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What do you know — the Lost castaways have found new primetime land. A fresh hourlong project starring Lost alums Michael Emerson and Terry O’Quinn and executive produced by Lost co-creator/exec producer JJ Abrams has landed at NBC with a big put pilot commitment. Lost‘s home network, ABC, did bid aggressively on the the show and came close to locking it in. But, after the show went down to the wire with ABC, NBC ultimately snagged it. Life on Mars co-creators/exec producers Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec, who worked with Abrams on his ABC spy drama Alias, are writing the pilot for Warner Bros TV and Abrams’ Bad Robot. Appelbaum and Nemec are executive producing with Abrams and Bryan Burk. Like with all JJ Abrams projects, the premise for the show, called for now Odd Jobs, is being kept under wraps. But Emerson and O’Quinn are expected to play former special ops agents.
After having done no projects with Abrams until last year, NBC has now picked up 2 in a row: last year’s Undercovers and the now untitled Appelbaum/Nemec drama. NBC landed both after a bidding war with ABC. This marks the first sale for Appelbaum and Nemec under their overall deal with Warner Bros TV signed earlier this year. On the feature side, they are writing Mission Impossible: 4 for Abrams. It’s been a strong selling season for Bad Robot with 3 production-size commitments. Its drama Alcatraz has already been officially greenlighted to pilot at Fox. The Appelbaum/Nemec one at NBC and another one with Jonah Nolan at CBS are both looking good to get to the pilot stage.
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I really, really like JJ Abrams. (I would say I “love his work” but I’m still smarting after that controversial Lost finale — not to bring up THAT subject again but it t’was bad, no matter how much it’s rationalized by die-hards…) But this is starting to get a little silly. How many shows is this now? I’m losing track and getting confused. I’d prefer JJ Abrams does one or two shows that are GREAT instead a bunch of shows that are just OK. “Undercovers” is getting brutal reviews. What’s up with that?
Just to clarify, JJ Abrams wasn’t involved in the LOST finale at all, nor has he been involved for several seasons.
Just to clarify, they shot the last ten minutes exactly as JJ initially wrote it, all those years ago.
It’s good to be J. J. Abrams.
NBC may have outbid, but they should have stuck with ABC. I think viewers are so accustomed to seeing these 2 together on that network that the show’s chances for success would have been greater there.
i don’t know about ‘odd jobs’ but i love o’quinn and emerson enough to watch anything they’re in… well played, abc.
nbc*
Thought the error was sarcasm, and was about to agree.
Same here. And in spite of the appalling Lost finale.
Over/Under 3 years until every show on network television is produced by either JJ Abrams or Jerry Bruckheimer
Good luck with Appelbaum and Nemec their nice guys and all but I don’t find them to be the strongest writers on television.
Happy Town being the most recent example.
Great, from the creators of October Road and Happy Town! Can’t wait!!!
The October Road reference might make someone think you’re serious, but the Happy Town handily clues us into the sarcasm. Well played.
lmao.
I’m a Lost fan but really – NBC? Do producers think about brand before selling a project, or does it all come down to who bids the most? A quick example. I was planning to watch the premiere of The Event. But because it was on NBC I completely forgot. Missed it. I got caught up watching DWTS and switching to Two and a Half men, over to Fox, back to CBS, etc. NBC just isn’t part of my frame of reference anymore, except for Sunday nights.
So while I would normally check out any show by anyone connected to Lost, there’s an excellent chance I’ll never see this program. I have a feeling there are millions more like me.
I don’t know what’s on Sunday nights on NBC, but those other shows are horrible!
that NBC has fallen off a lot of radars is exactly why they would aggressively move to get shows from someone like JJ Abrams. Even just shows he has put his stamp of approval on. The catch is whether he’s actively involved in these shows or not and whether they have the typical JJ spin of the odd event, strange puzzles etc. I haven’t watched Undercover but it sounds like no, it is not what one would call a ‘typical JJ show’. Which is probably a good thing, same with Alcatraz and this new one if they are the same. JJ is great for focusing on characters and that’s a win. But too much of the Island/Rambaldi stuff and folks will get bored.
Great work Kathy and Athena! Congrats!
uh, this show is now doomed to failure with those two showrunners. They are three for three when it comes to flops and any writer/producer team that couldn’t make something as unique as “Life On Mars” work, should never work in television.
Disappointing.
Michael Emerson and Terry O’Quinn are brilliant, I’d watch anything with these two actors. Their chemistry is really something.
Good luck to them and JJ Abrams.
I hope it’s good. When he’s the writer, creator or hands-on showrunner, the Abrams name on a show is something to get excited about. But if presiding over a roster of projects means more shows like UNDERCOVERS, he’s in danger of squandering the brand. JJ could easily become the Wolfgang Puck of TV.
(have you ever tried that canned soup?)
The island it was mystical
but in the end they died.
I didn’t understand it
but I tried.
-Jimmy Fallon at The Emmy’s to Green Day
I rather enjoyed the Lost finale. It’s getting a little old hearing people gripe about it. Get over it already.
It’s getting just as old hearing people gripe about those who didn’t like it.
Agreed. It was a beautiful ending, just beautiful.
Hey folks if you don’t like the endings to Abrams’ shows like Alias and Lost, just read Abram’s absurdly self-serving essay in Wired magazine about how, hey, who needs endings actually it’s all about the journey folks!
I thought that was hilarious.
what I found hilarious is how many people couldn’t see that he was spoiling the ending of the show in that article. Because it wasn’t about the island at all. It was about the people and the journey of life itself. All those cute little easter eggs weren’t just for laughs, they were clues to what the real story was.