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« Today's News: Our Take
Fall 2007: Joan of Arcadia Sees Dead People
Who's doing what and for whom this pilot season? Per Variety and the Hollywood Reporter:
• Amber Tamblyn will star in CBS' Babylon Fields, a drama in which deceased people who are resurrected try to resume their lives. Good luck with that, gang.
• Rita Moreno will play the matriarch of a rum business-owning clan in CBS' untitled drama starring Jimmy Smits.
• Faith Ford is the wife of one of ABC's Carpoolers.
• Laura Harris (24) has copped the fourth and final lead in ABC's Women's Murder Club.
• But what about Brian? Krista Allen has come aboard NBC's Business Class, playing a rival soft-drink company rep.
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Mar 2, 2007 10:16 AM
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Amber worked with God and now the dead. She sure likes cheery subjects. Will it air Fridays along with Ghost Whisperer?
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Mar 2, 2007 10:20 AM
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Who's doing what and for whom this pilot season? Per Variety and the Hollywood Reporter:
• Amber Tamblyn will star in CBS' Babylon Fields, a drama in which deceased people who are resurrected try to resume their lives. Good luck with that, gang.
I loved Amber on GH and Joan of Arcadia, but I will not watch any more dead people crap.
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Mar 2, 2007 11:07 AM
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Babylon Fields.....
Hmm...sounds intriguing. One of those plot ideas that totally depends on how well it is executed. Could be great or could totally suck. No middle ground with this sort of idea.
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Mar 2, 2007 12:11 PM
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I loved Amber on GH and Joan of Arcadia, but I will not watch any more dead people crap.
Frick, I hate it when people say exactly what I want to say.
Rita Moreno? This Jimmy Smits drama is shaping up to be the "Brothers & Sisters" of the next tv season.
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Mar 2, 2007 1:49 PM
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Rita Moreno? This Jimmy Smits drama is shaping up to be the "Brothers & Sisters" of the next tv season. - olomaya
Yeah, I don't know why, but ever since I first heard about this show, I've been intrigued, too. (Maybe it's the part about rum...)
Now, with the addition of Rita Moreno, I'm even more interested.
The fact that it's a CBS project is troubling, however. CBS has a way of taking a good premise and good actors and turning it into, well, Threshold.
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Mar 2, 2007 2:25 PM
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Oh, I don't know. "Dead people crap" can be really good. Witness Dead Like Me. In which, come to think of it, Laura Harris starred as a dead person. Maybe Amber and Laura ought to "do" lunch.
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Mar 2, 2007 2:45 PM
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The fact that it's a CBS project is troubling, however. CBS has a way of taking a good premise and good actors and turning it into, well, Threshold.
Hey! I liked Threshold. Or are you talking about how they yanked it?
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Mar 2, 2007 6:07 PM
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Agree, TooMuch. I thought it was one of the better executed "Let's Everyone Try Sci-Fi This Season" shows from last season. Great writing, character chemistry, and if that wasn't doing it for you, Carla Gugino. 'Nuff said.
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Mar 2, 2007 6:22 PM
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Hey! I liked Threshold. Or are you talking about how they yanked it? - TooMuchTV?
Sorry, but I'm talking about the show itself. And I'm not saying it was bad -- it just wasn't as good as it could have been on another network.
I've talked about this in other posts, so sorry if it sounds repetitive to some.
I don't know the logistics of how shows get produced for CBS (or how much input the network forces on producers), but somehow during the process, a homogenizing occurs that results in bland, watered-down and -- dare I say -- dumbed-down shows.
Here are the characteristics of a show that has been run through the CBS template: The plots and writing are very simple. Characters are very one dimensional. There is no subtlety -- everything is spelled out. For the most part, episodes are self-contained (no long-term complex storylines like Heroes or Lost). The endings are almost always rosy and upbeat (or at least, there is some kind of all-important closure).
As I said about Threshold, the results aren't always necessarily bad shows, just shows that probably would have been better served on other networks.
The list of examples is literally endless, including Judging Amy, Family Law, Diagnosis Murder, The District, Becker, First Monday, Shark, NCIS, Close to Home, Ghost Whisperer, Nash Bridges, The Guardian and the absolute nadir, Criminal Minds. It's criminal, alright.
Even one of my favorite new shows of this season, Jericho, suffers a bit by being a "CBS show."
(I know there will be a lot of people who disagree with me about one show or another.)
Every network has its own "stamp" that it puts on its shows. NBC's Twenty Good Years would have been a different show on ABC (still bad probably, but different). CBS's The Class would have been a different show on ABC (and with possibly a better chance at a second season).
I feel the track record of CBS is such that, whenever I hear of a pilot with an interesting premise and a great cast, my enthusasm sinks if I see the letters CBS in the sentence.
We'll see. Believe me, I want to be wrong in the case of the Rita Moreno rum show.
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Mar 2, 2007 7:03 PM
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Chappy, while I will defend Threshold to the bitter end, I get what your saying about network identity being connected to shows. When I hear of an interesting premise.....followed by "on Fox", the cringing begins. With 1 or 2 exceptions they seem to be in the business of taking other's ideas and turning 'em into tawdry, classless, least common denominator ($$$) type of shows. Trading Spouses, anyone?
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Mar 2, 2007 10:50 PM
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Funny story, to everyone's point here re: Threshold:
Back when the show was on the air, I had genuine trouble keeping straight which network it was on. In fact, one of my first TVGuide.com features on it was published listing its host as NBC, until the CBS publicist shot me an e-mail correcting me. It felt like such an NBC show — glossy and edgy and fronted by the likes of Carla Gugino — that my brain had trouble processing that it was in fact one of the Eye's.
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Mar 3, 2007 9:02 AM
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I loved Threshold. It was so much better than Invasion and Surface.
Matt, maybe next week you could mention that Jay Harrington has joined ABC's comedy pilot The News.
And it would be great if you could mention something about the new show Drive. I don't remember you saying that Amy Acker joined the show as Nathan Fillion's wife. And today I also read that Katie Finneran will be playing his sister. It's a great combination of actors fron the other Tim Minear shows. And the rest of the cast is fantastic.
I can't wait for Drive!
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Mar 3, 2007 12:13 PM
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And it would be great if you could mention something about the new show Drive. I don't remember you saying that Amy Acker joined the show as Nathan Fillion's wife. And today I also read that Katie Finneran will be playing his sister. It's a great combination of actors fron the other Tim Minear shows. And the rest of the cast is fantastic.
I can't wait for Drive!
It looks interesting and very "Gumball Rally."
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Mar 3, 2007 1:01 PM
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It felt like such an NBC show — glossy and edgy and fronted by the likes of Carla Gugino — that my brain had trouble processing that it was in fact one of the Eye's. - Matt Mitovich
Yes, I agree it was, for lack of a better phrase, more hip and current-feeling than the average CBS show. But still...see my (other) long post above.
When I hear of an interesting premise.....followed by "on Fox", the cringing begins. With 1 or 2 exceptions they seem to be in the business of taking other's ideas and turning 'em into tawdry, classless, least common denominator ($$$) type of shows. - bmp956
Every network has stolen ideas from more successful rivals -- what is CBS's Rock Star if not an American Idol ripoff with more tattoos and piercings?
Even worse, CBS keeps stealing from itself. I mean, we have CSI, CSI: Miami, CSI: New York, CSI: Without a Trace, CSI: Cold Case, CSI: NCIS and the ugliest of all stepchildren, CSI: Criminal Minds.
It begs the question, How many variations on the same formula can one network foist off on the public without looking pathetic?
I guess to each his or her own, but I don't prejudge FOX shows nearly as much as I do CBS shows. In addition to the "tawdry, classless, least common denominator" shows, FOX has also had a lot of very original, entertaining shows that have been among my favorites.
Some of these would be Prison Break, The Simpsons, 24 (which I just started watching this season), Wonderfalls, Ally McBeal (in its heyday), Melrose Place, Pasadena, Arrested Development, Party of Five and The O.C.. (I didn't watch The X-Files or Firefly, but I know many would add those to the list of great FOX shows.)
And I know that many posters seem to get the shakes at the mere mention of reality shows, but I'm not ashamed to admit I get a kick out of American Idol and Hell's Kitchen.
I have enjoyed each and every one of those FOX shows much more than about 99% of what has been on CBS in the last ten years.
And then, as someone mentioned, there's the upcoming Drive, which I definitely have high hopes for.
If forced to choose, even some of the FOX shows that veer into "tawdry" and "classless" territory would be preferable over one of CBS's umpteen bland, dirt-simple, cookie-cutter crime dramas.
I loved Threshold. It was so much better than Invasion and Surface. - tamara
Again, to each his/her own, but I could not disagree more. I thought Invasion was much better than Threshold in every area -- the overall plot, the episode-to-episode writing, the character development, the acting (especially William Fichtner and Kari Matchett) and even just the look of the show.
Maybe we can agree, though, that Surface was the dog of the bunch?
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Mar 3, 2007 6:14 PM
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