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Medical drama presentation HMS is not flatlining just yet even though the options on its cast have expired. The options on the actors originally expired on June 30 but were extended by 7 days to give the network more time to make a decision on a possible midseason order. After another 24-hour extension granted by the actors on Wednesday night, the options finally expired yesterday. There is still no final word from the CW but I hear producer Warner Bros. TV is not giving up and is still hoping for a series order for the project, written/executive produced by Amy Holden Jones, co-executive produced by Hayden Panettiere and directed by Mark Piznarski. The actors are aware of the studio’s efforts and appear willing to return if there is a pickup soon. The CW, which has already picked up 2 new series from WBTV for next season, Nikita and Hellcats (Hellcats and HMS are co-productions with CBS Studios), has been taking its time making a final decision on HMS, the only pilot of this year’s crop remaining in contention. The network has no scripted backup series for midseason. However, for the first time in its history, it announced an all-original Monday-Friday lineup for fall, so it could presumably revert to a Top Model return on Friday and move one of veterans Smallville or Supernatural to plug a hole if a new series fails. HMS, about bright freshmen at Harvard Medical School, stars Megan Boone, Sarah Jones, Jai Rodriguez, Tasso Feldman, Steven Strait, Dejan Loyola and Ali Ahn.
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Countdown to crying about Nomads …..
Because you can never beat a dead horse hard enough.
I honestly can’t blame people for crying over Nomads. After all, It sounded pretty awesome and was the only CW pilot to not get a negative review by critics.
HMS on the other hand….
Nomads actually had a pretty awesome script. I couldnt believe it was being developed for The CW because I knew the network would just pass on it. It would be cool if FOX or NBC could pick it up, maybe in the next development cycle. Even if it has a completely different cast it really was interesting.
HMS on the other hand was god awful. Cliche writing and completely stereotypical characters: there’s a black doctor, lets make him great at basketball. Then lets make the asian female doctor be shy, nervous, and submissive and of course the gay latin guy who says sassy things. If you thought the first episode of Grey’s Anatomy was bad, this was at least 10x worse. I hope the CW passes on it or if they dont, at least have the show go through a huge re-write.
Well, if HMS does half as well as the cheese-filled Grey’s Anatomy, it’ll be a huge CW hit. Face it, the viewing public is so stupid, the dumber the scripts, the better they relate. That’s why genius shows like Felicity and Arrested Development ended far too soon…the public was just too stupid to grasp their greatness. Why do you think Family Guy and The Simpsons are popular? Stupid people can watch cartoons (or Two & a Half Men, with it’s cornball laughtrack).
When is The CW’s last moment to make a choice?? Are they looking at other pilots from other networks as you said they would???
Please Answer!! Thanx
Cameron, better check your facts. Nikita and Hellcats have both received excellent reviews. Nomads…the cast was unappealing and the show/expense too risky. It does make you wonder what the CW is pondering with HMS. I mean, any number of their shows could fail…and there’s nothing to fall back on. With Smallville ending next year, and possibly others, this needs to be a season of developing and growing new hit series. Just WHAT IF Nikita and Hellcats bomb? There are no guarantees, you know. And besides, several shows only have 13-eps. orders.
I’m not saying HMS is the be-all, end-all. But I am saying the CW, with only two new offerings, a copycat weight-loss show (which will tank), and several aging series…there had better be an ONGOING DEVELOPMENT PLAN. There’s no law that says Spring is the only “pilot” season. Other networks spring new surprises on us all the time. Look at “Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader.” It was conceived and on-the-air within a few weeks. When a good idea strikes, it’s time to move. This indecisiveness with HMS is troubling, for more reasons than one.
Sorry, but I think you misunderstood what I was trying to say. After all I wasn’t very clear on what I meant. I apologize, my mistake.
I didn’t mean to make it sound like Nomads is the most incredible televised pilot critics ever seen. What I meant was that Nomads received more favorable reviews then the other CW pilots did. But most critics also seem to agree that Nomads does have a few characters that need to be recast. While Nikita and Hellcats both received good reviews as well, they have also received some negative reviews. Hellcats especially has received negative reviews, with some critics calling it a rip-off of both Bring it On and Glee. But I guess you don’t need to watch the pilot to figure that out!
Where are these reviews? In your head or in reality? Love to read.
CW need to rethink their executive staff’s contracts…
What a LOUSY development season.
True dat. And amen. This was a key year to formulate quality programming going forward, and we get 2 shows, one of which is a cheerleader fiasco which will appeal to less than one half of the audience and appears to have no legs beyond one season? Is anyone awake in the CW front office?
KB has multiple facts wrong about HMS. It feels like it is projection of KB’s own inherent stereotyping. A little disturbing.
The only thing I find a little disturbing (and rather pathetic) here, is an individual acting childish because they can’t except that there are people in this world that just don’t share their opinion!
I see there’s no mention of Ilene Chaiken who was brought on to showrun the pilot, I believe? Does this mean she’s off the show? Curious if anyone knows
Both script & shot pilot were awful for HMS. Yet the issue is the mid-season dilemna. Hellcats is cheekier & likely more fun (the pilot was OK) & Nomads is too $$$ for CW to continue with it. So CW should be getting on its ass & continue looking at potential shows to shoot in the fall for mid-season.
You’ve just proved you read an early draft and did not see hms. Your information on the script is utterly inacurate.
actually nomads isnt expensive at all, its SUPER cheap to shoot in Mayalsia and i hear the budget per ep was to be 700K which is a steak
had nothing to do with money
HMS must be great to inspire so much fury and mean spiritedness from people allied with the shows no longer in contention. Why is it necessary to trash the work of others just because you have “lost” in the pilot game? Must everyone fail because you have? As I understand it, HMS is about idealistic Harvard Medical students. How bad is that? Better to watch cheerleaders and spies in bikinis? Maybe this is the CW’s stab at class. Maybe it’s a good thing.
If by awful, you mean highest testing pilot at CW this year, then by all means, your opinion is valid.
I have a hard time believing HMS tested well. Especially after reading reviews!
Hard to believe a project from such an accomplished, first-rate producer as Hayden Panettiere wassn’t good enough to make the fall schedule. I guess even the greats have off days.
I would like to mention that the “pilot” for HMS was only a 15-20 minute presentation (at least according to TheFutonCritic). Also, a ton of pilots get high test scores or low test scores, yet end up being terrible or great. And my impression of HMS was only going off of the original script, which was, in my opinion, terrible and I’m not the only one who thought that (just go to Google and type in “Travis Yanan HMS pilot review”).
Honestly, I could care less about who makes it but its about the quality. I think its great for The CW to go outside its “teen drama niche” but just because a show is about adults (and in this case, doctors), doesnt mean its going to automatically be better. If the presentation is any different from the actual script, than thats great, more power to it. But if not, maybe there’s a reason why The CW hasnt picked it up yet.
guys nomads was a very expensive drama pilot which is why it was filmed as a presentation, the CW were trying to find co-produers to help fund the project yet it all fell threw. So without co-producers it wouldnt have been in CWs budget to pick to show up because its filmed in location in Thiland and is way to expensive.
I’m concerned about the network jumping on bandwagons too late (medical drama, weight-loss show, mass dance show). I thought the network employed people to learn what new trends were developing. Isn’t the goal to be a cutting-edge network, not a follower. I support the cw with all my heart, but I’m concerned. I think there might be too much “old, CBS thinking” in the boardroom, and that’s preventing the development of fresh ideas.
What I don’t think we are remembering is that a script can be just words on a page. The finished product can be decidedly different based on so many variables. If this sounds like filmmaking 101 it appears that a lot of people need to be reminded of that. The CW is not judging the script, they are judging the finished product. I hear it was actually closer to 40 minutes. If it was so bad, then there would be no reason to delay a no-go. There must be something there. And anyone who thinks a medical drama is a bandwagon thing should study their TV history. Lawyers, Doctors, and Cops. They have been there from the beginning and they are going nowhere. The raging emotions here seem based on a hatred of the script. Maybe it was all the things people are saying. Perhaps it is cliche. But there must be something to the product itself. I hope we get to see it and I’m sure the battles will continue…