Current Affairs

Variety reports that Warner Brothers will make 14,000 episodes from more than 300 series available on America Online for free, on-demand viewing. What’s the catch? Commercials. The new program launches in January.

"We want to create a new broadband network for content looking for its next
window of distribution," explained Kevin Conroy, exec VP of AOL Media Networks.
"This is an IP (Internet protocol) television service that is available
whenever, wherever in the digital home."

It will be interesting to see how the WGA, DGA and SAG will take this news…and what residual formula will be adopted, at least initially, to pay writers, actors and directors.

Warner Brothers hopes Al Gough and Miles Millar can do for AQUAMAN what they did for SUPERMAN with SMALLVILLE. Variety reports that the writing team have been signed by the WB to produce a pilot about the young Aquaman.

As with "Smallville," their successful reinvention of the "Superman" saga,
Gough and Millar plan to focus on character rather than cheese. Skein
won’t be called "Aquaman" — indeed, the "A" word won’t even be mentioned — and
Curry "won’t be talking to fish or riding a seahorse," Gough said.

And while "Smallville" recently generated great ratings with an episode
featuring an appearance by Aquaman, the new project won’t be a spinoff. To
underline that point, Alan Ritchson, the actor who played Curry on "Smallville,"
isn’t under consideration for the role in the pilot.

Movies are big on TV again… as TV series. Variety reports that director David Cronenberg is turning his 1988 movie DEAD RINGERS into a TV series for HBO.

Paybox has ordered a pilot script, which Wesley
Strick ("Cape Fear") will write and Cronenberg will direct.
Cronenberg and Strick will both exec produce along with feature producer Carol
Baum ("The
Good Girl"). Morgan Creek Prods. is on board to produce.

The original film "Dead Ringers" is the story of twin gynecologists, both
played by Jeremy Irons, who go insane after becoming romantically involved with
the same woman.

Cronenberg’s movie THE DEAD ZONE has turned out to be a big hit for USA Network. I’m waiting for them to turn his movies  CRASH and RABID into TV series.

And in other TV news, Fox has cut ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT’s order this season from 22 episodes to 13 and yanked it off the schedule for sweeps. Not a good sign. But it could be worse.  KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL was also pulled for the rest of the month and no new episodes will be ordered.

Over at the WB, SEVENTH HEAVEN is ending… producers announced that this season, the show’s tenth, will be its last.

While "7th" is still a solid ratings performer, because of the skein’s age,
its costs have risen steadily over the years, making it cost-prohibitive for the
Frog to continue production, insiders said.

Still, show consistently draws more than 5 million viewers in its current
season, among Frog’s top-rated shows.

"Although we had anticipated this could be the last season, it was difficult
breaking the news to the cast and crew," series creator Brenda Hampton said. "At
this point, we’re all very much a family. However, just like the Camden kids, I
think we’ve all grown up and it’s simply time to leave home."

David Breckman, the brother of MONK creator Andy Breckman, has sold a pilot to USA Network called UNDERFUNDED, about a secret agent for the Canadian Intelligence Agency. 

Exec VP of programming Jeff Wachtel described the hourlong as a spy thriller
"viewed through this huge comic filter."

"Underfunded" is one of two series pilots under consideration at the cabler.
Other is feature scribe Steve Franks’ "Psych," starring James Roday and Dule
Hill, about a fake psychic detective (Daily Variety, June 17).

Much like USA’s top-rated hour "Monk," both drama pilots are lighter and more
comedic in nature than such past efforts as "Touching Evil" and "Peacemakers."
Wachtel said the move in that direction is strategic.

"We’re not doing this exclusively, but we think there is a real opportunity
to go against the grain of what most broadcast and cable dramas are doing," he
said. "There’s a real dark tone to a lot of what’s out there — most of which is
brilliantly executed — but we see it as a chance to go another way."

Chances are slim, in fact, that the network will renew Ving
Rhames drama "Kojak," which took a decidedly more serious tone
than the original 1973 series. Skein maintained modest ratings throughout its
run, but didn’t reach the highs achieved by "Monk" and "The 4400."

David has been a writer/producer on MONK for  its entire run. I think it would be fitting if his show ended up paired  with MONK.

UPDATE 5-21-05: David showed me the UNDERFUNDED pilot and it’s hilarious, especially if you’re  fan of the Bond movies.  Tonally, it’s a cross between THE ROCKFORD FILES and GET SMART. The hero isn’t a buffoon…he’s actually very good, he’s just working for an agency that gets no respect and no money. In that way, it’s sort of reminiscent of the old Canadian spy series ADDERLY. I’m hoping the series gets picked up. There really isn’t anything like it on TV right now.

I’m biased when it comes to PSYCH… Bill Rabkin & I have just written an episode of the show. It’s a very funny series and should pair up very nicely with MONK.

Arnold may have taken a hit Tuesday in the polls, but THE TERMINATOR is still fighting. Variety reports that the franchise is becoming a Fox TV series called THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES, which will focus on the character played by Linda Hamilton in the first two features and will take place between the second and third film. The series, which will be written and produced by WAR OF THE WORLDS scribe Josh Friedman, will also tie-in to the planned fourth TERMINATOR movie.

Linda
Hamilton is not expected to be involved in TV series. And because the series will be focused on the Connor family, it’s
not anticipated that Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger would be a regular part of the skein either
regardless of his political fortunes a year from now.

[Producer James Middleton said] the series will explore what happened to Sarah Connor after
the end of "T2," when the character went on the run. "She has the weight of the
world on her shoulder and she also has to raise a 14-year-old son who may be the
salvation of the world," he said.

Friedman said his "challenge is trying to figure out how to reinterpret
(Connor) for television."

Because the "Terminator" franchise involves time travel and alternate
futures, Friedman believe he’ll be able to take a few plot liberties in the
series — emphasis on "few."

"The last thing I want to do is take a title and exploit it," Friedman said.
"The show needs to stand on its own while still being respectful of the
franchise."

Unlike the features, "The Sarah Connor Chronicles" will not be non-stop
shoot-’em-up or chase scenes, in large part because of the reduced budgets of
television.

"There’s going to be a healthy dose of both (action and family drama),"
Friedman said, noting that the "Terminator" mythology "has a lot of big ideas in
it that don’t cost you a dime to explore."

"T3: Rise of the Machines," produced by C2 and Intermedia, grossed $427
million worldwide; the franchise overall has grossed more than $1 billion.

Vajna said C2 has been weighing an entry into TV via the "Terminator"
franchise for nearly two years and said the company hopes to develop other
projects for the medium.

After deciding to take the plunge, ICM-repped C2 pitched the idea to several
studios, with Warner Bros. ultimately making the most sense, Vajna said. Warners
handled domestic distribution of "T3."

Friedman, repped by UTAUTA,
wrote the script for Brian De
PalmaBrian
De Palma‘s upcoming "The Black Dahlia."

Meanwhile, another movie franchise, BLADE, is coming to television as well. The SpikeTV pilot will star Kirk "Sticky" Jone as the vampire hunter played by Wesley Snipes on the big screen. Jill Wagner, Neil Jackson, Nelson Lee and Jessica Gower round out the cast. Peter
O’Fallon will direct,   David Goyer (screenwriter of the BLADE trilogy)  is exec producing and co-wrote the script with Geoff Johns.

Here’s a little BLADE trivia for you… over a decade ago, Bill Rabkin & I wrote a BLADE feature script for New World Pictures, which owned the Marvel library at the time. New World was courting Richard Roundtree to star. Bill and I, Roundtree, and a bunch of studio execs had lunch at a fancy restaurant to talk about it…and all got horrific food poisoning afterwards. We were vomiting for days.  It was a bad omen. The movie…well, our version of it anyway, never got made.

Flash forward to 2004. Roundtree is cast in an episode of MISSING and I end up spending the day with him in an ADR studio. He doesn’t remember me, of course. So I mention the BLADE meeting and he starts laughing. "All I remember about that lunch is that it nearly killed me," he said.