Tagged: Fox

Fox pressuring O and Os on Conan time slot

At the moment, the official word is that Conan O’Brien and Fox are in talks, but no deal has been made; despite that, the network is already pressuring their O and Os to keep the post-news, pre-midnight timeslot open for a presumptive late night talk show featuring O’Brien, which would go head-to-head with Leno and Letterman, beginning as early as next fall.

Some affiliates are balking at the heavy hand Fox is employing, considering no deal in finalized yet and that affiliates would make more with reruns of The Office and other proven syndicated hit shows. Even the best joint supplements won’t ease the limb-pulling going on, but in the end, you just know that it’s going to happen; Fox is the biggest network without a signature late night talk show, and O’Brien’s profile has never been higher.

Captain Jack to play it straight in US?

Former Doctor Who showrunner and Torchwood creator Russel T. Davies has been tapped by US producers to adapt his original series, Torchwood, to a US audience. While that’s the good news, the cautionary note is that US producers are asking Davies, who is gay, to transform Torchwood’s male lead character, Captain Jack Harkness, from an “omnisexual” character to one who is straight.

While Davies is allegedly willing to consider such a change for US audiences, the actor who originated the role on the BBC version, John Barrowman, isn’t excited by the prospect, regardless of whether he’s tapped to reprise the role, play it out via security cameras, or not involved at all0.

Barrowman has said, “The last thing I would want would be for Jack to become this heterosexual, straight hero. He’s an omnisexual guy. He likes men, women, aliens, whatever. I think we should continue going down that route.”

Fox is currently the US network showing the most interest in a US adaptation of Torchwood. Whether Captain Jack remains gay/omni/metro or not, however, the biggest challenge to adapting the show to US audiences is redefining the series concept; on BBC, the show was a direct spin-off of Doctor Who, and Torchwood is actually an anagram of the words Doctor Who; without a US version of Doctor Who to help explain the origin and purpose of Torchwood, the show could come off as a cheap imitator of Fringe or X-Files.

24 to NBC?

Keifer Sutherland’s 24 is rumored to be heading for cancellation after this, the show’s eighth season; however, word around the ‘wood is that NBC has approached Fox to discuss terms on picking up the show for at least one additional season.

NBC is show-hungry after axing five hours of prime-time television to make way for the failed Jay Leno Show, and 24 is a solid performer, even though its costs are high and the ratings aren’t as stellar as they were when the show was fresh.

However, a switch to NBC could lead to nightmare scenarios like having the network force 24′s producers to force “go green” messages into their anti-terrorist drama. Sounds like a bigger recipe for disaster than simply having Keifer munching on tatuaje cigars throughout an entire season.

Glee gets early second-season renewal!

Glee has moved to the head of the class, so to speak; after taking a load of herbal diet supplements, the cast was overjoyed to hear they’ve already been approved by Fox for a second season. Word is, terrific merchandising sales on the two soundtrack albums and the first half-season collection of episodes on DVD haven’t hurt the freshman show at all, and played a role in the early renewal.

How well the show will wear over time will be the next big test; NBC’s Chuck was a hot show in its first season and only barely survived to a third season, though it is definitely a welcomed respite from an otherwise dreary NBC lineup this season, now that Chuck is back!

Hopefully, Glee will wear well, and will be wise enough to graduate its cast off the show, and cast wisely their replacements, each and every season. No one wants to see these 22-year-olds playing 15 when they’re 26-year-olds playing 19 and somehow still in high school, like the Sweathogs.

Fox’s Reilly hush-hush about Conan opp

Fox’s Kevin Reilly isn’t saying much, but has admitted that should Conan O’Brien become “available,” his network might just jump back into the late night game. Fox has been without a serious competitive late night show since axing, what was it… Chevy Chase?

While the whole NBC blow-up is enough to make anyone need the best cholesterol medication available, in the end I think O’Brien is the funniest of the three. Best of luck, Conan!

Fringe looks tops

When it comes to new shows this fall – genuinely new shows and not last seasons rookie-year relaunches, which have plenty of promising skeins – nothing beats the promise of J.J. Abrams’ latest effort, Fringe, on Fox.

Billed as a bit of a modern take on the X-Files concept, the show promises to be more accessible to new viewers than recent creations like Lost and Alias. While any J.J. Abrams effort is anticipated as much as an acne cure, this show marks his first effort outside of ABC in quite some time.

Fox, which is doing well with shows like House, Bones and 24, is overdue for its next runaway hit; Fringe is my best bet for delivering on that.

Murdoch OKs Borat 2… can America be duped again?

According to online media reports, Sacha Baron Cohen has received the green light to make a sequel to his subversive, politically-incorrect comedy, Borat. However, the tentatively-titled Borat 2 won’t be zooming into theaters in 2007, since the comic is hard at work on his next film, already in production, which focuses on his gay Austrian fashonista character, Bruno. Universal owns the rights to the Bruno movie while Fox/NewsCorp holds the Borat rights.

The big question is this. When filming Borat, Baron Cohen’s work and characters were known by only a small portion of US households who watched Da Ali G Show on HBO. Now, in the wake of the first movie’s huge popularity and box office success, the real question becomes whether the proposed Borat 2 will be another guerrilla-film-making experience, or whether a second film will be forced to move to a more traditional “scripted comedy” style of film making, since it’s doubtful that Baron Cohen can fool people as easily now that his face and the character’s name are well-known.

Considering that Baron Cohen and Fox are still facing fraud lawsuits over the first film, it’s hard to say which way they franchise will go, although a fully scripted and acted comedy would certainly reduce the shock-n-awe appeal of the first film. The difference in approach could make the two films seem as different from each other as The Blair Witch Projects “discovered footage, maybe this is real” approach, and “Blair Witch 2: Book of Shadows” lame casted drama sequel, that never pretended to be anything but a standard teen horror flick.

Whatever happens, Baron Cohen may want to invest in some disaster kits to deal with possible reactions when any new “victims” find out they’ve been “Borat-ed.”