EXCLUSIVE: In one of its first buys of the season, NBC has gone global with a geopolitical project set at the United Nations. Described as “West Wing in the United Nations,” the drama, which has received a script commitment, follows an interpreter at the international organization’s New York HQ working with ambassadors and politicians from various countries as they deal with political and military crisis around the world. Hell On Wheels’ scribe Tom Brady is writing, Walter Parkes, Laurie MacDonald and Parkes/MacDonald’s Ted Gold executive producing. The project stems from Parkes/MacDonald’s fist-look deal at NBCUniversal, which has yielded one series, the 10-episode Crossbones based on the book The Republic of Pirates. The U.N. has long been a dramatic backdrop for film and TV. Cary Grant was filmed approaching exterior of the actual building in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958’s North By Northwest, though all interior scenes were shot on a soundstage. The 2005 thriller The Interpreter, with Sean Penn and Nicole Kidman, was actually the first film to shot inside the U.N. itself. In 2008’s The Day The Earth Stood Still remake, the aliens communicate with world leaders gathered at the U.N. A great deal of the political drama in the 2009 satire In The Loop is supposed to take place in the halls and conference rooms of the U.N., though the film wasn’t shot there. The United Nations was the primary setting of the final season of 24, as Kiefer Sutherland’s Jack Bauer dealt with an attempt to stop leader of a fictional Middle Eastern county from signing a peace treaty with the U.S. President. Tom Brady is repped by Rothman Brecher Kim.


Sounds interesting. Of course it also sounded interesting when it was a fake show that Network exec Amanda Peet bought on Sorkin’s STUDIO 60.
was thinking the exact same thing
Aaron Sorkin called it…
The irony here is that NBC’s failed (but with moments of Sorkin brilliance) drama “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” made mention and mocked such a pickup made by Amanda Peet’s faux NBC exec:
“I want to thank you for helping Jordan to acquire for NBS a television series about the United Nations, ‘cause that’s got smash hit written all over it. I’m thinking of premiering it against the Super Bowl. America’s been waiting for a show about negotiating lasting peace in the Sudan. I hope we’ll hold off on the debate over humanitarian aid to Darfur until Fall Sweeps! Ah, doesn’t matter! Any episode will be a winner as long as it’s about the UN! ‘Cause Americans are just crazy about the UN! We just can’t get enough of their freewheeling, sexy, buccaneer style. I foresee a couple of problems, like the fact that no one at the UN speaks the same language, but that’s okay, because if there’s one thing every teenager loves, it’s subtitles! You see it as part of your job to screw with my company, don’t you?”
“No, I do not, it’s just one of the perks.”
– Jack, with a brilliant, drunken rail at Danny
Still, there might be some moderate success here if they can match the quick fire Sorkin dialogue of WW; also, note the writers – here’s to making the UN representatives a little more fleshed out characters, and not American caricatures of international stereotypes.
Wow, looks like a winner .
I can see it now Episode One: “Did I interpret that correctly?”
All they do at the U.N. is….um….this show will be dull.
I worked at the U.N. from 1979 to 1981. Believe me when I tell you the place is party central. All we ever did in Purchase and Transportation was deliver liquor to the upstairs office parties which went on every day of the week. The only people that actually do work there are the dept. I worked in, and shipping. If they were to show what REALLY goes on there, it would have to be on HBO.
btw, why did I leave in 1981? I didn’t. That was the year President Reagan withheld the U.S. payment to the U.N., so they retaliated by firing all U.S. citizen employees without permanent contracts.
If you like corruption and you can’t get enough accents then you’ll love this drivel we are about to foist on you.
It will be a great crime show…Annan can be the godfather, with his son stealing money from food funds for the poor…the hero..gosh..there aren’t any at the UN. sigh.
Amazingly bad idea for a “broadcast” network. Only 3 in 10 Americans can name the three branches of our government. How many do you think will be interested in the goings on at the UN?
I agree. Amazingly BAD. And to top it off, wonder what kind of brainwashing they’ll put in it to make the American people think the U.H. is a good thing.
NBC Pres: We need a new tv drama. Set somewhere important like The West Wing, but different.
NBC Exec: How about the United Nations?
NBC Pres: Hmmm… It has a reputation for being ineffectual & corrupt & no one who really knows anything about how it operates respects it. That means the show will be doomed to fail.
NBC Exec: It’s the perfect NBC show!
NBC Pres: Have a fat bonus!
This has failure written all over it. Americans care about the UN enough for there to be live coverage of the President of the United States speaking there, but other than that, the UN is useless.
This is the show they talked about doing in Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. I hope this show is at least 50% subtitled or I will feel ripped off.
Wasn’t the UN building the inspiration for the mysterious stone slab in Kubrick’s “2001″?
Should be a winner! After all the UN is just a large whorehouse except it has far bigger and prettier flags.
Can’t wait. I hope they cover the U.N.’s Agenda 21 where they want most of us dead or living in micro apartments next to railroad tracks. The next episodes can cover worship of the earth, fake carbon taxation, gun confiscation, forced abortion and hookers and blow for the elite sporting diplomatic immunity.
I hope NBC keeps on making bad decisions.
This corrupt cesspool–where dictators are awarded chairmanships of “human rights” committees, and untaxed sky-high salaries and utter unaccountability lead to the life of an urban Raj, will surely skip all the critical facets and play up the contrived, glamorous party scene, including all catered dinners at NY’s best spots, the private jets for the movie star UN “ambassadors” and truckloads more. If you want to really help, consider Oxfam, DWB or other well managed, ethical efforts, not the UN officials who have nothing but contempt for the populace.
The only UN show I would watch is one where the UN leaders and the diplomats from tin pot dictator’s countries, China, and Russia are tortured for entertainment.
This sounds like a fantastic idea! I cannot wait! Perfect for NBC!
You’re kidding, right?
Double Face-palm!
Man, I can’t believe the snark here though I concur wholeheartedly. This could be the start of a trend of entertainment shows about government agencies. I predict boffo ratings for “HHS,” or “The Federal Home Bank Board,” or how bout “DMV.” Because if there’s anything we all want to hear about 24/7 it’s the government!
Postal Service!
Actually there are two shows dealing with the DMV, Parking Wars which deals with the ticketeers and the DMV where they get their cars back. It actually shows a lot of the problems citizens have in not understanding basic laws.
This obvious didn’t come from Bela Bajaria. If it DID, she must be off her medication…
the only thing more boring sounding as a premise would be a show about lawn specialists who watch their next lawn grow, in real time.
This is propaganda. It’s to create a favorable image of the UN, so that Americans will easily and stupidly accept the UN/New World Order take over. Remember, Folks, TV is make believe.
Yes, and all this from the network that brought us the London Olympics who, in turn, brought us the images of their medical system during the opening ceremony. What a bore that was and what a bore this series will be. Only NBC could pull this off so ineptly.
I think this sounds amazing.
Yet another reason to boycott the MSM and their asinine propaganda in favour of the “New World Order”. To hell with the UN and NBC both.
Decision time… what do I tell the ambassador… Did they say Shiite or S**t?
Lets see how much they rip off the super 10 star mega hit Nicole Kidman movie “The Interpreter”.
What a great idea. Maybe they’ll do an episode dedicated to the cocaine shipment that was found in a diplomatic pouch a few months back. Or maybe the child prostitution rings they have been caught running in numerous 3rd world countries. Oh, I’ve got it. How’s about an episode where they sit on their hands and let 800,000 Rawandans die, mostly due to machete hacks. They could do a 2 parter with that one where in the first episode they sit back and watch 1 million machetes be delivered in country. Wow, the story lines just keep on coming!
They can have an episode where they go door to door, evicting africans from their homes, under the guise of sustainable development.
“GIVE US THE OIL OR ELSE!”