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I wrote the backstory here, The Improbable Rise of ‘Garza’. Now NBC’s legal drama pilot Garza, starring Jimmy Smits and produced by Conan O’Brien’s production company, is set to complete its dream “dark horse” run with a series pickup tomorrow. The network is expected to officially announce the pickups of Garza and another new legal drama, David E. Kelley’s Kindreds, which is being renamed. With Kindreds slated for midseason, Garza might launch in the fall. And with both shows picked up, NBC’s third legal drama pilot, Rex Is Not Your Lawyer, is not going forward. The Cape still has a good shot at a pickup. Garza’s pilot will be overhauled, with new senior-level producer(s) brought in to work with creator John Eisendrath. The pilot directed by Terry George will be reshot. I hear George had to cope with the death of his mother only days before having to start work on the pilot. What remains intact is Smits in the lead, which proved to be the project’s strongest weapon. Smits tested really well and was looking to front his own series as opposed to joining another one, like Law & Order: LA, which NBC seriously considered offering him.
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It’s just a shame that they couldn’t pick up Rex.
No REX = mistake. i will wait until the announcements.
Glad Rex is not going ahead. The plot is cute and could work well as a movie or telemovie, but the absurdity of the central premise would become tired very quickly if it had to be spun out for weeks, much less for more than one season. David Tennant is a superb actor and deserves a brilliant career in theatre, movie and tv. Rex didn’t sound as if it warranted an actor of his calibre at all.
Why can’t they also pick-up Rex, if the other two are mid-season replacement series? It goes from a much different angle than they do…and does not sound like it would necessarily be a traditional legal show as the other two are. I don’t get what differentiates Kindreds and Garza from the run of the mill legal shows…that would warrant both of their pick-ups.
Perhaps your sources are wrong…?
NBC has picked up some really good pilots this year.
dammit NBC why didn’t you pick up Rex????
apparently they dont know talent when they see it.
heard that kindreds isn’t going to be picked up from an inside source as of 10 mins ago
Why announce that they have picked up the show and then not pick up? That doesn’t makes sense to me.
I’ve got absolutely no interest in Kindreds. I wish Rex was picked up instead, it sounds a lot more interesting and have David in it so I am really, really dissapointed.
The news about “Rex” doesn’t shock me considering the competition. The premise was an interesting take on the the courtroom drama but the casting seemed off and the execution a bit forced. The best performance in the pilot was from Cleo King, and she was only a guest star.
Daviid Tennant was so good in Doctor Who though.
No Rex no NBC. Done with all that.
Hopefully the series will be shot in Philly. It’s prob to early but any word?
NBC is such an embarrassment. This was the worst pilot script ever, ‘Crooked Supreme Court Judge has a change of heart, leaves the bench and starts defending cases in front of the court’. They throw top names like Smits and George in and hope the end up with the next West Wing. God knows they must have to reshoot the pilot, because you’d have to completely rewrite that show to stop it from being laughable.
I, too, am done with you, NBC. You start off looking like you’ll change for the better then you go and do what you always do–ignore incredible talent. You should’ve picked up Rex!
Who does NBC want as an audience? Are they looking to capture the traditional older geriatric crowd normally associated with CBS? Because that’s the only reason I can imagine completely starting from the ground up with an unproven all new take on a Jimmy Smits vehicle vs. an already working pilot staring David Tennant. Or do they just think casting Smits is going to crack open the hispanic market for them? It just doesn’t make sense.
You say things are dead & then they are not dead, so I will wait until NBC says Rex is dead.
They really should have picked up Rex. Another reason why I dont watch network television.
Can’t the decide for once? I’ll wait untill there’s something, oficiall, becasue, is simply not fear…
I assume that all of the Rex-boosters are Doctor Who fans? I would have liked to have seen David Tennant make the jump to American TV as well, but this smelled like a poorly assembled show to me. (Poorly assembled shows smell like cigarettes, by the way.) Better he wait for the right project than make the bad choices that Eccleston made.
NBC messed up so badly with the Jay Leno issue that, unfortunately, “Rex” has to pay the price. Is it really any wonder, then, that NBC is the worst network on television? Their decisions go from bad to worse. Shame on them for passing up a major talent like David Tennant.
so not surprised at nbc’s decision to stay away from originality and keep to the same tired crap they go for now. everytime they get a good show, with a good idea and acting–they either opt to cancel it for reruns of their worn-out old shows, or mindless reality junk. i’m STILL seething over the cancellations of “journeyman” and “life”.
thanks a lot, morons!
Another person who wanted to see David Tennant on US television.
I would have watched “Rex”.
really gutted rex was not picked up. david tennant would have brought big raitings to NBC. he’s brilliant and his whovians here and across the pond would support him. i’m having peacock for thanksgiving`