pilot news: nbc scores jabrams project
no, seriously, who's the hottest person in this picture?
This week, we heard the news that J.J. Abrams, the man behind perennially awesome Alias, Lost, and Fringe, has a new pilot in development, based on the concept of a married couple who spies together.
Described as lighter fare than his most famous projects offer, this series sounds a little like a brighter version of Mr. and Mrs. Smith.
Couple of thoughts–
Jabrams’s most enduring series have been those with heavy plots and a side of romance. People forget that he was also behind the short-lived Six Degrees and What About Brian, both of which were practically intolerable. This series is being billed as an “action-adventure-romance.” And with the main characters already coupled up, I’m skeptical about the potential one-true-pairing-ness of the whole thing.
That said, with the right leads with the right kind of chemistry and really strong writing, this sounds like an interesting concept. And of course I’ll give anything from Bad Robot the benefit of the doubt.
A bidding war ensued amongst the major networks; NBC came out as the victor. Let’s take a moment to discuss this beleaguered network. In 2006, Conan O’Brien summed up the sad fate of the peacock in his opening number as host of the Emmys. ”Well, a few years ago, we were sitting on top, with Seinfeld, Frasier, and Friends. But then those shows bailed, and the new ones failed, and it started a nasty trend. And the guy who passed on Lost? Was promoted instead of tossed–and now the peacock’s getting it from both ends.”
It’s three years and two NBC presidents later, and the network is still trying to dig itself out of the hole left by the near-simultaneous departure of Frasier, Will & Grace, and Friends. What’s worse is that The Office is aging and Steve Carell’s contract is up at the end of next season (2011). The network had to cancel shows to make room for the truly terrible Jay Leno Show at 10:00, which one hopes will not outlast the one season that NBC promised Jay. Pretty soon, the network will not only have to fill a whole lot of time with new programming, but it will also have to do this without the help of strong anchor shows.
So it sounds like a good idea to me for NBC to bid big on a show from Jabrams, especially one that seems to take a lighter spin on his spy-fi body of work. (I love it to pieces, but the world only needs one Fringe right now.) Remember that in the 2003-2004 season, ABC was looking pretty sad: Monday Night Football was keeping the lights on, and that doesn’t exactly bring in the demographics executives clamor for. The 2004-2005 season, however, introduced Desperate Housewives, Lost, and Grey’s Anatomy to the ABC schedule. And all it took was one strong season to turn the Alphabet Network around.
Could the same be true for NBC? It’s way too early to tell if Bad Robot’s latest production has the power to create an NBC renaissance, but it’s definitely promising to see them investing in quality brains so early in the process.
