Skip to main content

Televisionary Exclusive: First Look at FOX's "The Oaks" Script

Ask and ye shall receive. That's always been my motto and there's a reason why it's true.

In this case, I'm talking about the script for FOX's just-announced new series The Oaks, the first series order for newly installed president Kevin Reilly, which will pit The Shield creator Shawn Ryan on a network series that's... high-concept, to say the least.

By Monday afternoon, I had gotten my greedy hands on David Schulner's script for The Oaks and eagerly devoured the supernatural/relationship drama. It's ambitious, layered, and eerily suspenseful; nothing like it currently exists on network television (in the States, anyway). It certainly doesn't feel like a FOX series, but I think that's Reilly's intention: to steer the audience away from those stereotypes of what makes a FOX series just that.

The quick 411 on The Oaks, which comes from 20th Century Fox Television: it's about three married couples who live in the same house in three different decades. The three couples, separated by time, are linked by spirits that seem to haunt the house that they all share. It's an overlapping narrative that presents three distinct time periods side-by-side and will definitely test the strength of the production crew to carry off three period feels (not to mention having to constantly age and de-age the house, depending on the scene).

Some more specifics but I refuse to spoil anything concrete (sorry!). In 1967, estranged couple Sarah and Mike live in the house but both harbor deep feelings of resentment and isolation towards each other following a certain family tragedy. In 1987, the house is inhabited by sexually frustrated Molly and Frank and their two children, Lucy and Brian. Finally, there's the expectant couple Dan and Hollis, who move into the house in 2007 and, during their ongoing renovations, quickly make a discovery that shines a light on just what exactly is going on inside the house.

The pilot script is titled "Amelia," and there's a clear and concise reason for selecting that title. It also goes a long way towards explaining just what is haunting this house and why, along with setting up several intriguing mysteries along the way. People are continually drawn to this house and drawn BACK to it; several characters have unexpected connections to the past in some very novel ways. But lest you think that this is a ghost story, it delves deeply into the relationships between the central couples, making this an emotional exploration as much as a metaphysical one.

What I read was an early writer's draft of The Oaks and the script should go through several revisions before a pilot is shot in November. But in the meantime, I can't help but wonder what director Michael Cuesta (Dexter) and showrunner Shawn Ryan have up their sleeves. While several networks have made announcements about pilot orders and the like, The Oaks is definitely one project to watch during the course of the next development season.

Stay tuned.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Hm. Sounds like a BBC series. That could be a good thing. Oh, especially if there's accents! Are there accents?
Anonymous said…
So it's being developed for NEXT season? I thought FOX was rushing it and ordered more scripts because they wanted it for this season at midseason?
The CineManiac said…
It sounds great, but again I show my deep resentment towards Fox and ask, will Fox really give it a chance?
Anonymous said…
Definitely sounds more like a British series...which is a very good thing. I'm looking forward to checking it out. Thanks for the sneak peek and please keep us updated!
Anonymous said…
This sounds really cool so I am sure Fox will cancel it after two episodes. Am I right?
Anonymous said…
Anonymous, it was never being developed for Fox this season. They are rushing it to write and shoot at least 13 eps for next season in case of a strike.
Anonymous said…
It's not unheard of for shows to get late pickups to air within a season. That's why I was asking. I just find it strange that they would so soon shoot episodes for a show that won't be airing for over a year...because even if there's a strike wouldn't it be over by then, most likely? No one is going to want a repeat of 1988.

Popular posts from this blog

What's Done is Done: The Eternal Struggle Between Good and Evil on the Season Finale of "Lost"

Every story begins with thread. It's up to the storyteller to determine just how much they need to parcel out, what pattern they're making, and when to cut it short and tie it off. With last night's penultimate season finale of Lost ("The Incident, Parts One and Two"), written by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, we began to see the pattern that Lindelof and Cuse have been designing towards the last five seasons of this serpentine series. And it was only fitting that the two-hour finale, which pushes us on the road to the final season of Lost , should begin with thread, a loom, and a tapestry. Would Jack follow through on his plan to detonate the island and therefore reset their lives aboard Oceanic Flight 815 ? Why did Locke want to kill Jacob? What caused The Incident? What was in the box and just what lies in the shadow of the statue? We got the answers to these in a two-hour season finale that didn't quite pack the same emotional wallop of previous season

Pilot Inspektor: CBS' "Smith"

I may just have to change my original "What I'll Be Watching This Fall" post, as I sat down and finally watched CBS' new crime drama Smith this weekend. (What? It's taken me a long time to make my way through the stack of pilot DVDs.) While it's on following Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars on Tuesday nights (10 pm ET/PT, to be exact), I'm going to be sure to leave enough room on my TiVo to make sure that I catch this compelling, amoral drama. While one can't help but be impressed by what might just be the most marquee-friendly cast in primetime--Ray Liotta, Virginia Madsen, Jonny Lee Miller, Amy Smart, Simon Baker, and Franky G all star and Shohreh Aghdashloo has a recurring role--the pilot's premise alone earned major points in my book: it's a crime drama from the point of view of the criminals, who engage in high-stakes heists. But don't be alarmed; it's nothing like NBC's short-lived Heist . Instead, think of it as The Italian

The Daily Beast: "How The Killing Went Wrong"

While the uproar over the U.S. version of The Killing has quieted, the show is still a pale imitation of the Danish series on which it is based. Over at The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "How The Killing Went Wrong," in which I look at how The Killing has handled itself during its second season, and compare it to the stunning and electrifying original Danish series, Forbrydelsen , on which it is based. (I recently watched all 20 episodes of Forbrydelsen over a few evenings.) The original is a mind-blowing and gut-wrenching work of genius. It’s not necessary to rehash the anger that followed in the wake of the conclusion last June of the first season of AMC’s mystery drama The Killing, based on Søren Sveistrup’s landmark Danish show Forbrydelsen, which follows the murder of a schoolgirl and its impact on the people whose lives the investigation touches upon. What followed were irate reviews, burnished with the “burning intensity of 10,000 white-hot suns