Category Archives: TV Adaptations

Rainn Wilson Drama “Backstrom” Gets Series Order at Fox

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Rainn Wilson is coming back to television. Fox has picked up his newest series entitled, “Backstrom.” The series was developed by CBS during the 2013-14 pilot season. Fox has ordered 13 episodes, and production will begin early this year. A formal premier date has not yet been announced.

“Backstrom” will be based on the books by Swedish criminologist/novelist Leif G.W. Persson. The hourlong crime drama centers on an overweight, offensive, irascible detective as he tries and fails to change his self-destructive behavior. Wilson stars as Detective Everett Backstrom. This is Wilson’s first television project since his iconic role as Dwight Schrute on “The Office.”

“Bones” executive producer Hart Hanson penned the pilot and will be executive producing via his overall deal with 20th Century Fox Television. Persson and Niclas Salomonsson are also on board as EPs. Mark Mylod (Shameless) directed and exec produced the pilot. Wilson will produce.

“Hart Hanson and Rainn Wilson are the perfect combination of creative vision and onscreen talent to bring this one-of-a-kind character and story like Backstrom to Fox,” said Fox entertainment president Kevin Reilly. “I’ve been in business with Hart for a long time, and not only does he have a rare gift for infusing darker themes with relatable humor, he’s one of the best showrunners out there today. Together with Rainn — who absolutely nails this role and makes it a classic FOX character — I think we’ve got something really special here.”

Wilson said,

“I couldn’t be more thrilled to get a chance to dig into Detective Everett Backstrom. For an actor it’s rare to get a crack at a role of such intelligence, humor and complexity. He’s a delightfully disheveled misanthrope with a twisted, brilliant mind and a heart of barbed wire. Truly the role of a lifetime. Hart Hanson is an incredible writer and showrunner and I couldn’t be more excited to collaborate with him. Last but not least, Fox is the perfect home for this fun and disturbed piece of entertainment. They are passionate about the show and I’m ecstatic to be working with Kevin Reilly again — he launched The Office on NBC and fought tooth-and-nail for us to stay on the air, let’s not forget — and to be on the same network as my frenemy, Mindy Kaling.”

Kristoffer Polaha (Life Unexpected), Dennis Haysbert (24) and Page Kennedy are set to co-star.

Zoe Saldana to Star in NBC Miniseries Rosemary’s Baby

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ZOE SALDANA at Premiere of Star Trek into DarknessNBC’s upcoming four-hour miniseries reboot of “Rosemary’s Baby” has officially cast Zoe Saldana in the lead role. Saldana will play Rosemary, the iconic young wife and would-be mother who, with her husband, moves into a Paris apartment that has a darkly storied past. After finally getting pregnant, she becomes increasingly suspicious that both her husband and their mysterious neighbors have ulterior motives about the future of her child.

The series is based on the 1967 best-selling novel by Ira Levin which was previously adapted for the big screen starring Mia Farrow.

Saldana is most known for her role in the biggest box-office hit of all time, Avatar. She has been nominated by the Broadcast Film Critics Assn. and Washington, D.C., Film Critics Assn. for her role in 2009’s Star Trek reboot. She is an ALMA Award winner for Colombiana and earned BET and Image Award nominations for The Losers and Avatar.

“Zoe has proven that she is one of our most gifted actresses and we think she has the perfect combination of spirit and gravitas to take on the title role from Ira Levin’s infamous novel,” said Quinn Taylor, Executive Vice President, Movies, Miniseries and International Co-Productions, NBC Entertainment. “With Zoe leading the cast under the direction of Agnieszka Holland, this reimagined event mini-series is off to a great start.”

Scott Abbott and James Wong are writing the screenplay. Production is set to begin shortly in Paris, where the story is now set.

 

AMC Debuts Teaser Art For the Return of The Walking Dead

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The second half of the fourth season of “The Walking Dead” has gotten its own teaser art courtesy of AMC. The art features Carl for once in the forefront with Rick behind him. Above the father/son duo is the tagline, “Don’t Look Back.” You can see it above!

“The Walking Dead” will return (finally) on Sunday, February 9th. The mid-season premiere will be followed by a brand new episode of “Talking Dead” at 10pm.

The zombie survival series continues to be the #1 show on all of television among the coveted 18-49 demographic and remains the highest-rated series in the history of cable television. The first eight episodes of its fourth season delivered an average of 13 million viewers and 8.4 million adults 18-49.

It is based on the comic book series of the same name by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, and Charlie Adlard. The series has been well received and has received many award nominations including ones for the Writers Guild of America Award and a Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series (Drama). The series has also attained strong Nielsen ratings, surpassing various records for a cable series, including receiving 16.1 million viewers for its season four premiere to become the most-watched drama series telecast in basic cable history.

Two Promos for the ABC Series “Resurrection”

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Two promos for the upcoming ABC series, “Resurrection” have made it online. The series is set to premiere on March 9th. Aaron Zelman, known for his work on “The Killing,” will be writing to show.

“Resurrection” is an adaptation of the novel, “The Returned,” written by Jason Mott.

The show’s official plot description is as follows:

The people of Arcadia, Missouri are forever changed when their deceased loved ones suddenly start to return. An 8-year-old American boy (Landon Gimenez) wakes up alone in a rice paddy in a rural Chinese province with no idea how he got there. Details start to emerge when the boy, who calls himself Jacob, recalls that his hometown is Arcadia, and an Immigration agent, J. Martin Bellamy (Omar Epps), takes him there. The home he claims as his own is occupied by an elderly couple, Henry (Kurtwood Smith) and Lucille Langston (Frances Fisher), who lost their son, Jacob, more than 30 years ago. While they look different, young Jacob recognizes them as his parents. Those closest to the family try to unravel this impossible mystery, including Sheriff Fred Langston (Matt Craven), whose wife, Barbara, drowned 30 years ago while trying to save Jacob. But this boy who claims to be the deceased Jacob knows secrets about his own death that no one else knows — secrets that Fred’s daughter, Maggie Langston (Devin Kelly), will begin to investigate and discover to be true.

You can watch the two promos below!

Game of Thrones Most Pirated TV Show of 2013

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If there is anything I know for sure, it is that HBO and AMC make some DAMN fine television shows. HBO’s “Game of Thrones” and AMC’s “Breaking Bad” are the two most downloaded and pirated shows of 2013.

The season 3 finale of “Game of Thrones” was downloaded 5.9 million times, most within one week after it aired in June. This is the second year in a row that it takes the top spot. The series finale for “Breaking Bad” which set several ratings records as well, was downloaded 4.2 million times.

Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes this summer quipped that widespread piracy of “Game of Thrones” was “better than an Emmy,” and said HBO has been dealing with theft of its content for years. “Breaking Bad” creator Vince Gilligan said in a BBC interview that piracy helped boost the show’s “brand awareness,” while also acknowledging it was a problem.

However, Gale Anne Hurd, the executive producer of AMC’s “The Walking Dead” vehemently disagrees.

“There’s a mistaken belief by many of my peers that piracy is somehow good, that viewers will develop a habit to pay for it,” Hurd said. “I’m not sure they really understand other than anecdotal evidence that their ratings go up that the people who pirate are not then going to choose legal downloads or legal viewing in the future.”

The piracy figures tracked by TorrentFreak include only files downloaded via BitTorrent’s file-sharing protocol, excluding illegal sharing on cyberlocker and streaming sites.

Showrunner Scott Gimple Talks About What’s Next on The Walking Dead

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If you haven’t seen the mid-season finale of AMC’s “The Walking Dead,” you REALLY should. Like right now. If you don’t, fair warning, there are spoilers below.

Fans who have read the comic book series that the AMC show is based on where probably not surprised by the shocking mid-season finale. The prison has been overrun and the newly born Judith is missing. Things. Are. Rough. According to showrunner, Scott Gimple, things are not going to be looking up anytime soon.

“It’s going to hit [Rick] in a way that we haven’t seen before,” Gimple told TV Guide. “If it’s just the two of them, [Carl is] going to have to step up quite a bit because circumstances are wildly different and a lot will depend on him in terms of them just surviving. They don’t have an awesome, dual-layer fence and brick buildings to hide behind. They’re out in the world.”

“The Walking Dead” Season 4 can not return fast enough. It will return to AMC on February 9, 2014.

Showtime Reveals a Second Production Video for Penny Dreadful

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Showtime recently posted another second production video for their upcoming television series, “Penny Dreadful.” The video features series creator, writer and executive producer, three-time Oscar nominee John Logan as he walks viewers through the literary works that inspired the upcoming Showtime drama.

“Penny Dreadful” brings to life some of the most iconic and famously terrifying literary creatures. The show features Dr. Frankenstein, Dorian Gray, Dracula, and more as they have become embroiled in Victorian London.

The series is a frightening psychosexual thriller created, written and executive produced by three-time Oscar nominee John Logan (Hugo, The Aviator, Gladiator) and executive produced by Logan’s Desert Wolf Productions, along with Oscar winner Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Skyfall) and Pippa Harris (Revolutionary Road), both of Neal Street.

You can watch the production video below!

Two New Teasers for the Second Season of Bates Motel Released

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The highly anticipated season 2 of A&E’s “Bates Motel” has released two brand new trailers to tease the upcoming season. In the trailers we see both Norman and Norma Bates wand a little bit of what we can expect in the future. Season 2 begins early next year with Freddie Highmore and Vera Farmiga (whom I utterly love to death) reprising their roles as Norman and Norma Bates respectively. Kathleen Robertson, Paloma Kwiatkowski and Michael Vartan are going to be newcomers to the series.

The series is described as a “contemporary prequel” to the 1960 film Psycho (based on Robert Bloch’s novel of the same name). It depicts the life of Norman Bates and his mother Norma prior to the events portrayed in Hitchcock’s film, albeit in a different fictional town (“White Pine Bay, Oregon,” as opposed to the film’s “Fairvale, California”) and in a modern setting. The series begins after the death of Norma’s husband, when she purchases a motel located in a coastal Oregon town so she and Norman can start a new life.

No debut date has been set for the second season except for a 2014 tag. You can watch both of the extended teaser trailer for “Bates Motel” below:

MTV and Sonar Developing TV Series Based on Shannara

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The international best-selling fantasy series, “Shannara,” is getting a small screen adaptation. The long-loved series written by Terry Brooks, has been optioned by MTV and Sonar Entertainment to create a television series. Jon Favreau will direct and executive produce and Al Gough and Miles Millar (“Smallville,” Spider-Man 2) will write and executive produce if the project goes to series. Terry Brooks and Dan Farah will also serve as executive producers.

The “Shannara” series is set in our world, thousands of years after the destruction of our civilization. The story is centered on the Shannara family, whose descendants are empowered with ancient magic and whose adventures continuously reshape the future of the world. Should the show go to series, producers plan to base the show’s first season on “The Elfstones of Shannara,” the second title in the series, a fan favorite which spent 16 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller list and is accredited with cementing the series place in the fantasy world.

The books continue to be esteemed by fans and critics alike. They are estimated to be the highest-selling un-adapted fantasy book series in the world. Terry Brooks is considered to be the second highest-selling living fantasy author, after “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling. More than thirty years after the release of the first “Shannara” novel, Terry Brooks’ latest additions to the series continue to be international best sellers. Another three books are set to be published in 2014.

President of MTV Programming Susanne Daniels said

“I am thrilled to be working with the ‘Smallville’ creators Al and Miles again along with the amazingly talented Jon Favreau. We feel that the Shannara novels are a perfect fit for MTV as this type of fantasy genre has continuously proved to resonate with our audience.”

Sonar Entertainment CEO Stewart Till added,

“This collaboration with MTV, combined with the amazing creative talent attached to this project, including our existing relationship with Terry Brooks and Dan Farah of Farah Films, gives us tremendous confidence that we have a potential hit property with appeal to audiences worldwide. This deal also reflects Sonar’s emerging strategy to become a leading supplier of groundbreaking series programming.”

Author Brooks commented on the upcoming project saying,

“I believe we have formed the perfect team to bring ‘Shannara’ to life on-screen. The adaptation of these books is very important to me, and I believe we are on the right track in our endeavor to create an epic television series that both new and old fans of the books will love.”

Fox Casting a Young Bruce Wayne for Gotham Series

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With the news that Fox was moving forward with a live-action “Gotham” series, fans have been speculating who would play the lead roles of  young Detective James Gordon and 10-year-old Bruce Wayne. According to TV Show Auditions, the studio has begun casting the role of the young Batman.

The report states that:

“A 10-year-old Bruce Wayne is among the roles that are now being cast as series regulars on the upcoming Fox TV series “Gotham” which explores the origin stories of Commissioner James Gordon and the villains that made Gotham City famous. Under development for over a year, the project has now been given a direct-to-series order by the network, which won an intense bidding war for the Warner Bros. Television rights to the show. Shooting on the pilot episode will get underway in March, 2014 and will center on Gotham City PD rookie homicide detective James Gordon who investigates the double murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne.”

There is no word yet on who the studio is eyeing for the role.

“Gotham” comes from”The Mentalist” creator Bruno Heller. First appearing in “Detective Comics” #27 (the 1939 comic that also debuted Batman), Commissioner James Gordon is the creation of Bill Finger and Bob Kane.