facebook_pixel Press "Enter" to skip to content

Looking to start your TV writing journey?

Posts tagged as “Flashpoint”

TV Mid-Season '09: The Complete Review – What is coming back

As we know, who says new year, says new schedule.

Time for The Complete Review’s awesome second part about the mid-season.
Let’s get it on and start things off with what is coming back.
I am not here talking about shows that premiered in fall, rather shows from last year that we have all been waiting for (or not?).

They’re back again. With a full stomach.


– Flashpoint – Season 2 (premieres Jan. 9): As previously reported, including the last 4 episodes from Season One, the second season should be comprised of 22 fresh episodes. Can it still be the hit it was last year? Only time (and Nielsen) will tell.


– Friday Night Lights – Season 3 (premieres Jan. 16): The season that has already been shown on DirecTV. I’m waiting for the HD release to watch it. Has it refound its Season One epicness?


– Scrubs – Season 8 (premieres Jan. 6): If you still haven’t heard, don’t be confused; Scrubs has moved to ABC due to shitty programming by NBC (amongst other things). If you want to get spoiled on the season/series-finale, there’s an interview with Bill Lawrence (the show’s creator) talking about that and what will happen once he and Zach Braff leave at the end of this year (yes, the show will probably continue in some form).
– Lost – Season 5 (premieres Jan. 21): They got off it. Now how do they go back?


– 24 – Season 7 (premieres Jan. 11): 24: Redemption was crap, and so were the first 15 minutes of the Season 7 premiere. Mix that with Tony Almeida coming back from his grave as a villain, and you’ve got another crappy 24 season on your hands. Or perhaps not?


– Reaper – Season 2 (premieres March 17): Cool first season, although I preferred Chuck to it.


– Big Love – Season 3 (premieres Jan. 18): Never saw the point of this show.
– Flight of the Conchords – Season 2 (premieres Jan. 18): I am told it is awesomely great.


– The L Word – Season 6 (premieres Jan. 18): Haven’t watched the show since Season 3 so can’t really comment on it.

The Big Unknown
The Tudors – Season 3 (Spring): How can a historical show continue to reinvent itself? By changing History.


– Battlestar Galactica – Season 4 (or rather 5) (premieres Jan. 16): This show has disappointed me so much since the third season, I just want to get it over with.


– Damages – Season 2 (premieres Jan. 7): The first season was epic and the second is supposed to begin where we last left off our awesome characters. Unfortunately it is quite probable that this second season will be less formidable than the first, though still quite entertaining nonetheless.

The Big Unknown
Rescue Me – Season 5 (Spring): The latest season was just okay with completely useless mini episodes. Let’s hope Rescue Me can wake up (I was about to do a Rescue Me play on word but waaaaay too easy). Michael J. Fox is coming back to TV with a role as Janet’s new love interest.

Now that we’ve seen new seasons, we’ll get a good look at the fresh new shows coming our way for this mid-season.
My guess is: awesomeness is coming.

The smell of change in the morning

Some more fresh news hot off the printer.

Let’s begin with a quick follow-up to my awesome prediction from the other day on how 3-D will rule us all in a decade or so.

What’s the one industry that can make or break a format? Or, in our case, a new era of entertainment pleasure?
Was your first thought ‘porn’?
If yes, then you’d be right.
If we would have been talking about the 90s.
Porn embraced first HD DVD and look where that format went.
Bottom line is: Porn endorsement is now kinda useless, especially when everyone is basically downloading his (her?) porn.
There’s also no 3-D Porn in the works as far as I know.
But I have high hopes (or is that low expectations?) that one is coming our way soon.
No pun intended.
Seriously.

Don’t worry, I’m going somewhere with all of this.

So, back to the question.
What’s the industry that will lead Joe Six Pack to watch 3-D stuff?
It’s not per se an entertainment industry, but it definitely has its own (big, huge) weight.
I am of course talking about sports.
And to be more precise, the NFL.
Tomorrow night will be broadcast live in 3-D to theaters in Los Angeles, New York and Boston a game between the San Diego Chargers and the Oakland Raiders.


I may go out on a huge limb here again, but I’m pretty sure that in 2 decades, if not less, watching 3-D sports at home will become a common thing.

Also, LG announced that they would try to market at least one 3-D TV in 2009.
And we’re already in December 2008 folks.

Meanwhile, CBS just announced its mid-season schedule while ABC the premiere date of some of its new shows.

Let’s begin with CBS.
First things first, Flashpoint season 2 will premiere Jan. 9.
Did I forget to mention that the missing 4 episodes from season 1 are added to the whopping total of 18 season 2 episodes ordered?
That’s a full season of 22 episodes for you.
The 13-hour Harper’s Island (I sense a backdoor series somewhere) will be broadcast from April 9 to July 2.

Not much more news regarding dramas since there hasn’t been much canceling lately on CBS’ side.

Remember how NBC only announced their January skeds?
Well it seems that ABC is announcing the premiere of its new shows — for around March-April.
Mondays (March 9) will see the arrival of the long-awaited Castle (by most Nathan Fillion fans).
The reboot of Rob Thomas’ Cupid will premiere meanwhile starting March 24 on Tuesdays.
The Unusuals will take place on Wednesdays (beginning April 8).

Why so late?
Well, you might have guessed this, but ABC wants to finish showing its fall shows before beginning its mid-season’s.

Notice a trend in all of this?
Mid-season shows are beginning more and more frequently to premiere late in the season (as late as April-May for some).
Are we converging to year-long original drama programming or what?

Spec Flashpoint – Final Thoughts

Final Thoughts

What we have done here is barely touching the surface of what could be done around Flashpoint.
It’s easy to talk all day about the show but if you don’t write that spec, it’s pointless.
The hardest step is to finish that first draft, so just do it!

Ideas for your Flashpoint spec can be found anywhere. The show is often based on real-life cases.
For instance the pilot episode was inspired by an ETF sniper shooting.

I would probably avoid however basic hostage situations as it has been done and redone on the show.

The teaser is a crucial part of the show and its structure. It must hook the reader/viewer.
Someone holding someone else at gunpoint also has been quite done on FP so be careful on not recycling stories.

The most important part of the story are the characters.
Linking the story to them and making the audience care is a crucial part.
As seen previously, the background of the SRU members has been well developed, so you can maybe tap into that for your spec.
Choose wisely the SRU member you want to center on. The whole thing must make sense (at the very least thematically).
Create interesting antagonists that we will root for or against.

Don’t make a happy ending for the sake of it, but don’t kill everyone in a big atomic explosion.
Everything must happen for a reason.

For more info on the show you should also look for interviews with the writers.
Jill Gollick has several of those around the creation of the show.
Actually, she even made a much better breakdown of the pilot episode than mine (with character beats et al.). So definitely check that out.

Why not as well go on fan forums and official boards (such as CTV’s) to garner even more info (from the fans’ POV).

The series is fresh enough that you can get away with almost any storyline for the moment, as long as the characters and their actions are believable and interesting.

Trust yourself, trust your writing, and write it.

Good luck!