Nick C's Behind the Screens

We’re going to be setting up an interview with the creators of CHUCK. We’re going to take the top 20 questions you guys ask and have them answer.  A good teaser for Comic Con.  This is being posted before we’ve worked anything out, but I don’t foresee any problems.  Josh and Chris are both good guys and easily approachable.

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A show filled with terrible dialogue and clichés, “Eastwick” is a bad mix of “Desperate Housewives” meets “Charmed.” The show focuses on three witches: Roxie Torcoletti (Rebecca Romijn), Joanna Frankel (Lindsay Price), and Kat Gardener (Jamie Ray Newman). Roxie is the late-30s, fun, exciting, free spirit, who also happens to have a 15 year old daughter named Mia, who’s the exact opposite. Kat is the young, more responsible mother, she has five kids, and is married to her husband Raymond (Jon Bernthal), though they are not without their marital problems. And Joanna (Lindsay Price) is the shy, book smart reporter, who has her hair in a bun and wears glasses. There’s also her judgmental friend Penny (Sara Rue), who by the end of the pilot, eventually grows to resent Penny’s newfound friendship with Kat and Roxie. And what brings these three witches together? They each find a coin and end up throwing it into a fountain at the same time (they collide in midair and fall into the water, which is then followed by a mysterious wind that blows their hair around).

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The pilot opens with the lines of “Where were you when JFK was assassinated? Where were you on 9/11? Where were you this morning?”  Based off the 1980s miniseries (which I haven’t seen, so I wont compare to it), the show focuses on FBI agent Erica Evans, played by “Lost” alumni, Elizabeth Mitchell. The script slowly introduces each character: Erica’s son, Tyler Evans (Logan Huffman), Father Jack Landry (“The 4400’s” Joel Gretsch) , Ryan Nichols (Morris Chestnut), Valerie Stevens (Lourdes Benedicto) and Chad Decker (Scott Wolf) as they go about their everyday lives until one morning when they all start to feel slight tremors and then things get worse. Ryan sees an F-16 fighter jet drop from the sky and explode into a building, Erica gets trapped under rubble, and a large dark shadow begins to cover the
city, where “a single massive spaceship – two miles wide – has to rest, now parked over the majestic skyscrapers of downtown L.A.” And the ship is not just in Los Angeles, but there are a reported 29 ships, hovering all over major cities of the world. Then a phenomenon happens simultaneously to all of the ships world wide, and as people
look up at these ships, scared, and worried, they see the face of Anna (“Firefly’s” Morena Baccarin), the Visitor Leader, and the first act ends.

A lot happens in the pilot; Tyler and his friend, Bryce, become obsessed with “The Visitors,” especially to his mother’s displeasure. Many people see them as “hope” as they heal the sick (of course there’s the guy who couldn’t walk and now he can) and at the end of the pilot, Erica says that “they’re arming themselves with the most powerful weapon out there… devotion” (“The Visitors” start allowing humans to take trips to their spaceships, which becomes awe-inspiring
for those who go). The Visitors claim that they are far from home and require water and a mineral that is common on Earth to sustain themselves and in return, they will give them Earth technological advances… but of course this isn’t true. “The Visitors” have been on Earth for years and they plan is to kill every single man, woman, and
child. These aliens cannot be trusted and their stunning human beauty is just a cover up for the fact that they are reptilian underneath.

By the end of the pilot, there’s a small group of characters that want to take “The Visitors” down and the show sets up the show to what could be a promising series. Elizabeth Mitchell is perfect casting as the lead, but other than that, while I think the show has potential, I was still not that impressed. I found most of what happened to be
predictable (at least one of the main character’s is a “Visitor;” I didn’t find it very surprising, but others might) and as I mentioned earlier, I never saw the original “V” series. Also, it’s going to have to take very talented writers in order to give a series like this longevity, but that could be why ABC ordered a limited amount of episodes. Maybe I would have enjoyed the pilot more had it been two hours or maybe if the following episodes really improve. But as for
now, ABC has two high concept shows this season, “V” and “Flash Forward,” and I’m definitely much more excited for the latter.

Grade:  B

While speaking with some people over the last few weeks there has been a lot of chatter about FIREFLY.  There are those who think FIREFLY is the only reason DOLLHOUSE was renewed (not true, but everyone is entitled to their opinion) because FOX didn’t want another FIREFLY disaster (basically the DVD set selling in outrageously large numbers that proved the series was canceled prematurely, and treated horribly).  I kept saying “If that was the only reason, they’d just bring FIREFLY back, and pull a FAMILY GUY.”

Is that realistic?  Well lets first consider the fact that DOLLHOUSE was renewed for multiple reasons and FIREFLY was likely in the back of their minds.  However Eliza Dushku & Joss along with the rest of the cast and crew provided a lot of good reasons for renewing the show during the 2nd half of season one.  DOLLHOUSE was renewed for a lot of reasons and FIREFLY wasn’t a big part of it.  However that doesn’t mean that FOX wouldn’t like to bring it back.

Would they?  Yes.  I think from my talks with the people running FOX that they would bring it back under the right circumstances.  However, you must understand that right now Nathan Fillion, Adam Baldwin, Morena Baccarin, and Alan Tudyk (plus he was killed in SERENITY)  all have gigs for the foreseeable future.  However don’t underestimate the power of a movie.  FOX could likely be easily talked into a Movie or two for next season.  They could air after an NFL game or playoff game.  The movies would easily sell on DVD.

The question now falls into rights, but the guys at FOX wouldn’t be alone.  If Universal is now in possession of future rights to projects, NBC or USA wouldn’t mind getting in on the cash opportunity either.  A couple movies shot and made for TV and then released on DVD would be profitable for anyone involved.  At the same time the cast would still be able to keep doing their normal gigs.  Just shoot the movie around their schedules.

A Movie made for TV does a few things.  One it reminds fans of why they love the Brand.  For another it brings new viewer possibilities to the Brand.  A movie could spike the original series DVD and Blu-Ray sales as well as SERENITY sales.  For the network that runs it they find out how viable a Brand it can be.  Is it worthy of bringing back?  The ratings will make the point for them.  I’m betting it would pull a 3.0+ with ease.  Bring in $150k to $220k a spot and for a 2 hour film that is nothing to sneeze at.  Set a budget of $4M for the movie and you’re looking at serious profit before DVD sales ever enter the equation.

Mutant Enemy should try selling it.  One movie’s success could easily spell 2 movies in 2010-2011 season, and may in fact mean a whole new series if CASTLE can’t quite make it.  UNIVERSAL MCA once made a big splash on TV by making movies just for TV and it was a success that lasted years and died out in the 80s.  I still think it’s a viable business option for TV if done right.  FIREFLY is just the right property.  Mutant Enemy should approach them because if they’re waiting for a TV executive to come up with that kind of good idea, they’ll be waiting forever.  NBC would easily kill for anything that could pull over a 3.0 right now and FOX wouldn’t mind pulling that for a Sunday evening either.

Just trust me on this,  spam them today.  Well not with spam, but legit “please pick up REAPER if you can,” emails.  Mention your age and cable provider.

Update:  Ok, from what I’m hearing the CW affiliates are interested but there has been no formal offer as yet.  Why?  Well it appears the guys and gals over at Alphabet Studios are trying to sell the show’s previous 2 seasons into syndication first.  Why?  Well it appears they are trying to pull what was pulled on USA with BONES:  repeats + repeat of new show that aired only weeks earlier.  The targets of that syndication deal are SPIKE & SCI-FI.  Once they have that deal in place, the affiliates will get their offer.

So the good news is that fans of REAPER who don’t live in an area with an affiliate that picks it up will get the opportunity to catch it on cable shortly after the original airing.  It’s not a bad business plan, and is likely what it would take to keep the show under its present budget.

Let the Nerdalution Begin:

http://chucktv.net/2009/05/26/chuck-me-mondays-watch-chuck-from-the-beginning/

CHUCK Me Mondays is a group effort to try and keep fan enthusiasm high before Season 3 starts.  I believe technically if they start June 1st if they watch every episode of Season 1 and Season 2 on every Monday it should end close to the start of Season 3.

Go ahead and take part, and invite friends.  I personally won’t be taking part but I don’t have a problem waiting 10 months and remembering that CHUCK is worth watching!

Is the new proposed BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER reboot legit?  I’ve heard a lot of opinions, but it was after a conversation with someone at 20Th Century Fox that made me wonder: is this a powerplay?

Fran Kuzui owns the rights to BUFFY even though Joss Whedon wrote the screenplay and invented the character.  It’s your normal story of young artist taken advantage of by Hollywood.  However Kuzui did go to Whedon first when the idea of a TV Show was born.  So why wouldn’t they go to Whedon for a movie?

They want to.  That is what I’ve been told.  They want a Whedon/Gellar BUFFY movie.  However Gellar or Whedon (maybe both) have balked when the idea is brought up.  So what better way to force their hands than the idea that their Brand might be tarnished by a reboot?

This could be a big bluff.  The fanbase hates the idea, and I’m not sold they could create a new fanbase when the old will be extremely vocal against it.  However they can likely pull the financing needed for a low budget movie.  So they can try and force Gellar and Whedon to committ to a possible big screen adventure.  Gellar is pregnant and will likely push the project back a year or more, but they could committ to it and stop the upcoming reboot.

Obviously a Gellar/Whedon BUFFY is worth more to the Studios than a project with out.

So we’ll have to wait and see how far this charade goes.

Look at my luck, I’ll be filthy rich!

I bet you wish you got this email, but I DID!!!

Read it and weep:

DR FRANK IBE,
DIRECTOR FOREIGN OPERATIONS DEPARTMENT,
CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA (CBN).
CORPORATE HEAD QUARTERS
80 TINUBU SQUARE, LAGOS, NIGERIA.
Our Ref: CBN/IRD/CBX/10/09

ATTENTION BENEFICIARY,

RELEASE OF YOUR OVER DUE CONTRACT/INHERITANCE FUNDS.

THE BANK WANT TO NOTIFY YOU THAT YOUR OVER DUE INHERITANCE FUNDS HAS
BEEN GAZETTE TO BE RELEASED,  BY THE SENATE COMMITTEE FOR
FOREIGN OVER DUE FUND TRANSFER. MEANWHILE, A WOMAN CAME TO MY
OFFICE FEW DAYS AGO WITH A LETTER, CLAIMING TO BE YOUR TRUE REPRESENTATIVE.

WE WANT TO INFORMATION FOR YOU TO CONFIRM TO THIS OFFICE IF
THIS WOMAN IS TRULY FROM YOU OR NOT AS THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT WILL NOT BE
HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR PAYING INTO THE WRONG ACCOUNT.

NAME: MRS. VIRGINIA WALTER.
BANK NAME: WELLS FARGO BANK
BANK ADDRESS:CALIFORNIA, USA.
ACCOUNT NUMBER: 6503809428.

YOU ARE ADVICE TO RECONFIRM TO THIS OFFICE, AS A MATTER OF URGENCY IF
THIS WOMAN IS FROM YOU. YOU ARE REQUESTED TO FILL AND SEND THIS
INFORMATION FOR VERIFICATIONS PURPOSES SO THAT YOUR FUND VALID US$475.5M US
DOLLARS WILL BE REMITTED INTO YOUR NOMINATED BANK ACCOUNT. THIS FUND IS AS A
RESULT OF INHERITANCE ON YOUR BEHALF. INFORMATION NEEDED FROM YOU FOR
VERIFICATION IS AS FOLLOW:

1. YOUR NAME:
2. YOUR FULL ADDRESS:
3. YOUR TELEPHONE/ FAX:
4. AGE
5. SEX:
6. YOUR OCCUPATION
7. A COPY OF YOUR DRIVERS LICENCES OR ID CARD

HOWEVER,YOU CAN EQUALLY RECEIVE YOUR PAYMENT BY CHOOSEN FROM THE
BELLOW OPTIONS;

1)INTERNATIONAL CERTIFIED BANK DRAFT, send your mailing address
2 DIPLOMATIC CASH DELEIVERING, send your full adress
3 ATM INTERNATIONAL CREDIT CARD, send your full address

AS SOON AS WE RECEIVE THIS, WE WILL COMMENCE WITH ALL
NECESSARY PROCEDURESIN OTHER TO REMIT THIS MONEY INTO YOUR ACCOUNT. THE
OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENCY, THE SENATE COMMITTEE FOR FOREIGN OVER DUE
INHERITANCE FUND HAVE
APPROVED AND ACCREDITED THIS REPUTABLE BANK WITH THE OFFICE OF THE
DIRECTOR, INTERNATIONAL REMITTANCE/FOREIGN OPERATIONS,TO HANDLE AND
TRANSFER ALL FOREIGN INHERITANCE FUNDS THIS THIRD QUARTER PAYMENT OF THE
YEAR 2008.

WE SHALL PROCEED TO ISSUE ALL PAYMENTS DETAILS TO THE
SAID MRS.WALTER, IF WE DO NOT HEAR FROM YOU WITHIN THE NEXT SEVEN
WORKING DAYS FROM TODAY.

WE ARE SORRY FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE THE DELAY IN TRANSFERRING
OF THIS FUND MUST HAVE CAUSE YOU THOUGH IT WAS DUE TO OUR BUSY SCHEDULE IN
PAYING OTHER BENEFICIARIES WHOM THEIR FILES HAVE BEEN CERTIFIED FOR
PAYMENT.CONTACT THIS OFFICE IMMEDIATELY WITH THIS EMAIL ADDRESS TO ENABLE US
PROCEED;

BEST REGARDS,

DR FRANK IBE,
DIRECTOR FOREIGN OPERATIONS DEPARTMENT,
CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA (CBN).

Update:  The Game Shows are new episodes of first run syndication.  The shows L&O:CI and THE UNIT are syndicated repeats, however THE UNIT is in talks of first run syndication if a deal can be reached, the 2nd hour planned would be new episodes.  So it’s if the show can be produced at a much lower cost.

I had a busy day (and thus I was unable to post about THE UNIT possibly being saved) and around lunch I heard the news.  My Network TV was going to continue its crusade to beat The Can’t Win (The CW) Network with the scraps left by others.  As many know last season My Network TV picked up SMACKDOWN! after Dawn Ostroff said “we can’t keep our most watched show, girls hate it!”  However next season will have THE UNIT and LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT added to the broadcast schedule for My Network TV affiliates.  The also will be adding two game shows:  DEAL & NO DEAL and ARE YOU SMARTER THAN A 5TH GRADER.

So MNTV has SMACKDOWN! which brings them 3M viewers on average and has peaked to nearly 4M viewers.  In addition they’re adding THE UNIT which in its first season averaged over 15M viewers, and while there was a serious drop in season 2 and 3, they still average 11M viewers in those 2 seasons.  Last season was a series worst averaging 9.1M viewers.  The 4th season of THE UNIT was also its first on a new night and an in the 9/10 time slot.

A source at MNTV who asked to remain anonymous said “We think we can grow substantially over 2009/2010 so when the CW folds we’ll be able to cherry pick their best shows, well that is if they have anything worth picking up.”

When Dawn Ostroff was at UPN and The CW she made a stance of “we won’t pick up the scraps from other networks anymore,” this was because UPN had picked up CLUELESS, THE HUGHLEYS, BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, and ROSWELL under the previous management.  When you consider that CLUELESS was the only show that was a “hit,” when it was brought over (ABC infamously canceled the series because it was a bomb, and moved it to Fridays to die, where it became a hit watched by over 13M viewers) you have to question Dawn’s stance.  Sure it doesn’t make since to save shows like THE HUGHLEYS (which had gone from 13M viewers in the pilot to 5.5M viewers on cancelation) or ROSWELL but saving a show like CLUELESS and BUFFY makes sense.

My Network TV is doing what UPN was created for:  To pick up pilots or shows that were turned down by networks.  By grabbing a show that routinely gets 9M viewers on Sunday Nights at 9/10 they have a chance of getting 3M viewers for the Fall (and it would be noticably higher if they had The CW’s home penetration numbers) something only SUPERNATURAL and SMALLVILLE can claim for the CW (among scripted shows) on a regular basis.

So My Network TV is looking to improve dramatically again over last season.  Meanwhile the CW is hoping upon all hope that VAMPIRE DIARIES & THE BEAUTIFUL LIFE are hits and SMALLVILLE can bring life to Fridays for them.  If I was to pick which strategy was more sound, I’d go with My Network TV.

Even if MNTV can’t get a deal on 1st run syndication for THE UNIT, it’s an agressive change up compared to the CW, they’re putting shows up that have proven people watch them.

Nikki Finke has an interesting article up about a possible shake up over at ABC, both at the alphabet network and at the Studio.  Will this affect REAPER?  Well one of two things is going to happen:

1.  Steve will wait until the REAPER deal is done.

2.  Steve will make the changes and REAPER will have to overcome the shake ups to get picked up.

I’m going with number 1 from the people I’ve talked to.  Nikki’s article does have some merit, but we’re talking about Steve McPherson who is known to make bipolar disorder people like Ted Turner look stable.  That means it could go either way.

REAPER fans need to keep bugging Tribune and Sinclair Broadcasting Group.  I suggest creating mini-petitions of people who live in the major areas of those stations.  Have them include addresses and AGE.  Also make sure they’re in the 18-49 demo.  If you can get a major advertiser to show interest in one of those areas, contact them.

Don’t spam them, don’t send things to their offices they don’t need.  Don’t make a silly donation to the Catholic Church (you know to fight Satan) and try and get their attention that way.  Just be polite, send a letter/email and if you can petitions from local viewers.