Good morning and welcome to your Tuesday morning television briefing.Remakes seem to be all the rage these days, with several US networks remaking not only UK scripted formats but also recycling old US dramas (ahem, Knight Rider) and feature films. So what's in the pipeline? Besides AMC's recent announcement that they are developing a series based on 1970s surveillance flick The Conversation, lots.
CBS is developing a series remake of Streets of San Francisco with Sheldon Turner and a remake of the long-running procedural cop drama Hawaii Five-O--which ran from 1968 to 1980 and introduced the catchphrase "Book 'em, Danno!"--with Criminal Minds executive producer/showrunner Ed Bernero attached to write. Updated version of Hawaii Five-O will follow the exploits of Chris McGarrett, the chief of the fictional Hawaiian state police department and son of the original's Steve McGarrett (Jack Lord). (Aside: Bernero is also working on another CBS project, Washington Field, following the agents and experts at the FBI's Washington Field Office who travel around the globe reponding to events that concern the US.) (Hollywood Reporter)
Speaking of remakes, ABC has issued a put pilot order to a series based on the 1987 feature film The Witches of Eastwick, with Maggie Friedman (Dawson's Creek) attached to write and executive produce. Eastwick, itself based on a John Updike novel, tells the story about three women who are drawn to witchcraft after losing the men in their lives and end up conjuring up a demonic fiend who seduces all of them. It's not the first time a network has tried to develop a series take on the feature: in 1992, Lost's Carlton Cuse and Jeffrey Boam developed a Witches of Eastwick drama pilot; in 2002, FOX and Warner Bros. Television developed another version--entitled Eastwick-- which focused on the teenage sons of the original witches, played by Lori Loughlin, Marcia Cross, and Kelly Rutherford. (Variety)
Wondering what some of the cast and crew of NBC's Saturday Night Live have been up to during their summer hiatus? Looks like many of them have been working on web series The Line, about fanboys waiting in a queue for eleven days for the premiere of a sci-fi flick. “We wanted to have an experience of shooting something on our own,” Bill Hader said in an interview about the process. “This is a good medium to do it in because it’s a very low-stakes medium.” (New York Times)
Colin Hanks guest stars in next week's episode of Mad Men on ABC; he'll play a young priest in three episodes of the period drama's sophomore season. And we all know who's been having a little problem of late with religion, sin, and her family, now don't we? Yes, Miss Peggy Olson, I am looking at you.
Michael Ausiello is reporting that Seth Green and Breckin Meyer are in talks with the producers of NBC's Heroes about joining the series for a multiple-episode story arc in which they would play comic book geeks who cross paths with one of the heroes. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)
Speaking of Heroes, LA Times' Show Tracker visits the set of the drama, entering its third season this fall and chats with Zachary Quinto and new cast member Brea Grant. (Los Angeles Times)
"Bergdorf Blondes" author Plum Sykes and The Comeback's Amy Harris are developing a half-hour comedy for NBC entitled Mogulettes, about high-flying twenty-something female moguls. Plot would follow Eva, the gorgeous and intelligent head of a cosmetics empire. Universal Media Studios will produce along with Original Media's Charlie Corwin, who has a deal with NBC Entertainment. (Variety)
Sundance Channel will air six-episode British comedy Pulling, about a bride-to-be who decides not to get married while partying at her hen party and instead moves in with her single friends. Series, which aired in the UK on BBC Three, is set to launch Stateside on October 19th, part of Sundance Channel's comedy block, kicking off on September 7th. (Hollywood Reporter)
Finally, have you ever wondered what TV god Joss Whedon would do if he got his hands on the Batman feature franchise? The Buffy creator spoke to MTV about his rejected plans for the Caped Crusader, before auteur Christopher Nolan got the gig. "In my version, there was actually a new [villain], it wasn’t one of the classics — which is probably why they didn’t use it,” Whedon told MTV. “It was more of a ‘Hannibal Lector’ type — he was somebody already in Arkham Asylum that Bruce went and sort of studied with. It was a whole thing — I get very emotional about it, I still love the story. Maybe I’ll get to do it as a comic one day." Sigh. We can only dream. (MTV Splash Page)
Stay tuned.
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