is the new Michael, Xander Berkeley is Percy, boss of The Division, and Melinda Clarke is Amanda. The new Nikita is already known for its racy ad campaign and the stir caused across America by the billboards featuring Maggie Q. "Looks do kill" tells the slogan, and the trailers stake all on the show's most valuable visual assets.

La Femme Nikita was a dark sophisticated spy thriller with great dialogues and deep characterization. If Nikita misses her target maybe they could call Peta Wilson... The CW tried that with Heather Locklear on the 2009 version of Melrose Place.

http://www.cwtv.com/shows/nikita/

SUMMER AT BERNIE'S

[17.49 - French Time] Deadline.com's Nellie Andreeva reports that NBC sticks both to its project of a new version of The Rockford Files and to the idea of an American remake of Prime Suspect.

We thought that the Peacock would spare us another remake of a television classic when it passed the 2010 Rockford, starring Dermot Mulroney in the role popularized by James Garner between 1974 and 1980. But another pilot is due to be filmed with David Shore (House) still on board as writer/exec producer.

The pilot for a US remake of British classic series Prime Suspect, delayed by NBC because of casting difficulties for the main character (played by Helen Mirren in the original), is apparently also active. But Alexandra Cunningham replaces Hank Steinberg (Without a Trace) as scriptwriter. Actor/director Peter Berg's production company Film 44, which is behind this US Prime Suspect is now also involved in The Rockford Files.

http://www.deadline.com/2010/08/film-44-joins-rockford-files-builds-slate/

See also:

http://tattard2.blogspot.com/2010/02/good-luck-jim.html
http://tattard2.blogspot.com/2010/02/no-st-tennison.html

THE KILLING JOKE

[20.51 - French Time] Thank God NBC spared us another pathetic remake of a television classic when they passed the 2010 Rockford Files, starring Dermot Mulroney in the role popularized by James Garner. But for the 2010-2011 season, CBS and the CW stick to their new takes on Hawaii Five-O and Nikita.

We can have an acceptable notion of what these two shows will look like thanks to extended promos widely available. In Hawaii Five-O Alex O'Loughlin (Moonlight, Three Rivers) plays Steve McGarrett, a decorated Naval officer who returns to Oahu to investigate his father’s murder. He stays in Hawaii as a cop with his own task force.

The preview shows us basically an action-packed buddy movie, or Hawaiian Heat (a forgotten 1984 cop drama) with explosions and VFX. In January your humble servant wrote that a character like Wo Fat, the recurring archvillain of the original show, seemed unconceivable today in our politically correct world. And when James Marsters was announced as McGarrett's nemesis we supposed that he would rather be a "24 type terrorist mastermind".

Not only it resembles Hawaii Five-O (1968-1980) as much as, let's say, NCIS: Los Angeles looks like NCIS but the questions is: can they afford that every week?

http://livefeed.hollywoodreporter.com/2010/06/trailer-hawaii-five-o-.html#more

For the new Nikita, its owes more to Alias than to the Luc Besson movie or La Femme Nikita, the TV series. Ironically, Alias was more or less a mainstream LFN and there are now rumours that the J.J. Abrams show could also be remade! For the rest, just watch the trailer and please read what I wrote last month (http://tattard2.blogspot.com/2010/05/ne-cherchez-pas-la-femme-dans-la-nuit.html).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoTz17GWxjs

NE CHERCHEZ PAS LA FEMME DANS LA NUIT

[21.15 - French Time] The CW announced today its 2010-2011 schedule. One of the network's new dramas is Nikita, starring Maggie Q (Mission Impossible III) in the title role.

Originally Nikita was of course a 1990 movie directed by Luc Besson, with Anne Parillaud as a young criminal woman trained to be an assassin by a top-secret government agency. The story (written by Besson) was remade three years later in the US as Point of No Return, with Bridget Fonda.

In 1997 the movie(s) became a television series called La Femme Nikita (aka LFN) and produced in Toronto for USA Network, with Peta Wilson as Nikita. Roy Dupuis (a superstar in Quebec) played Michael, Eugene Robert Glazer was "Operations" - ruthless boss of Section One, Alberta Watson (The Sweet Hereafter) was his right-hand woman Madeline, etc.

The influence of La Femme Nikita is ostensible in series like the underestimated Quebecer drama Haute Surveillance (2000), Alias (2001) or 24 (2001), which owes a huge debt to the show. LFN was adapted by Joel Surnow, who co-created 24 with Robert Cochran. The composer of 24, Sean Callery, worked on the USA series and the early designs of CTU resemble Rocco Matteo's Section One.

The 2010 Nikita is co-exec produced by McG (Charlie's Angels, Chuck) and its pilot is directed by Danny Cannon. Among the other cast members, Shane West is the new Michael, Xander Berkeley is Percy (the new Operations?) and Melinda Clarke is Amanda (the new Madeline?) We have now more details in the CW's schedule press release and a clip is available (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vS89LTyEO64&feature=player_embedded).

LFN was a dark sophisticated spy thriller with great dialogues and deep characterization. Also, you cannot duplicate the alchemy between Peta Wilson and Roy Dupuis or the subtle presence of Eugene Robert Glazer and Alberta Watson. Beyond La Femme Nikita it's not Nikita, it's a Mission: Impossible.

« In the white room with black curtains near the station »

http://www.deadline.com/2010/05/cw-announces-2010-11-schedule/ (With Press release)

ABC DRAMA LINE-UP 2010-2011

[14.49 - French Time] ABC unveils today its 2010-2011 schedule, with six new dramas.

From previous season, FlashForward will never be the next Lost and now viewers thirsty for "high concept" will jump to NBC and The Event. V will never be next to Lost again, we'll see how the struggling remake of Kenneth Johnson's classic fares when its season two starts in November. THR's James Hibberd reports that the network wants to give V enough production time before its premiere, and could use freshman superhero drama No Ordinary Family as a lead-in on tuesday nights once DWTS is finished (http://livefeed.hollywoodreporter.com/2010/05/abc-2010-fall-schedule.html).

In No ordinary family, Jim and Stephanie Powell (Michael Chiklis and Julie Benz) are trapped in a routine between their work and their two children. During a family trip set up by Jim in an attempt to reconnect, their plane crashes into the Amazon River. After this accident the Powell family members discover that each of them now possesses superpowers. The plane crash idea is very "Fred Silverman's ABC" and sounds like the basis of The Champions (1968-1969). We'll see if it's a live-action The Incredibles without all the fun.

No network television without procedurals and cop shows. Dana Delany (Desperate Housewives) is a former neurosurgeon turned medical examiner in Body of Proof. More interesting, Michael Imperioli (The Sopranos) as a cop in Detroit 1-8-7 because Imperioli was the only watchable element in Life on Mars US. Cops... because CBS can't have them all, can't they?

More details here:

http://www.deadline.com/2010/05/abc-announces-2010-11-schedule/
http://www.deadline.com/2010/05/when-will-v-come-back-where-will-off-the-map-launch-more-about-abcs-sched/

MORE THINGS TO WATCH IN HOLLYWOODLAND WHEN YOU'RE DEAD

[15.10 - French Time] Yesterday NBC unveiled its 2010 Fall schedule, keeping some ammo like new superhero drama The Cape and David E. Kelley's new - what else? - legal drama Harry's Law, for midseason. Today Fox reveals its 2010-2011 Primetime schedule.

Four new comedies (one live-action and one animated) and three new dramas will join the returning shows, like the surprisingly renewed Human Target - back in spite of its low ratings and a limited interest. Robert Seidman of TV by the numbers gives us an explanation: Fox has the luxury of patience (http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/05/12/mailbag-are-you-stunned-about-lie-to-me-and-human-target-renewals/51224).

On Monday nights House will be followed by an attempt to bring back the supersoap genre on network TV, with Lonestar. Fox entertainment president Kevin Reilly describes Lonestar as "a modern Dallas set against the Texas oil industry". We'll see if it ends with such luminaries as Titans (2000) or Dirty Sexy Money (2007), or if it worths the beginning of a comparison with Dallas.

Set for midseason, Ride-Along is a Chicago cop drama created by Shawn Ryan (The Shield). Another US cop show because CBS can't have them all, can't they? The last of the three new dramas is Terra Nova, which follows an "ordinary" family from year 2149 embarking on an a journey back in time to prehistoric Earth as a small part of a massive experiment to save the human race.

Terra Nova is exec produced by Steven Spielberg, Peter Chernin, Brannon Braga and David Fury. The concept furiously recalls Lost in Space, Land of the Lost or Earth II, and costly CGI dinosaurs or other prehistoric threats won't do the trick without good scripts. Remember what happened to BBC's Primeval.

More details here:

http://www.deadline.com/2010/05/fox-unveils-2010-11-primetime-schedule/ http://www.deadline.com/2010/05/fox-execs-talk-new-schedule-turning-on-the-lights/

See also:

http://tattard2.blogspot.com/2010/01/target-missed.html

THINGS TO WATCH (BLAH BLAH BLAH)

[7.49 - French Time] It's Pilotfest these days for the networks, as they're trying to find the shows they will put on air for the 2010-2011 season. And as usual there's nothing to get particularly excited about.

THR reports that Michael Chiklis (The Shield) will star in a drama pilot for ABC called No Ordinary Family. He will be the father of a family whose members have special abilities. The project is from Greg Berlanti and Jon Feldman (Dirty Sexy Money). A live-action The Incredibles or Parenthood meets Heroes? We'll see.

Talking about ABC, Nikki Finke has an interesting piece about David Goyer leaving FlashForward, seen through the prism of the development at ABC and their need for a breakout hour-long drama (http://www.deadline.com/hollywood/flashforward-showrunner-exits-for-features/).

Unless a miracle that will certainly not be FlashForward and maybe the nets should consider the relevance of spending fortunes on drama projects designed to convince our friend Lee Goldberg to write another opus of his Unsold Television Pilots classic book, or which should not go beyond the pilot.

At least NBC tried, with Jay Leno in Primetime, to consider the problem. The impact of Leno's underperformance on the local news made NBC's affiliates ask for a premature stop of the experiment (http://www.thrfeed.com/2010/01/nbc-press-tour-executive-session-live-blog.html). The perspective of the Comcast/NBC Uni merger must certainly have weighed too as NBC has a lot to discuss with its affiliates (http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ct-nbc4-2010feb04,0,7577841.story).

Now NBC is in the development game more than ever. The question is: do Rex is not your lawyer or the US version of Prime Suspect worth the much publicized exit of Conan O'Brien and Leno on Oprah?

Lee, we know you're busy... but write that book.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i4f6b8b7378b9d5947b3142c537a2961c

CHERCHEZ ENCORE LA FEMME DANS LA NUIT

[21.50 - French Time] This news from THR could easily qualify for our Things to watch in Hollywoodland when you're dead feature: The CW has picked up a pilot for a 2010 version of La Femme Nikita co-exec produced by director/producer McG (Chuck, Human Target).

The original movie, Nikita (1990), was about a young criminal woman trained to be an assassin by a top-secret government agency. It was directed by Luc Besson and starred Anne Parillaud. The story (written by Besson) was remade three years later in the US as Point of No Return, with Bridget Fonda.

In 1997 the movie(s) became a television series called La Femme Nikita and produced in Toronto for USA Network, with the excellent Peta Wilson as Nikita. Wilson was surrounded by a great cast: Eugene Robert Glazer as "Operations" - the cynical boss of Section One, Alberta Watson (The Sweet Hereafter) as Madeline, etc.

Roy Dupuis, a superstar in Quebec, played Michael. Dupuis was even in position to contractually ask to dub himself in French language for the airing of the show in the Canadian province, whereas the other voices heard were French as the series was dubbed in Paris (with the French voice of Tom Hanks for Dupuis in France).

Season 5 (2001), guest-starring the legendary Edward Woodward (Callan, The Equalizer) as Mr Jones, is one of the best works ever done in the spy/thriller genre on TV. The influence of La Femme Nikita is visible in shows like the underestimated Quebecer series Haute Surveillance (2000) or 24.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, in the new version Nikita is going rogue and a new assassin is trained to replace her. We'll see if this pilot finishes in the White Room.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i679ae933772b87559ce5e813491a48fe

THINGS TO WATCH IN HOLLYWOODLAND WHEN YOU'RE DEAD: THE RETURN

[7.00 - French Time] NBC announced yesterday some of its projects for the 2010-2011 season right after the official cancellation of their primetime Jay Leno experience. Among the pilots proposed we note:

- Prime Suspect: Remake of the British institution starring Helen Mirren as no-nonsense Detective Chief Inspector Jane Tennison, an uncompromising cop who works on the hardest cases in a male-dominated professional environment. The US version is produced by Universal Media Studios and ITV (owner of the original).

Who needs another unnecessary remake of a cult Brit show? Does Life on Mars US ring a bell to someone? The most important idea in the words "British show" is, well, "British".

- The Rockford Files: Talking about unnecessary... The remake of the classic starring the great James Garner as private investigator Jim Rockford. Wrongfully jailed but pardoned, Rockford lived in a mobile home (which doubled as his office) on a Malibu beach. The ultimate anti-hero was a creation of Roy Huggins and Stephen J. Cannell and the memorable theme of the show was composed by Mike Post and Pete Carpenter. James Garner came back as the character in the nineties for some TV-movies.

This pilot is from Universal Media Studios and Steve Carell's Carousel Productions. Will it rejoin the remakes of Bionic Woman and Knight Rider?

- The Event: A thriller with a storytelling device which consists in multiple points of view concerning an ordinary man who battles "against mysterious circumstances that envelope a larger conspiracy". Another US "High-concept" show attempt (remember The Nine?)

- Undercovers: What's in a name? This one is co-exec produced and co-written by J.J. Abrams (Lost, Mission Impossible III, the Star Trek reboot). "A domesticated husband and wife return from years in retirement and are re-activated as CIA agents. As they work together for the first time on new cases, they discover new aspects from their past - even as they re-ignite their passion for each other".

Chuck and Sarah - The 20 years itch? The sixties and seventies are over, you can't do a spy show straight (My Own Worst Enemy, anyone?) The wonderful Chuck - one of the rare NBC gems - is basically a comedy. But hey, this project is from J.J. Abrams.

- Kindreds: Another "unconventional kind of law practice" in a law drama from David E. Kelley. The man behind LA Law, The Practice, Boston Legal, etc. Maybe David Tennant (ex-Doctor Who) should wait before moving to Los Angeles as he's starring in a pilot called Rex is Not your Lawyer, or maybe NBC will be crowded with "unconventional" lawyers next season.

Talking about Law, there's also a Los Angeles version of the Law & Order franchise in the pipeline. Will Ed O'Neill star in it?

See:

http://www.deadline.com/hollywood/nbc-ends-its-infront-experiment-will-hold-upfront-may-17th-early-development-announced/
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i936d3d2c48ddaeb1a2d9ead12d47b795
http://tattard2.blogspot.com/2009/07/jimll-not-fix-it.html
http://tattard2.blogspot.com/2009/11/tennant-goes-stateside.html

THINGS TO... OH, WHATEVER

In March, we reacted to the list of 36 pilots published by Den of Geek (http://www.denofgeek.com/television/207248/36_upcoming_us_tv_pilots.html) and called that (sorry for the self-quote) « the less attractive pilot lineup of the decade ». Since last month, She Who Must be Read aka Nikki Finke, of Deadline Hollywood Daily, gives us real time what will stay of this lineup for the 2009-2010 network season.

Juliana Margulies stars in The Good Wife for CBS. « A female driven legal drama starring Juliana Margulies to replace the last female driven legal drama starring Juliana Margulies that failed on Fox last year » writes our Canadian friend, Entertainment specialist, blogger, author, homme de culture et de goût, Furious D (http://dknowsall.blogspot.com/2009/05/fabulous-furious-d-fall-tv-freakout.html) - remembering Canterbury's Law. « Still looks like a lock » writes Nikki on her blog. Will stock and barrel come later? Was Geena Davis unavailable? Do it with the great Miriam Margolyes and perhaps I'll have a look.

CBS again. The network is hesitating between two medical dramas: Miami Trauma and Three Rivers. Oh God, puh-lease! Miami Trauma is about a group of trauma surgeons in Miami, it's produced by Jerry Bruckheimer (the CSI franchise) and I'm anxious to learn what song of The Who will be used as a title theme. Three Rivers is, according to Den of Geek, "Organ transplants, told from the POV of the doctor, recipient and donor". At least the first one looks glamourous enough for network television and with Dexter Morgan and Michael Westen around, the Miami surgeons will have enough to do. Move Three Rivers from Pittsburgh to Miami, I'm sure that Dex and Mike can double shift for the transplant guys.

Come on along with ABC? FlashForward, the next Lost, is on the schedule. A glitch during a scientific experiment accidentally allows everybody to have glimpses of their lives in the future. Computer says nooo... Empire State, described as « Romeo and Juliet in modern Manhattan » is "in the mix" says Nikki. Does the genre died with Aaron Spelling? Well, the CW seems to believe that this is not the case, as there's a Melrose Place revival evoked as a companion to the 90210 revival. Ready for a Models Inc. revival, anyone?

Human Target, adapted from a DC comic book, and starring Mark Valley, is on the Fox schedule. I like the comic book, I liked the first adaptation with Rick Springfield in the nineties and I like the concept (a mysterious security freelancer assumes the identities of those in danger, becoming a "human target" for his clients). But perhaps I'm too nostalgic of shows like Stingray (from Stephen J. Cannell, not the series with puppets) or The Equalizer. Someday NBC-Universal will remake The Equalizer with one of the Glenister brothers. Talking about NBC, some say Trauma is the new ER but the concept sounds like an old Glen A. Larson show ("ambulance drivers and emergency medical response personnel at the sharp end of a 911 call" writes Den of Geek).

Two pilots which don't need emergency medical response anymore: Eva Adams, the remake of Lalola - an Argentinian format - and the new attempt to make a US version of Absolutely Fabulous, both rejected by Fox. « Absolutely Fabulous was hot, hot hot. But then Fox execs wondered if it was really for their audience. In other words, too femme? » asks Nikki Finke (http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/fbc-has-officially-passed-on-abfab/) Huh? How did they pitch that to the network: "Sex and the City on booze"? Please Lee Goldberg, write us another opus of your Unsold Television Pilots. The material is hot and waiting...

Full coverage in style and in details by Nikki Finke on DHD. Nikki is like The Shadow, Nikki knows!

http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/primetime-pilot-panic-latest-network-by-network-update-on-renewals-pickups/
http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/is-this-nbcs-fall-schedule-hmm-chuck-returning-southland-on-friday/

Previous Things to Watch in Hollywoodland... : http://tattard2.blogspot.com/2009/03/things-to-watch-in-hollywoodland-you.html

THINGS TO WATCH IN HOLLYWOODLAND (YOU KNOW THE REST)

Every season, Hollywood works hard in order to urge Lee Goldberg to write a new edition of his great Unsold Television Pilots (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0595189644/ref=ase_adventuresintele/103-7358193-8705413?v=glance&s=books). Den of Geek has published a list of 36 pilots which may or may not become regular series. Strictly on paper this is the less attractive pilot lineup of the decade (http://www.denofgeek.com/television/207248/36_upcoming_us_tv_pilots.html).

Sommersby 9/11 style? Mark Pellington (Arlington Road) directs Back, where a victim of the attack on the WTC reappears after 8 years presumed dead. The pitch is one of the most exciting of the year (by the standards of network television), but the problem of US contemporary television is that it never goes beyond pitches. Should CBS pick it, let's hope that they'll have a whole season written before shooting.

Since Yo soy Betty la fea went global bonanza through worldwide adaptations, latin shows are on the radars of every television exec of the planet. Hermanos y detectives (2006), an Argentinian tv series about a cop and his 11 year-old brother, a genius super-sleuth child, has already been remade in Spain as Hermanos & detectives (2007) for Telecinco, the channel of Spanish RIS (http://www.telecinco.es/hermanosydetectives/). Now ABC is doing it as Brothers & Detectives, and it is directed by Gregory Hoblit (Hill Street Blues). Well done, it could be ABC's Monk or Psych. On the contrary, it could hurt your humble servant's teeth badly. Remember Ugly Betty...

Has the success of the BBC's revival of Survivors, the monument imagined by Terry Nation, inspired NBC? Day One describes a small group of... survivors, after a mysterious event destroys the world as we know it. « You can't copyright the end of the world », wisely writes Martin Anderson in his Den of Geek article. And you can't copyright a group of con artists acting as Robin Hood. NBC Universal's courage is admirable, remember Jericho. By the way, is Freema Agyeman in it?

After courage, bravery: two failed attempts in 1992 and 2002 (http://leegoldberg.typepad.com/a_writers_life/2008/08/maybe-the-third-time-will-be-the-charmor-rather-charmed.html) did not discourage ABC to order a pilot based on John Updike's book The Witches of Eastwick, and the namesake movie. It's called Eastwick and it is directed by the talented David Nutter. I expect Desperate Housewives meets Charmed, or is it the reverse? NBC wants to remake Parenthood, the 1989 movie... Trying to make weekly series out of films is so nineties.

Please cry for me, Argentina. Fox adapts Lalola (2007), an Argentinian comedy about a playboy transformed into a blonde, as Eva Adams. The show, like Hermanos y detectives, has already been remade in Spain. So you can copyright the old trick of the gender switch? ITV has a very similar concept called Boy meets girl, starring Martin Freeman (1).

Looking for the next Lost... (not me) FlashForward, from a novel written in 1999 by Robert J. Sawyer: a glitch during a scientific experiment accidentally allows everybody to have glimpses of their lives in the future. I had a glimpse of the 2009-2010 television season, and I'm in a quasi-trauma, so imagine. David Goyer (co-writer of The Dark Knight) directs for ABC.

What else? The new project from Paul Scheuring (Prison Break) for Fox: Masterwork is sold as « A thriller about a race against time to recover the world's most sought-after artefacts ». Martin Anderson calls it The Da Vinci code - weekly. I'm not a fan of neither Prison Break nor of Dan Brown.

There's also a Mentalist wannabe with a twist, a bunch of political dramas and legal dramas, the new candidate to the Don't tell them Supersoaps died in the nineties Award: after Cane or Dirty Sexy Money, Empire State, described as « Romeo and Juliet in modern Manhattan » (ABC). A new version of Human Target (Fox), from a DC comic book by Len Wein and Carmine Infantino, with the excellent Mark Valley as a freelance bodyguard who literally impersonates his clients to protect them. It's directed by Simon West (Con Air) and produced by McG (Charlie's Angels, Terminator Salvation) so it has potential for a good action/adventure show. Rick Springfield starred in a 1992 entertaining but short-lived adaptation. Trying to make weekly series out of comic books is so... (you know the rest) but I don't care. If picked for a series I just hope it will not have the fate of Knight Rider 2008.

At least it seems we will be spared of new Hawaii Five-O, Lost in Space or The Streets of San Francisco, but ABC has ordered a remake of V (http://leegoldberg.typepad.com/a_writers_life/2009/02/rehashes-reworkings-and-reimaginings.html). Someday fascist lizards in orange mechanic suits will eat us... again. Groundhog Day with reptiles, and we are Phil Connors.

(1) As Corinne Auffret-Nguyên, of the essential Beans on Toast - the French-speaking Doctor Who website (http://www.doctor-who.fr/), recalls me after some research.

THINGS TO WATCH IN HOLLYWOODLAND WHEN YOU'RE DEAD

US Networks Fall schedules already give a pretty neat idea of what will be the scale of the bodycount at the end of this 2008-2009 season.

THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER

Those who thought that previous season dug so low, WGA strike or not, will reach a Nirvana of oil with the chronicles of the shape of things to come on Nikki Finke's Deadline Hollywood Daily, starting with NBC (http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/major-nbc-shakeup-ahead-network-wants-to-ax-teri-weinberg-hopes-ben-silverman-quits/). Home of the US version of The Office, the Peacock remakes an Australian sitcom Hit, Kath & Kim http://www.nbc.com/Kath_and_Kim/), due to arrive on October 9. « The art of adapting a programme from another country is a fraught with difficulty. For every hit: Ugly Betty, The Office, Queer as Folk, there is a miss along the lines of Chateau Snavely, the 1978 attempt to remake Fawlty Towers for an American audience, which was thankfully cancelled after the pilot », wrote Sarah Hughes on Viva Laughlin, the remake of BBC's Blackpool(http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/organgrinder/2007/oct/23/post53). What's next after ABC's remake of Life on Mars? An US remake of ITV's Lost in Austen? « Amanda Price hates her life, but she loves Gone in the Wind [Imagine the voice of the late Don LaFontaine] ... Lost in Mitchell, coming soon! »

Of NBC's October Coming Attractions, My Own Worst Enemy, with Christian Slater, is one of the most awaited. Watching the promos on the NBC Website (http://www.nbc.com/My_Own_Worst_Enemy/) leaves the impression of a Jekyll meets Jason Bourne but Christian Slater worths a look.

Other Networks seem to fare no better (http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/double-trouble-inside-network-fall-skeds/) and, reading Deadline Hollywood Daily, ABC's Dirty Sexy Money looks neither « dirty » nor « sexy ». Anyway is Money sexy these days? After the Hell of a week in Wall Street, Nikki evaluates the impact of the Bloody Monday on the Entertainment Industry (http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/yes-bloody-monday-will-affect-hollywood/). Note some wonderful pieces of Finkisms, like « And I hope there's a special hell reserved for "naked" short-sellers, and eventually a perp walk » or « They weren't ignoring Sarbanes-Oxley by lying, were they? »

LOOKING FOR BRANDON

The lucid, wise and corrosive Furious D, reacts on the views of Ben Silverman, co-chairman of NBC Entertainment and NBC Universal Television Studio, about the advantages of co-productions like the Network's Crusoe (http://dknowsall.blogspot.com/2008/09/hollywood-babble-on-on-166-nbc-world.html): « One of the facets of this cubic zirconium of managerial brilliance is the use of international co-production to supposedly make NBC shows "bomb-proof," by making them profitable, even if they don't attract many viewers ».

« Lost in a Roman Wilderness of Pain » sung the Bard... When your humble servant was a kid we were mesmerized by a clip shown on Le club des télévisions du monde (Televisions of the World Club, a summer show on French TV) and called Come on along with ABC, one of the most brilliant ad campaign ever for a US TV network. US Networks made the world dream then, US television made top-notch Entertainment for US audiences with US standards and sold it to the planet. What networks need most now is the Glen A. Larson, Stephen J. Cannell, Quinn Martin, Aaron Spelling, Harve Bennett, Doug Cramer, Kenneth Johnson or Lee Goldberg of the next 20 years. Plus new Fred Silverman and Brandon Tartikoff. Maybe US Networks should awake or leave Television fiction to Showtime or HBO. After all, Deal or no Deal is well done and fun to watch.

A propos of HBO, Nikki Finke expressed her disapproval of the early renewal of True Blood (started on September 7) for a season 2 (http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/hbo-quickly-renews-true-blood/), qualifying the series of « nothing more than a contemporary version of Interview With The Vampire ». « And its pisspoor writing demonstrates that either Oscar and Emmy winner Alan Ball (American Beauty and Six Feet Under) is phoning it in or else he's got a talent-less nephew with the same name » (ouch!) Think about it, vampires are nothing new on TV but the move is rather smart for HBO, back to basics of The Hitchhiker after the Sopranos era. The original Hitchhiker series (not the USA-La Cinq No Sex-No gore Europudding sequel) - not precisely Shakespeare - contributed to put the cable channel on the map in the Eighties. Creative dynamic is clearly with Showtime but maybe it's too soon to bury HBO.

And a remake of The Hitchhiker would be a great idea, by the way...