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HBO has passed on the comedy pilot Tilda, which starred Diane Keaton as a powerful and reclusive Hollywood blogger (not unlike Deadline’s Nikki Finke). The hot pilot had a great pedigree – co-written by Bill Condon and Cynthia Mort, directed by Condon, and starring Keaton, Ellen Page and Jason Patric. But a rift between Condon and Mort during the production of the pilot became messy and ultimately public. Then after the pilot was deep-sixed, HBO tried hard to make the show work by ordering additional scripts and hiring Six Feet Under alum Alan Poul, Alexa Junge and John Hoffman as executive producers. But the option on the actors was set to expire in mid-March, and HBO gave the thumbs down ”despite everyone’s best efforts”, the pay cable network said in a statement today. While Tilda was conceived and written and developed without Finke’s knowledge or involvement, word is HBO is still interested in a show about her, this time with her on board from the beginning.
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Carrie Fisher or bust.
Great show MAYBE??
Instead HBO announced they are going into production with a 12 episode commitment based on a pitch from Charlie Sheen for a half-hour reality show called “Two And A Half Grams”. Each episode features a different celebrity under Sheen’s guidance kicking their habit in half an hour using only mind control.
Now THAT, I’d watch…
This has to be mortifying for Condon and Keaton and to a lesser extent Page. How bad does a show have to be for HBO to pass on that trio?
Or how great?
HBO has no shows with female characters over 40 in lead/regular roles. Women don’t move story on HBO shows except for Big Love which is canceled. God forbid they are over 50. But Boardwalk Empire, David Milch’s new show are filled with old dudes.
Men over 40 have their choice of parts at HBO. Same as network. Sad.
Showtime says they want fewer shows with women.
Diane Keaton is so brilliant. Maybe the pilot sucked but I think HBO needs a bit of a wake up call.
Much as I love Diane Keaton, I can’t for the life of me think of anyone other than industry insiders (or industry wannabes) being interested in the weekly exploits of an old woman who sits behind a computer all day gossiping about the business. It doesn’t exactly scream Must See TV. No offense, Nikki. ENTOURAGE at least had sex and debauchery to garner some interest.
That’s a shame, because I was really looking forward to this series. I thought Diane Keaton was going to be great!
Between this and the piece on this mornings TODAY SHOW, Nikki is looking more and more omnipotent.
Bummer! It was such a great pilot!
I didn’t know anything about this project other than what I read about it on Deadline, but I was really looking forward to it! Diane Keaton would have no doubt been terrific.
Mort’s rather staggering lack of humor doomed this from the start. It made no sense to buy it from her in the first place. It’s hardly a surprise that it did not move forward. But there’s another problem. HBO is a very crowded room when it comes to development. Showtime seems like the better, and less chaotic, bet at the moment.
I don’t know about that. Mort was kicked off and her ideas were not implemented, which means the version HBO didn’t go for was the Non-Mort version.
Maybe Mort was on to something…something better then what those who stayed behind came up with.
HBO is run by fools. They pass on a show with this package of talent? They didn’t like the script? Hell, those Plepler and Lombardo guys must have given script notes! I see that HBO is down to 28 million homes! Pretty soon you can fit their viewers in a booth at Shoney’s.
They have Game of Thrones coming up which is a great script. So, you can expect a huge upsurge in subscriptions for that show. Also, Treme and Boardwalk Empire are phenomenal. Boardwalk Empire even beat Mad Men at the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award.
Boardwalk is the emperors new clothes. The writing is so speechy. People talk in these strange long monologues. The story is dull and not engaging. The characters are lifeless and underdeveloped.
The production design is the only thing working for it and it’s breathtaking. Too bad they didn’t write a show.
There seems to be a lot of that going around: excellent or very good style elements (surfaces) supplanting depth in many areas of art/culture.
This was never going anywhere at HBO. It was more of a running joke than a project, and (per the inside) even if Keaton could still act (which is a no), ’twas a pass.
HBO is simply not what it used to be. Without Chris Albrecht the place is rudderless. I know he was a pig in his personal life but he was creative and smart and ballsy and pushed every boundary at HBO. Can anyone conceive of Lombardo and Naegle saying yes to THE WIRE? DEADWOOD? I don’t know if they would have even gotten THE SOPRANOS.It’s what happens when you put an agent and lawyer in charge. So sad. I don’t ever tune into HBO anymore. A big loss.
This is unfortunate and a loss for HBO. The pilot was so rich and so timely.
i guess it’s easier to sustain something that never stood a chance at being great, like entourage.
Read the script. Thought it was OKAY. Given the actress attached I figured it was a shoe-in. But no, I do not and did not think the mainstream public would have ANY interest in this project. Hell, I’m in the business and had little interest in it. I check Deadline every day (okay, who we kidding, every half hour) and wouldn’t want to see this.
And don’t compare TILDA to ENTOURAGE just because they’re both inside: Entourage is about male friendships heightened by fame, male fantasies embraced, and male egos catered to. Oh, and so the ENTOURAGE story arc with Nikki Finke so many people are mentioning right now… well, it absolutely left many non-insiders scratching their heads and not caring at all, so don’t use that as an argument as to why TILDA should survive. AT THE END OF THE DAY, Diane Keaton needs something more relevant to the mass public to carry a series, and so does HBO.
Developing for HBO is like going through chemo. You pray you’ll live and get a shot at life, but in the end, they drag things out and you die a slow and painful death. Cancer might be more pleasant.
HBO can kid themselves all they want, and Boardwalk Empire can win all the BS awards they can buy, but the majority of people who watch HBO hate that show. And the truth is the powers that be know this is the truth. Maybe we need another Mike White show.
I got to see this pilot, and it’s really disappointing to think I might be one of the few who does. Diane Keaton was an Emmy lock, seriously. Congrats, HBO, on an absolutely moronic move.
i really liked that old show “beggars and choosers” (showtime?) that was so inside industry … loved it. i think candice bergan would have been great here (perhaps about 15 years too late?). so sarcastic and snarky and just a champ. like nikki.
So HBO keeps such shows as HUNG, ENTOURAGE (should have ended long time ago) and HOW TO MAKE IT IN AMERICA and they pass on this? Great job, Sue. HBO recently passed on a lot of pilots.
Yes, they make shows about overgrown boys. Not grown-up women.
because nikki is a grown up woman
This is the sad truth of HBO.
I was waiting for this announcement because we heard nothing for MONTHS.
HBO is idiotic.
Two Words: The Comeback.
Finest show ever cancelled after one season.
Sounds very similar in a way, with two similar actresses. And the whole behind the scenes of Hollywood aspect.
You had me until you got to The Comeback. That show was horrendous, a train wreck. Proof that Chupack, Tucillo, Rotenberg/Zuritsky, et al were the funny on SITC, and not Michael Patrick King.
You forgot Jenny Bicks–the only woman to write SATC from the beginning.
Hey Truth:
So HBO “bought” the SAG, DGA, WGA, AFI, CAS, Sound Design, Special Effects and Costume Design awards for Boardwalk Empire?
The only “Truth” is that you’re an idiot. But I’m sure you get that a lot.
Boardwalk is new and caught the attention of some voters but the show rings hollow. No scripts were nominated for the WGA award. Love the casting, the costumes, the sets, the music but the characters feel about as deep as a paper towel. Someone needs to write a show to go with all this expensive production.
Carter, there’s a reason why it won Best Drama at the Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild.
The cast won the SAG because Buscemi is beloved by actors. He’s an actors actor. A character actor who made it to leading man. Actors want to reward their own.
Nikki deserves WAY more than a cheap “Pucks” treatment!…At least they didn’t cast Matt LeBlanc!…
“Boardwalk is new and caught the attention of some voters…”
Yes. The MAJORITY of voters. That’s how it won all those awards. And I’m assuming the actual writers who voted for it to win the WGA Award for Best New Series disagreed with you about the writing.
Boy, this guy Anonymous sure says a lot of ballsy things!
SAG Member writes: “The cast won the SAG because Buscemi is beloved by actors. He’s an actors actor. A character actor who made it to leading man. Actors want to reward their own.”
Buscemi won Best Actor at SAG because he deserved it. The cast won best ensemble because THEY deserved it. Actors like to reward their own? Last time I checked, they’re ALL actors at the SAG awards.
Jeff you clearly have some work affiliation to the show. Maybe you rep an actor, work at HBO or my guess is craft service guy. I love tough guys like you. I bet after a couple of pink margaritas, you get nice and rowdy with nothing to back it up.
HBO has an elitist attitude because they’ve won a couple of awards. They look real sharp on Michael and Sue’s desks. Anyone who’s worked in the industry long enough has won a number of awards. They are nice conversation pieces when out of town people visit. They are silly marketing tools. Michael and Sue have bad taste. If you have a show with them,. they play off each other and you never get a truthful answer where you stand. The first show Sue picked up was HUNG. Brilliant. Sue’s personal wish fulfillment show. Don’t make your viewers who pay for your channel watch crap like that. The HBO dolts need to get off their high horses and get back to programming shows people want to see. Look at the show HBO had before you were there. And Jeff, hope to see you around. I’ll be looking for the guy on the rollerblades