My Blog

Lots of TV News

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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."

Dear Mr. Terikayi, The Sequel

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The Los Angeles Times ran an article today about Dean Koontz’s "Mr. Teriyaki" remarks at Men of Mystery event last Saturday.  I didn’t talk to the reporter so, of course, I am the only
one of the writers offended by the remarks that they quoted (using the post from my blog). They did, however, talk to Dean, MofM organizer Joan Hansen, and my friend Joe Konrath.
 
While I stand behind what I posted here,  I don’t think Dean Koontz is a racist.  I
think he  showed poor judgement writing those letters in the first place and then sharing them with an audience. He made a mistake.  That doesn’t make him a racist and its unfair to accuse him of being one because of it.

The article also has a troubling inaccuracy — the reporter states that "the mystery group is speaking out against what it perceived as Koontz’s blatant racism" and later "writers who attended the speech are divided over whether the comments constituted racism."  How can both be true? They can’t. While quite a few writers have also publicly expressed dismay over Dean’s remarks — Eric Stone, Charles Fleming, Rob Roberge, and my brother Tod for example — there is no organized "mystery group" condemning him and it was wrong of The Times to imply that there was.

 
Dean accused me in our phone conversation  and in the article of having some other agenda.
I don’t and I can’t imagine what he thinks it might be.  I’m not sorry I posted
about his remarks, and I stand behind every word,  but I wasn’t happy to see it hit the papers. He didn’t
deserve that.

UPDATE: I’ve heard from the LA Times. They acknowledge the errors and will run a correction. Meanwhile, some other blogs are weighing in on the LA Times story: here, here, here, here, here here, here and here.

A Companion for MONK?

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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.

The Terminator and Blade: Coming to a TV near You

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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.

Dollars and Sense

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There are two terrific posts about the writing biz on novelist Alison Kent’s blog. In the first post, she gives us the run-down on her latest royalty statement on two of her Harlequin titles and links to a fascinating rundown on the typical advances and royalties for books in several romance lines. Alison  follows that up with a wise post on the financial realities of quitting your day job to write.

Indulging My Inner Old Coot

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Neil Diamond’s new 12 SONGS came out today — and it’s terrific, his best album since THE JAZZ SINGER. We always knew he still had at least one more great album left in him. We never lost faith. Not when he did the HEADING TO THE FUTURE video. Not when he sang about ET. Not even when he went country.  Way to go, Neil.

Deadly Pleasures finds BADGE a Pleasure

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Maggie Mason gave THE MAN WITH THE IRON-ON BADGE a rave in her review for the upcoming issue of Deadly Pleasures Magazine:

THE MAN WITH THE IRON-ON BADGE by Lee Goldberg (Five Star,
$25.95) First in the Harvey Mapes series.  Rating A
 
You wouldn’t think of Harvey Mapes when asked to name a dashing PI.  Harvey
works as a night shift gate guard in a Southern California gated community.  He
lives in an older apartment complex, and isn’t what you’d call a real
go-getter.  Imagine his surprise when a wealthy resident wants to hire him to
find out what is going on with his wife.  Cyril Parkus knows something is wrong
with Lauren, but isn’t sure what. 
Harvey secures a fee a bit over what Jim Rockford used to charge, buys some
disposable cameras, and tails Lauren.  Much of his sleuthing skills are obtained
by watching reruns of classic detective TV shows.  Surprisingly, Harvey is
success full in his endeavors.  Cyril reacts in a strange manner when Harvey
makes his final report, and pays him off.  Harvey is not convinced the entire
story has been told, and continues his investigation, all the while lamenting
his lack of a big, angry, strong sidekick, and an insider at the police
department.  He does have a neighbor named Carol who begins to get involved in
the investigation, and romantically with Harvey, but that won’t help him if he
decides to put up a PI shingle.
Harvey uses his payoff money to go to the Seattle area to continue the
investigation, and does clear everything up, while nearly paying the ultimate price.  The good
news, is he may have obtained his "Hawk" on the trip. 
 

This was a witty, wonderful book.  It was hard to keep from chuckling out
loud while reading Harvey’s take on how to be a PI.  I remember enjoying
Goldberg’s previous novels, especially MY GUN HAS BULLETS, and this may even top
that for laughs.  The man on the cover illustration looks like a young Tim Daly,
who would perhaps be a good casting decision for the movie that is crying to be
made from this book.

Thank you, Maggie! She’s one of several critics who’ve noted that BADGE is the first in a series. It’s news to me — though perhaps Five Star is saying that it is. I certainly hope I have the opportunity to write more about Harvey but so far, nobody has asked…

Becoming Someone Else

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Lewis Perdue and Paul Levine are just a few of the authors who have referred me to the Wall Street Journal piece on novelists who have to adopt pseudonyms to stay in print.

Now that retailers can track books sales speedily and efficiently with
point-of-sale technology, the entire publishing world knows when an
author’s commercial performance takes a dive. For these unfortunate
scribblers, such a sales record makes it hard to get good advances and big
orders from bookstores. So some are adopting an unusual strategy: adopting
an alias — even one of the opposite sex…

Two decades ago, the book industry largely relied on guesswork as it decided
what to publish and sell. Editors could keep promoting promising authors,
even if sales were weak. When they finally wrote a "breakout" title, their
catalog of older books would become valuable.

These days, publishing
veterans talk about "the death spiral" of authors’ careers. A first novel
generates terrific reviews and good sales, but with each succeeding book,
sales get weaker and the chains cut their orders until they don’t stock any
at all.

"You’re only as good as your last book’s sales to much of the
retail  market," says New York literary agent Richard Pine, a principal in
Inkwell Management LLC.

This practice of authors having to change their names to defeat the computers at the chains has been going on for some time. For example, Gar Haywood became "Ray Shannon" and hasn’t made a secret of it.  Neither has Jeremiah Healy, who lately has been writing books as "Terry Devane." Terrill Lee Lankford,  a frequent commentor here, tells WSJ that he resisted pressure to follow their example.

Terrill Lee Lankford’s literary agency was urging him to take a pseudonymeven before his book, "Blonde Lightning," hit the shelves this summer. He
declined the advice. His earlier title, "Earthquake Weather," was a
critical, if not commercial success. But since it wasn’t a big seller,
orders from bookstores for the follow-up were lackluster. Mr. Lankford’s 
editor at Bertelsmann AG’s Ballantine imprint was enthusiastic about the
sequel but the author’s agency said his name was a liability.

Mr.
Lankford says switching monikers is unethical. "If somebody didn’t like my
book under my own name it would be wrong to sell another book to that person
under a different name," he says. "Just to defeat the computers at Barnes
& Noble and Borders isn’t a good reason for doing this."

He may not think so, but author Reed Farrell  Coleman isn’t taking a chance. His next book will be written by "Tony Spinosa."

Say Goodbye to I

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Variety reports that NBC has acquired an option to buy  PAX,  which was recently rechristened The I Network (presumably the "I" was for endless "Informercials").

NBC U paid $25 million for an 18-month option to buy the "family-friendly"
broadcaster in a deal that gives the network control over the fate of the
company owning the largest group of TV stations in the nation.

As part of the deal, founder Lowell "Bud" Paxson will step down as CEO and
become "chairman emeritus"; NBC U biz
development chief Brandon Burgess will become chief exec of Paxson.

NBC Universal can’t acquire Paxson under current FCC ownership limits, but
the option can be transferred to other parties, allowing NBC to shop for a
strategic partner for Paxson, be it a studio, a conglom
without TV assets or a new media company such as Yahoo! or Google…

How the network once known as Pax-TV will change depends on who comes forward
as a partner in the venture. That partner could be a cable company with content
aspirations, a satellite TV company looking to expand local programming, or a
conglom without stations, such as Time
Warner.

"This transition is just the beginning of the evaluation process," said
Burgess. "Today is the beginning of allowing interested programming partners to
come and talk to us."

It’s not so much the network that appeals to NBC (or anybody else, especially in its current incarnation) but the station group that Paxson owns. So don’t to see SUE THOMAS F.B.EYE 0n NBC any time soon.