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ABC’s ‘Red Widow’ Will Reveal “Who Killed Franklin”; Promises No Lingering Questions: TCA

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday January 10, 2013 @ 1:20pm PSTTags: ABC, Melissa Rosenberg, Red Widow, TCA

Diane Haithman is contributing to Deadline’s TCA coverage.

The ongoing winter TCA in Pasadena has introduced a number of new shows with serialized, mystery and/or whodunit plot lines: Sundance’s Ripper Street and DirecTV’s Rogue, to name a couple. At several TCA panels, a big question has been whether the episodes ordered for the show will lead the audience to a satisfying story conclusion — or leave audiences tweeting in post-traumatic frustration as they did when The Killing failed to solve its whodunit at the end of its first season.

ABC’s new drama Red Widow tells the story of Marta Walraven (Radha Mitchell), a housewife forced to continue the work of her organized crime husband Franklin after he is assassinated in a drug-related incident. The series is based on the 2010 Dutch drama series Penoza. Following today’s TCA panel on the show, executive producer Melissa Rosenberg promised that the 8 episodes ordered would wrap up key plot points. READ MORE »

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DirecTV On Creative Benefits Of ‘Rogue’s Straight-To-Series Deal; First Trailer Released: TCA

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Wednesday January 9, 2013 @ 4:02pm PSTTags: Big Deals TV, DirecTV, Rogue, TCA

Diane Haithman is contributing to Deadline’s TCA coverage.

At DirecTV’s first-ever TCA panel today, Nick Hamm, executive producer of DirecTV’s first original series Rogue— starring Thandie Newton as an undercover detective— described the creative advantages … Read More »

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Netflix’s ‘Hemlock Grove’ Producers On Series’ Emotional Violence; First Trailer Released: TCA

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Wednesday January 9, 2013 @ 3:10pm PSTTags: Eli Roth, Hemlock Grove, Netflix, TCA

Diane Haithman is contributing to Deadline’s TCA coverage.

Hemlock GroveAt today’s panel on Netflix‘s new original series Hemlock Grove, a Gothic thriller from horrormeister Eli Roth and Gaumont International TV, writer/executive producers … Read More »

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Movie Talk Heats Up For ‘Arrested Development’: TCA

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Wednesday January 9, 2013 @ 2:56pm PSTTags: Arrested Development, Big Deals TV, Jason Bateman, Netflix, TCA

Ray Richmond is contributing to Deadline’s TCA coverage.

Jason Bateman spoke about the possibility of a forthcoming Arrested Development movie as if it were practically a sure thing during a TCA panel promoting the long-awaited return of the comedy with 14 new installments on Netflix after a decade-long absence. The show is set to debut in originals in May, with all 14 being made available simultaneously via Netflix. The fresh episodes are “basically just the first act that we hope to complete in a movie, which will be acts 2 and 3,” star Bateman said. “The episodes will set that up, and one will not work without the other.” But he quickly added, “This will, however, provide a satisfying conclusion if for some unfortunate reason the movie doesn’t happen.” In other words, this isn’t merely a one-time novelty return of Arrested Development but the first element in the franchise’s continued re-invigoration — they hope. Creator/exec producer Mitch Hurwitz explained after the panel that what became a series originally was conceived as a movie. “We’d mapped this out as a movie and then worked backwards to do these shows. So it might not be a movie. It might be something else. I’d be happy with it as ColorForms at this point.”

Related: ‘Arrested Development’ Due in May For 14-Episode Run: TCA Read More »

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Netflix Sets Premiere Date For ‘Hemlock Grove’; ‘Arrested Development’ Due in May For 14-Episode Run: TCA

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Wednesday January 9, 2013 @ 1:36pm PSTTags: Arrested Development, Hemlock Grove, Netflix, TCA

Diane Haithman is contributing to Deadline’s TCA coverage.

In his opening remarks before today’s TCA panels on Netflix‘s first slate of original programming, Ted Sarandos, Netflix chief content officer, announced a debut date for Eli Roth’s one-hour murder mystery … Read More »

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‘Justified’ & ‘The Americans’ A Juggling Act For FX’s Graham Yost: TCA

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Wednesday January 9, 2013 @ 12:00pm PSTTags: FX, Justified, TCA, The Americans

Diane Haithman is contributing to Deadline’s TCA coverage.

Following today’s TCA session on FX’s Justified, showrunner and executive producer Graham Yost spoke about how he planned to juggle duties on Justified and his role as an executive producer of new FX series The Americans, which would be the subject of the following panel.

“It hasn’t been that hard, it has certainly been more work but it has been great”, Yost said. “My involvement with The Americans is, I talk to Joe Weisberg [creator and executive producer] and [executive producer] Joel Fields all the time”, said Yost. “I read the outlines and give them notes, I read the scripts and give them notes, I read the cuts and give them notes.”

Added Yost: “Sometimes I’ll weigh in on casting, but basically that’s my involvement”. He described himself as a good sounding board because of his long relationship with FX.

Actress Margo Martindale, who won an Emmy for her role on Justified even though her character was killed, now has a role in The Americans. Yost was asked jokingly whether The Americans is where characters that die on Justified will go to resurrect. Read More »

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FX’s John Landgraf Calls For Studies On Entertainment And Real-Life Violence Links: TCA

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Wednesday January 9, 2013 @ 11:45am PSTTags: FX, John Landgraf, TCA
Nellie Andreeva

Like every other network executive who has taken the stage at this TCA press tour, FX president John Landgraf this morning was asked about the possible link between onscreen violence and the rise of mass … Read More »

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Chris Rock Says “You Should Need To Have A Mortgage To Buy A Gun”: TCA

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Wednesday January 9, 2013 @ 11:08am PSTTags: Chris Rock, FX, TCA, Totally Biased With W. Kamau Bell

Ray Richmond is contributing to Deadline’s TCA coverage.

The subject of violence was raised during the morning TCA panel for the weekly FX late-night talk show Totally Biased With W. Kamau Bell, as it has been during every panel of TCA thus far. Not that there’s any violence in Bell’s show, per se. But exec producer Chris Rock has famously riffed on gun control in his own stand-up comedy act, ranting that there should be no restriction on guns, but bullets ought to cost $5,000 apiece. “The gun lobby also says people need to be able to protect their property,” Rock said, “but every mass shooting is done by guys who live with their mother. So I believe you should need to have a mortgage to buy a gun. A mortgage is a real background check. Even if you go to jail for 30 years, you’ve still got to pay your fucking mortgage.”

Related: FX’s John Landgraf Calls For Studies On Entertainment And Real-Life Violence Links: TCA

Rock was asked if he’d maybe like to get back into the talk show game himself. “Well, a part of me would want to do it,” he said. “I just don’t know if I could do it all the time. Michael Jordan could play one game and score 50, but he couldn’t do it the next night. I just don’t care about Lindsay Lohan. Maybe if this show is successful, I can be like Barbara Walters on The View and just step up and be funny and then leave.” And if Rock were to do his own scripted comedy series, he would want the same do-everything-yourself model that Louis C.K. has at FX. “I’d want nothing less than that,” he said. Read More »

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FX’s ‘Sunny’ Likely To Go To Season 10, ‘Anger Management’ To Air 45 Eps A Year, John Landgraf On AMC Showrunner Firings

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Wednesday January 9, 2013 @ 10:08am PSTTags: Anger Management, FX, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, John Landgraf, TCA
Nellie Andreeva

It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia is the only one of what FX president John Landgraf called the “four cornerstones” of FX (The Shield, Rescue Me, Nip/Tuck and Sunny) that is still on the air. The comedy has already been renewed for a ninth season, and it will likely won’t be the last. “There is a high likelihood for a 10th season,” Landgraf said during the FX portion of TCA this morning. “Whether it goes beyond that depends on whether the people who created the show want to go and whether the audience still wants to watch. But there will definitely be one more year, probably two.”

Landgraf also shed light on FX’s scheduling plans for the back 90 episodes of Charlie Sheen’s Anger Management. “It will stay on the air with no interruption for two years, basically 45 episodes a year,” Landgraf said. That means that, save for major holidays and sports pre-emptions, there will be an original of Anger Management on Thursday night for two years, starting with the Season 2  premiere January 17. The biggest change made following the initial 10 episodes was the addition of Martin Sheen as Charlie Sheen’s father for a multi-generational dimension on the series. Read More »

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Mindy Kaling Weighs In On Changes To Her Fox Series: TCA

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Tuesday January 8, 2013 @ 3:56pm PSTTags: Fox, Mindy Kaling, TCA

Ray Richmond is contributing to Deadline’s TCA coverage.

During a TCA panel promoting the Fox comedies New Girl, The Mindy Project, Ben and Kate and Raising Hope, Mindy Kaling was asked to address recent cast alterations designed to punch up the remainder of her show’s rookie campaign. It included the demotion of regular Anna Camp to recurring status due to the show’s increased workplace focus and the promotion of Ike Barinholtz to regular. “Ike becoming a series regular was good for the show,” Kaling said. Read More »

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Kevin Reilly On Fox’s Fall “Screwup”, NBC’s “Cheesy” ‘Voice’ Stunt, Violence, Keeping Britney Spears, Passing On ‘Walking Dead’

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Tuesday January 8, 2013 @ 1:18pm PSTTags: Fox, Kevin Reilly, TCA
Nellie Andreeva

No “heads in assess” onstage references this time, but Fox entertainment chairman Kevin Reilly still kept things entertaining during today’s network executive session at TCA with quick jabs and quips, some aimed at himself. The best one came in reaction to a critic apologizing for screwing up a question. “We all screw up — look at my fall,” Reilly said to loud laughter. He opened the session with a reference to the network’s pretty disastrous ratings performance this past fall: “Here at Fox we are leaping into the new year, no one is happier than us to turn the page.” Read More »

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Fox’s ‘In Living Color’ Reboot Officially Dead: TCA

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Tuesday January 8, 2013 @ 12:24pm PSTTags: Fox, In Living Color, TCA
Nellie Andreeva

After months of complete silence on the In Living Color special Fox ordered more than a year ago, the writing was on the wall, and today Fox chairman Kevin Reilly made the decision official. “It’s not … Read More »

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‘American Idol’ Execs Deny That On-Set Feuds Aren’t “Genuine”: TCA

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Tuesday January 8, 2013 @ 12:04pm PSTTags: American Idol, Fox, TCA

Ray Richmond is contributing to Deadline’s TCA coverage.

UPDATED: The feud between new judges Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj: real or fake? That was the question lobbed at the American Idol panel at TCA this morning in the wake of reports of cat-fighting between new judges Carey and Minaj, which one critic charged “feels like it’s fake.” Naturally, that sentiment was vehemently denied by both the producers and the judges. “Whatever feuds there have been — and this isn’t just between Nicki and Mariah but Keith (Urban) and Randy (Jackson) as well — are genuine,” executive producer Nigel Lythgoe said. “Whenever you’re in this sort of passionate situation, these things happen.” Fox reality chief Mike Darnell echoed that “it’s authentic” and explained that it has to do with the fact “there is passion in this group. They disagree about the talent, and the ways to approach the talent.” (After the panel, Darnell denied that anyone involved in Idol has orchestrated the Carey-Minaj feud, blaming it on “a rogue crew member probably took the video and sent it to TMZ. We did not encourage it.”) Read More »

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Fox’s ‘The Following’ Takes Heat From Critics Over Violent Content: TCA

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Tuesday January 8, 2013 @ 10:57am PSTTags: Fox, Kevin Williamson, TCA, The Following

Ray Richmond is contributing to Deadline’s TCA coverage.

The Following creator and exec producer Kevin Williamson was obliged to defend the jarring level of sex and violence (particularly violence) in his new Fox horror thriller as the network kicked off its day at TCA this morning. In the wake of the mass killings last year in Aurora, CO and Newtown, CT, critics peppered Williamson with questions about whether television shows like this one may be part of the problem. His general response wasn’t defensive so much as uncertain. “I think we all worry about (the violence issue),” Williamson admitted. “Who wasn’t affected by Sandy Hook? We say in the writers room after that and were all traumatized by it.” But he was somewhat befuddled over whether the graphic violence and gore of a series like The Following might contribute negatively to perceptions of violence in society. His show, after all, depicts a woman stabbing herself in the eye and strangers being randomly set afire in the street. He acknowledged that he isn’t sure if there is a cumulative effect of all of the violence on his own orientation. “I know that when I put pen to paper, it affects me, but I’m not sure how,” Williamson said. “We don’t sit around (in the writers room) and think of ways to kill people. I’m sitting and thinking of the drama. It’s meant to be a thriller and a provocative story. I guess it is a horrific and scary show but…”

At the same time, Williamson acknowledged that the violence at Columbine many years ago absolutely inspired Following. “The story is shining a light on some of those kids,” he said. But he added that the show is meant to be “a work of fiction.” And the network hasn’t tried to scale back the level of violence, he maintained. The bigger struggle for him has been continuing to deal with the six-act structure of broadcast television and “how to make something scary when you’re writing to a commercial break.” To that end, he said that the Fox drama 24 remains “like my favorite show of all time…That sort of thrill-ride and page-turner tone is what I’m going for with this show.” Read More »

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Fox Sets Premiere Date For Animated Late-Night Block

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Tuesday January 8, 2013 @ 10:03am PSTTags: Animation Domination High-Def, Fox, TCA

Animation Domination High-Def will debut Saturday, July 27 and run from 11 PM-12:30 AM, Fox announced today as part of its portion of the TCA winter tour in Pasadena. The alternative animated programming block will feature quarter-hour series Axe Cop, High School USA! and the untitled Lucas Brothers project. Six quarter hours have been ordered for the series, the on-air component of Fox’s digital animation network, which encompasses online, mobile apps, game consoles and VOD and acts as an incubator for animated fare that can transition to the network. Here are Fox’s descriptions of the shows: Read More »

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CNBC Greenlights Two More Reality Series As Part Of Primetime Rebrand: TCA

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Monday January 7, 2013 @ 5:56pm PSTTags: Big Deals TV, CNBC, CNBC Prime, TCA

Diane Haithman is contributing to Deadline’s TCA coverage.

CNBC announced today that it has greenlighted two new reality series that will be part of its primetime rebrand, CNBC Prime. The series, announced today at TCA by president and CEO Michael Hoffman and SVP Primetime Alternative Programming Jim Ackerman, are the untitled Family Business Project and The Big Fix (working title). Both series will premiere in the spring. Hoffman said CNBC is moving into reality TV to beef up CNBC’s primetime lineup. “Not too long ago, CNBC’s primetime was the land of misfit toys, it really bore no connection to the core brand, which was a daytime brand,” he said. “That has all changed.” Read More »

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Syfy Gives ‘Defiance’ A Premiere Date And Tries To Explain Its Crossover Worlds: TCA

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Monday January 7, 2013 @ 5:11pm PSTTags: Defiance, Syfy, TCA

Diane Haithman is contributing to Deadline’s TCA coverage.

Syfy’s Defiance — a drama series that will exist as both a TV series and a video game in collaboration with Trion Worlds — will have its series premiere April 15 at 9 PM with a two-hour episode launching a total of 12 episodes, the cable channel announced today at TCA. During today’s panel featuring the show’s cast, executive producer Kevin Murphy and Syfy president Mark Stern, Murphy said that although the producers of both the TV show and the game will collaborate on creating parallel realities, players of the game will have no influence over major plot points in either one.

It’s not an “audience vote” adventure, Murphy said. “The analogy I like to use is, I grew up as a gigantic comic book geek, and what I loved about comics is that you could love Batman and read Batman’s adventures, and if you happen to also like Superman, if you read both titles, sometimes there would be crossovers in the summer that lent an extra level of coolness to the whole thing.”

Added Murphy, “The game has its own narrative and story lines. They are shared universes with dual portals. If there is a catastrophic weather experience [in the TV show], the characters in the game [may] put that in motion.” He said the game will create an illusion of spontaneity, but “if you are supposed to get the gadget, you will get the gadget.”

Because the game and the TV drama contain overlapping stories and characters, Stern said, “there was definitely no aspect of this deal-making that was normal. Lawyers love that. Agents love that.” Read More »

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Ryan Lochte Gets E! Reality Series: TCA

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Monday January 7, 2013 @ 1:16pm PSTTags: Big Deals TV, E!, Ryan Lochte, TCA

Diane Haithman contributes to Deadline’s TCA coverage.

The long-rumored E! reality series starring Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte is now a reality. Network president Suzanne Kolb made the announcement today during the E! Entertainment portion of the TCA press tour. Titled What Would Ryan Lochte Do?, the six-episode series from Intuitive Entertainment will feature the “vivescent” Lochte, Kolb said, adding that E! brass wondered “How deep is the pool of Ryan Lochte? It turns out, very deep.” The episodes will feature the swimmer partying and training as he prepares for the 2016 Rio Olympics while building his fashion line, making media appearances, dealing with his close-knit and outspoken family and friends and looking for the right girl. Mechelle Collins and Kevin Dill are executive producers for Intuitive along with and Erika Wright of Wright Entertainment and Sports.

E! also announced Playing With Fire, an hourlong series on the NY culinary scene. Both series are scheduled to premiere in April. Read More »

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USA On ‘Graceland’ & Network’s Expansion Into Comedy In 2013: TCA

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Monday January 7, 2013 @ 12:18pm PSTTags: Big Deals TV, Graceland, TCA, USA Network

Diane Haithman is contributing to Deadline’s TCA coverage.

Before today’s TCA panel on USA‘s new series Graceland, USA co-presidents Chris McCumber and Jeff Wachtel touted the network’s scripted series as their “signature strength.” They added that USA Network will be “diving into comedy in a big way in 2013” and hailed the addition of a “small show called Modern Family as an important part of our lineup.”

After the session, McCumber added that comedy “is an area that we’ve always wanted to move into, comedy has been a part of what we do; take a look at Psych, it’s always been in our DNA,” McCumber said. “When we have this platform we should be able to launch a true comedy series off of, we’d be crazy not to look at the half-hour world. It’s going to be a tough nut to crack, comedy is just a little more difficult.” Read More »

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