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Posts published in “Entertainment Talk”

Passing the buck

After being right for a day, it looks like I (and everyone else) is wrong.
Showtime has not picked up Tim Robbin’s pilot which he both wrote and directed (Possible Side Effects).

Rumors are flying around that the pass on Possible Side Effects is due to its subject matter (the pharmaceutical drug industry) and pharmaceutical corps are among the top advertisers over at another Viacom network: CBS.

So, ultimately, out of the 4 pilots ordered by Sho, none of them were picked up.
Cash thrown out the window?

Variety has a piece up discussing how the networks are trying to minimize the spendings by co-producing or buying international properties instead of investing in pilots that won’t ultimately be picked up.
Overall, a pretty interesting read which takes a look at why certain shows are currently on the bubble.

In other TV news, TNT meanwhile has canceled Trust Me.

As for the recent Dollhouse/13-episode matter, I’ll be talking about that in more detail very soon in my follow-up article to the Four Reasons why Dollhouse might be Renewed.

Coming soon to a screen near you

Is it just me or is nothing major going on in H-Wood (other than massive layoffs)?
Well, actually, a couple of other things have been happening lately.

For one, here are two pics from upcoming pilots.
One is for ABC’s Flash-Forward ($7 million budget), the other one is for FOX’s Absolutely Fabulous.

Over here, the Jules Verne Festival in Paris has just announced its last event for the whole 3 days, after a disappointing opening night (a documentary about the moon basically), and both a small Lost and even smaller BSG event, the only night left to reveal was the closing one.
Barely two weeks before this night, they finally reveal that they’re going to honor Gerard Depardieu.
What the frak?
Some people were expecting a Star Trek premiere or something similar (they hyped it as if it was going to be something major), and we get a tribute to Depardieu?
I know he’s a great actor and all that, but, seriously, we’re talking about a festival named Jules Verne.
How does he relate in any possible way to “adventure” or “science-fiction” or “fantasy”?
No wonder they waited until the last minute to reveal what was going to be night about.

The jury is also even more ridiculous than last year.
What a disappointment overall.
I hope we’ll at least get something epic off the BSG/Lost events.

In the meantime, let’s take a quick look at Showtime.
The cable network has passed on The L Word spin-off as well as theMatthew Perry/Peter Tolan comedy, The End of Steve.
Is this a huge mistake? Time will tell.
Steve will however be shopped around to other nets.
I’m expecting Tim Robbins’ Possible Side Effects to be picked up though.

Also, no surprise, AMC has renewed Breaking Bad.