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."
Nothing I’m looking forward to more than a series about evil/insane gynocologists….
What hath Nip/Tuck wrought?
The idea of doing a TV series based on Cronenberg’s Scanners was floated around, if my memory is correct.
I just heard they cancelled Arrested Development.