My Blog

Buffy Vets Slay TV

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The TV biz won’t have Sarah Michelle Geller or Joss Whedon to kick around any more.

Geller’s movie THE GRUDGE was a surprise hit this weekend, pulling in $40 million. Anyone who can open a movie that big is officially a movie star. I doubt she’ll be considering any TV series offers now.

And BUFFY creator Joss Whedon, who is currently making a movie version of his short-lived Fox series FIREFLY, announced today that he is getting out of the TV series business.

“Twentieth Century Fox TV has approved Whedon’s request to halt his overall deal at the studio, effectively shuttering his Mutant Enemy production shingle. Besides wanting to focus on his feature career, Whedon said he decided to take a break from TV because, quite simply, he had run out of series ideas.

“I spent a lot of time trying to think what my next series would be,” Whedon said. “I couldn’t think of anything. When that happens, it generally means something is just not working. I didn’t feel like I could come up with anything that the networks would want.”

It’s not surprising that his decision to get out of the TV biz comes while he’s in the midst of writing/directing the movie version of FIREFLY, his only other TV series that wasn’t a BUFFY spin-off. It must be bringing back some unpleasant memories of his dealing with the Fox network. It was a troubled project from the start. The original pilot was scrapped, effectively changing the creative direction of the series…and the series never quite recovered, not that it was given much of a chance. Fox canceled the series after only a handful of episodes. I imagine that experience, as well as the WB’s surprising cancellation of ANGEL, undoubtably had an impact on his decision to stop toiling in TV for a while. That, and the current state of television…

“I have a bitter taste in my mouth with where TV has gone in the past five years,” said Whedon, who called TV’s reality trend “loathsome.”

Mystery Fatigue

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I’ve been reading a lot of “vintage” fiction lately… Gold Medal paperback from the 50s & 60s by Harry Whittington, Charles Williams, Dan Marlowe and the like. I’ve also been devouring westerns by Elmer Kelton, AB Guthrie and Frederick Manfred, among others.

I’ve become burned out lately on private eye novels, police procedurals and thrillers. Maybe I’ve just read too many of them…and maybe they are just getting harder and harder to tell apart. I’m tired of seeing all the clues way ahead of the hero… and knowing who the murderer from the get-go. Maybe I just spend way too much time writing, watching and reading mysteries to get much of a thrill out of them these days. I’m even avoiding some of my favorite authors… buying books by Ian Rankin, Robert Parker and others and just sticking them on the shelf until my enthusiasm and interest returns.

As I wrote in a comment on Sarah Weinman’s blog…

I’m so tired of the cliches common to police novels on both sides of the pond… the “ex-alcoholic” or nearly alcoholic cop who either has a bitchy ex-wife who doesn’t understand him or is incapable of sustaining a relationship because he brings home the job. I’m also tired of the rogue cop whose commanding officer is a constant obstacle and a police bureaucracy that does its best to undermine the hero at every turn. You’d think after Bosch and Rebus had proved their crime-solving brilliance half-a-dozen times, their superiors would begin to respect their skill and intuition. The constant repeating of that played-out conflict becomes numbing after a while.

There’s a real sameness after a while to the Bosch and Rebus books… mainly, because their characters and professional situations are almost identical. I’m a big fan of both authors but I had to take a break from Rebus for a few novels… and Michael Connelly, luckily for me, saved me the trouble by breaking with the format and making Bosch a PI for a time.

I’ve also OD’d on the wise-cracking, tough-guy PI with the Hawk-esque, violent sidekick. As if Spenser hadn’t been copied enough, Parker himself closed him character for the Sunny Randall books (her sidekick is gay, but just as Hawk-esque and violent).

Maybe I’m just buying the wrong books and need to break some of my bad habits…

But I sure am getting a charge out of those vintage paperbacks, particularly Harry Whittington’s work. There’s something fresh and new, oddly enough, about the older stuff. Most of what I’m reading, on the advice of Ed Gorman and Bill Crider, is also edgy, sexy, violent and surprising. Sure, there are a few cliches, dated references, and musty phrases… but by and large, I’m finding the books far more compelling the what’s hot in the genre today.

Stories from the Frontlines

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My writing partner William Rabkin and I had just turned in the seventeenth draft of a screenplay based on .357 VIGILANTE, a novel I’d written under the pseudonym “Ian Ludlow” (so I’d be on the shelf next to Robert Ludlum). We were a few weeks away from pre-production on the movie. The producer called us in, saying he only had a few minor notes that would only take a few minutes on the computer.

“I just need a tiny polish,” he said. “Just a few little nips and tucks.”

”I’m ready,” I said, having already figured out where I was going to put the framed movie poster on my wall, and how I was going to spend my production bonus. 357coversmall

“I’d like you to flip Act Two and Act Three,” he said.

I laughed. He didn’t. “You are joking, right?”

“No,” he said. “It will be easy with your computer. Just flip the two acts, make Act Three Act Two, and make Act Two Act Three.”

“But you can’t do that,” I said.

“Why not?” He asked, genuinely perplexed.

I walked out and never came back, leaving Bill behind. I’m not sure he’s ever forgiven me for that, by the way. Other writers came in, including Michael Blake, who would later win an Oscar for “Dancing With Wolves”. Not surprisingly, the movie didn’t get made… though every few years the producer will call us up with some new scheme to resurrect it.

The Biz Behind THE 4400

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USA Network has ordered a TV series based on the hit USA miniseries THE 4400. But it’s not as simple as it sounds. Behind that series order is an interesting business story, as reported at zap2it.com, of deal-making and awkward timing.

“The 4400” was caught in a business vortex not of its own making. Its studio, Viacom Productions, has been folded into Paramount Network Productions; and its broadcast outlet, USA Network, was involved in the recent merger between Universal and NBC.

There was, according to other press reports, protracted haggling between NBC, its broadcast partners USA and SciFi, and supplier Paramount. NBC reportedly wanted to retain some rebroadcast rights (ala MONK on ABC & USA, “Law and Order” on NBC and USA, etc.). There was even some question about which NBC/Universal network the series version of THE 4400 would actually air on.

Once that was all ironed out, more problems remained.

When “The 4400” finished its run, none of the producers or actors was retained on contract. The executive producer and show runner, Ira Steven Behr, has since gone on to CBS’ “dr. vegas,” while his predecessor, Rene Echevarria, is now working on NBC’s midseason drama “Medium.”

DR VEGAS isn’t exactly wowing audiences, and the rumor is the show is destined for cancellation. The folks behind THE 4400 are well aware of that… and have been hinting that showrunner Ira Behr may soon be free.

“Maira and I are going to talk about the possibility of having him come over,” says co-executive producer Scott Peters, “because we’re not going to be up and running until March in terms of shooting. This means we have to start writing earlier than that, but not tomorrow.”

Meaning, they can wait for DR. VEGAS to tank. The big hurdle now is getting the cast back for the series…

As the production team reassembles, a bigger challenge may be reassembling the large cast for the drama, in which 4,400 people returned mysteriously in a ball of light. Some had been missing a short time, some for decades. All hadn’t aged and didn’t remember where they had been. Some returned with extraordinary or even dangerous abilities.

The cast included Joel Gretsch (“Taken”) and Jacqueline McKenzie as federal agents dealing with the returnees, with Peter Coyote as their boss. Among those playing returnees were Mahershalalhashbaz Ali, Laura Allen, Patrick Flueger and Michael Moriarty. Mark Valley (“Keen Eddie”), currently a regular on ABC’s “Boston Legal,” joined midway through the run, as did Billy Campbell.

“We’re still negotiating with actors I want,” Peters says. “I want everybody back, because there’s a winning combination. Right now, Joel and Jackie are definitely coming back, which is good, because it would be an awfully difficult show to do without them. It would be hard to do it without any of them, as a matter of fact, because they’re all integral to the success of the show. We have to get Billy Campbell back. He’s tied up at the moment, but we’re going to try to figure out a way to get him back.

Hard Time

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Zap2it.com is reporting that ABC is moving forward on a private eye drama from “Usual Suspects” scribe Christopher McQuarrie called HARD TIME.

The drama focuses on a convict who gets out of jail and becomes a successful investigator thanks to his ability to see misdeeds from the perspective of the criminal.

Um…wasn’t that THE ROCKFORD FILES?

Still Another “Law and Order”

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First, there was “Law & Order.” Then there was the TV movie, “Law & Order: Exiled,” in 1998, starring Chris Noth, which proved branded “Law & Order” fare could score big ratings. The series “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit” and “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” soon followed. “Law & Order: Trial By Jury” is on tap for January. Now comes word in Variety that still more is on the way.Law_and_order NBC/Universal is developing three, two-hour movie sequels to “Law & Order: Exiled” starred Chris Noth… seven years after the original aired.

Chris Noth is ready to return to a familiar beat. Noth is in final talks to star in up to three “Law & Order””Law & Order”-branded telepics, reprising his role as Detective Mike Logan in a series of two-hour movies. Pics are being developed internally by NBC Universal Television Studio-based Wolf Films.

Last “L&O” pic with Noth, 1998’s “Exiled,” scored strong ratings, attracting roughly 28 million viewers to give NBC numbers that, at the time, repped the net’s best overnight Sunday numbers in three years.

“What ‘Exiled’ showed is that there’s an appetite for this franchise — and Chris was a huge part of that,” Wolf told the New York Post. Noth played Logan from 1990-1995.

How many more “Law & Order”-branded shows can NBC possibly air… and when will audiences reach their limit? Pretty soon, maybe even their sitcoms and news programs will have the “Law & Order” moniker, too.

That said… “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” remains, in my opinion, the best (and most critically under-rated) cop show on network television. This week’s episode was especially good.

TVBGone.com

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Tired of the TV blaring in your favorite restaurant or bar, making it impossible for you to have a conversation without yelling? You could ask the owner to turn the set off… or, now, you can do it yourself without anyone even knowing it was you who did it. According tothe LA Times, someone has come up with a handy, key-chain remote that will turn off any television set.

For someone who just wanted a little peace and quiet, Mitch Altman is causing quite a ruckus. The San Francisco entrepreneur, perennially irritated by televisions blaring in restaurants and other gathering spots, revealed this week that he had come up with a solution: a cheap remote that shuts down almost every model of TV.

After the story of Altman’s invention zapped around the Internet, so many people visited TVBGone.com that the website crashed. Even so, Altman had taken 2,000 orders by early Wednesday, accounting for the entire first production run. Through mobile phones, pocket TVs and other devices, gadget makers have spent two decades devising ways to keep people constantly "on." The buzz over Altman’s device shows that some people are eager to turn off.

"I can see it turning into a sort of punky instrument of disruption," Columbia University sociologist Todd Gitlin said of the $15 devices, "a sort of new-style culture jam that’s within a lot of people’s means."

Gitlin warned that with TV such a big part of daily life — Americans watch an average of more than four hours a day — incautious use of TV-B-Gone could be unwise. Picture, for example, a sports bar during Wednesday night’s decisive match-up between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees.

Altman started mulling over what became TV-B-Gone after he and some friends found themselves watching a soundless TV in a restaurant, abandoning what had been an entertaining conversation.

Altman, an engineer, tinkered in his studio apartment and then ordered as many of the keychain devices as his one-employee company could afford: 20,000. The gadget works by emitting every known set manufacturer’s signal to shut down. In his daily experiments in stores and elsewhere, Altman said, few people have objected.

"TVs are so ubiquitous that they don’t even think about it," Altman said. They see TV-B-Gone as giving them "some way of controlling their lives."

Amherst College sociologist Ron Lembo described Americans as ambivalent about TV. They want to turn it off, he said, but can’t stop watching. TV-B-Gone "plays into deeper resentment," Lembo said. But even if Altman’s gadget catches on, "you can’t turn off where television is and how important it is in the culture."

Along with customer orders, Altman said, he has been deluged with suggestions for follow-up products, including Car-Alarm-B-Gone, Booming-Bass-Speakers-B-Gone, and the clear favorite, Cellphone-B-Gone.

Altman has put some thought into that last one. "There are many possible ways to do it," he said, "but I don’t think any of them are legal."

Yet Another TV Show Goes Big Screen

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While movie stars are flocking to primetime…

…primetime shows are flooding the theatres. Variety Reports that the 70s sitcom GOOD TIMES is heading to a multiplex near you.

Management-production company Creative Production Group has secured featurefeature rights to "Good Times," the 1970s Norman Lear sitcom that captured the life of an African-American family living in a Chicago housing project. The rights were secured by CPG’s Rodney Omanoff and Graham Kaye, both of whom will produce.

With the film "Speedway Junky""Speedway Junky" atop its resume, CPG didn’t have a track record comparable to those of the other suitors who tried to win the rights over the past decade, from Wesley Snipes to Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, Earvin "Magic" Johnson and the Wayans clan.

But Omanoff did have one advantage: He ran a collection agency, which enabled him to track down series co-creator Mike Evans. Best remembered for playing Lionel on "The Jeffersons," Evans long ago retired to live in the California desert. While series co-creator Eric Monte put together several possible deals, Evans objected to being an afterthought and declined to sign off on them. Omanoff was the first suitor to visit him, and Evans was persuaded to make the deal.

Also on tap soon…BEWITCHED, THE HONEYMOONERS, FATHER KNOWS BEST, and MY THREE SONS.

Gee, I can remember when it used to be the other way around… and they tried to make TV shows based on movies. I must be getting old.

“The Shield” Gets Close

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It used to be that movie stars wouldn’t slum in television…certainly not on a weekly drama series. Those days are long gone. James Spader, Gary Sinise, Sharon Stone, Rebecca DeMornay… those are just a few of the names that have shown up in episodic TV lately. The trend is picking up speed. Variety reports that Glenn Close is joining the regular cast of THE SHIELD.

Marking her first series regular role on primetime television, Glenn Close has joined the cast of FX cop drama “The Shield.” Thesp, who landed an Emmy nomination this year for her portrayal of Eleanor of Aquitaine in Showtime movie “The Lion in Winter,” will appear in every episode of the 13-seg fourth season. Production begins in January. Close will play Monica Rawling, the new captain of the Farmington precinct, who empowers Det. Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis) to enforce her controversial community policies.

Could it be that stars have started noticing something viewers did a long time ago… that, by and large, TV shows are better written, produced and directed than most feature films these days? And not just on HBO, either…