Autumn may not look the same way it usually does on ABC in 2008. The network is seriously considering opening the new season sans new drama series. There will still be returning shows, including the dramas from 2007 which have been deemed successes by the ABC brass, including Pushing Daisies, Private Practice and Dirty Sexy Money -- but no new pilots.Posts with tag thomas schlamme
Untraditional autumn set for ABC
Autumn may not look the same way it usually does on ABC in 2008. The network is seriously considering opening the new season sans new drama series. There will still be returning shows, including the dramas from 2007 which have been deemed successes by the ABC brass, including Pushing Daisies, Private Practice and Dirty Sexy Money -- but no new pilots.Continue reading Untraditional autumn set for ABC
Studio 60 complete series coming to DVD this fall
Just in time for tomorrow's series finale on NBC at 10pm comes this announcement from Warner Home Video that they will release Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip - The Complete Series on October 16.
The set will not only include all 22 episodes from it's first and only season, but there will be a new behind the scenes featurette and episode commentaries by creator Aaron Sorkin and director Thomas Schlamme (hopefully cast members will join in too).
Continue reading Studio 60 complete series coming to DVD this fall
Schlamme heading for Mars
It looks like the US version of the BBC's hit sci-fi show Life on Mars is getting off to a good start.David E. Kelley has drafted in the directing talents of Thomas Schlamme to direct the pilot for his ABC version of the time-travelling cop drama. (If you haven't managed to catch any of the first and second series of Life on Mars, you should -- it's fantastic).
Schlamme previously worked on The West Wing and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip in addition to directing the pilot for Boston Public and some episodes of Ally McBeal and The Practice.
Rachelle LeFevre has already been cast in a female lead role in the remake, but it's not yet known who will take on the Sam Tyler role.
Schlamme developing baseball mockumentary for Fox
Thomas Schlamme is creating an American version of a popular Canadian series called The Tournament. The comedy series is done mockumentary style (think: The Office) about a group of misfit youth hockey players and their quest to win the championship tournament. Actually, it sounds similar to the premise of Christopher Guest's Waiting for Guffman. Schlamme is Americanizing the show by making it about a youth baseball team instead of hockey. Three of the people behind the original Tournament will write and executive produce the Fox version. The Tournament had two seasons on CBC and so far Fox has given script commitment.Schlamme is the executive producer of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and he also EP'd The West Wing and SportsNight. He's also married to actress Christine Lahti.
Out of the Blogosphere
Best Week Ever has video of Clay Aiken's appearance on Good Morning America today. - Another great post from Ken Levine, this time shattering the dreams of men everywhere (including me).
- Radar asks about the new CW: does the merger of two mediocre networks add up to one good one?
- I didn't catch this during the debut, but Studio 60 creators Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme kept a live blog the other night (read from bottom to top, of course). Funny cameo from Nate Cordrry. (And check out Defaker.)
Blog reviews of Studio 60 are getting back to NBC and Sorkin
Remember when you used to hear about the new fall pilots in May, then not again until TV Guide's Fall Preview Issue came in the mail? That model has been blown out of the water by us. No, not just TV Squad. I mean "all of us", as in blogs and other online sites that are posting early previews of the new fall shows based on clip reels, downloads (not us, networks! We swear!), or, in our case, screeners sent to us by the networks.It looks like the feedback generated by these previews is already getting back to the creators and networks, whether they like it or not. This LA Times article recounts the reactions Studio 60's Aaron Sorkin, Thomas Schlamme and the NBC executives had to Internet chatter about the much-anticipated show, which started as soon as the pilot script was leaked online. Interesting read.
[via Mediabistro]
What's Thursday without ER?
ER has been on Thursday nights on NBC for as long as I can remember. OK, actually it's only been in the 10 pm timeslot since 1994. And I haven't watched it since 1996 (I couldn't handle breaking down into a sobbing mess each week). But, still. It's an institution on Thursday nights. It's a throwback to the good ol' days when NBC was on top.
Well, those days are over. Now, NBC is reportedly considering moving it to a different night. Apparently, NBC thinks the move could boost the network's ratings during late primetime on Tuesdays or Wednesdays by pairing ER up with Law & Order or SVU. It looks like ER's replacement will most likely be the new Aaron Sorkin/Thomas Schlamme series, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. If that happens, I will definitely be returning to NBC at 10 pm on Thursdays (hey, I'm already there for Earl and The Office anyway).
NBC picks up Aaron Sorkin's new show
Hey, here's news that probably won't shock you. NBC has picked
up Studio 60 on Sunset Strip, the new Aaron Sorkin-Thomas Schlamme show starring Amanda Peet, Matthew Perry,
Bradley Whitford, Timothy
Busfield, Steven Weber, DL Hughley and Nate Corddry. The show is set behind-the-scenes of a Saturday Night
Live-style sketch comedy show. Perry and Whitford will play the head writers and Peet will play the new
entertainment chief who "inherits a massive public relations disaster on the series."
Matthew Perry, Aaron Sorkin returning to NBC
The Hollywood Reporter states that it took a lot of convincing,
but Matthew Perry has signed on as the lead in an untitled Aaron Sorkin/Thomas Schlamme drama for NBC. The project was
originally called Studio 7,
but that title has been scrapped. Also on board are D.L. Hughley and Steven Weber. The show is set behind the scenes of
a long-running comedy sketch show (think: SNL). Matthew Perry will play the lead role of Matt Albie, a
brilliant comedic writer who gets pushed around by the network. Sorkin reportedly wrote the part specifically for
Perry, who did a stint on The West Wing not too long ago.Whenever Aaron Sorkin is attached to a project, I'm automatically interested. The addition of Matthew Perry is just icing on the cake.
Are Sorkin and Schlamme coming back to The West Wing?
One of my favorite TV critics is Alan Sepinwall, from the Newark
Star-Ledger, which is for all intents and purposes my hometown paper. He and his "All TV" partner, Matt Zoller Seitz, put out an excellent
joint column just about every day in the Ledger, examining not only particular shows but trends in TV, bad
behavior by the networks, and how TV affects society at large. Kind of what we do here, but in a bit longer form. And
with less jokes.
What I didn't know about Sepinwall, though is that he also has a blog. And in his blog, he gets to speculate on things going on in the TV biz that he doesn't get to write about in the paper. It's fairly private; NJ.com doesn't link to the page, and it doesn't show up in many searches for Sepinwall's work. An entry, though, has caught people's attention: Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme, the original brains behind The West Wing, are on the list of panelists representing the show on the upcoming critic's press tour. Sepinwall speculates that Sorkin and Schlamme will come back to write and direct either a farewell episode for Leo, played by the late John Spencer, or do the same for the final episode. Hm. Verrrrryyy IN-teresting.
[via Pop Candy]
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Why do series finales have to be so final?
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