RTD v. Moffat (Not Necessarily a Battle to the Death)

by ladyfan

As the media salivates over the ucoming season 7 of Doctor Who, lauding Steven Moffat’s work on both it and Sherlock, thereseems to be a good deal of jumping over the four seasons that actually brought Doctor Who back to life. Yes, we speak (reverentially) of what will surely in the future be known as the Russell T. Davies Dynasty (for you non Who-vians, the RTD Dynasty = Season 1-4 of new Who). Although Moffat was a freelancer on the show before his upgrade to showrunner, the voice and tone of the first four seasons is unquestionably Davies’.

The excellent and painfully truthful book about TV writing he’s co-written with Benjamin Cook reveals just how involved Davies was in the episode-to-episode process of the show – and while we wonder about how he was ever able to sleep (ever) we admire the unity of tone and carefully crafted subtle plot arcs that span from season to season each year. Bad Wolf? Torchwood? Harry Saxon? There is always a little extra credit for paying attention to the details (and if you’re an extra super nerd, like we are, watching the episode that fourth or fifth time illuminated that one reference we missed the first four times. It did! And it was worth it!) read article

Do Stand-Up? IFC May Want to Give You a Show

Blame it all on Louis C.K. Or, better yet, credit him:

IFC Inks Deal With Chris Gethard Under New Programming Initiative For Comedians – by Nellie Andreeva (Deadline.Com)

IFC has launched an “Adopt-A-Comic” program designed to spotlight the standout work of comedians who share the cable network’s “Slightly Off” sensibilities. The network’s first “adoptee” is comedian Chris Gethard(The Chris Gethard Show) who will develop his own comedy series for IFC based on his recent book, A Bad Idea I’m About To Do: True Tales Of Seriously Poor Judgment And Stunningly Awkward Adventure.  IFC has ordered a pilot script of the project. Additionally, Gethard will host on-air programming, create exclusive content for IFC.com and more. “When I told my parents I was being adopted by a television station, they said ‘Why do you need to be adopted? You are 32 years old. We gave you a pretty good, easy suburban life,’” Gethard said. “They don’t get how much of an opportunity it is for me that a hip cable network wants to raise me like a human baby.” Next year, Gethard will be seen in Iron Man 3 and is currently shooting Paul Feig’s The Heat starring Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy for 20th Century Fox.

Vince Gilligan on How the BREAKING BAD Writers Do It

Like this, kids:

Breaking Bad’s Vince Gilligan: Yep, Walter White Is Now Just a Jerk – by Denise Martin read article

NBC Wins Bidding War for Michael J. Fox Sitcom

…Which means that at least one of their 5,427 other sitcom pilots ain’t gonna make it to the air because you don’t get into bed with Michael J. Fox just to kick him out before he even performs.

(EDITED TO ADD: NBC has sent out a press release confirming that it is committed to 22 episodes now, before even shooting a pilot.)

Ahh…okay, so that’s a bit of a stretch. Credit for trying? C’mon! read article

Cutting Edge TV-Video Game or Just Another Way for a Network to Show Its Terror?

HOMELAND web game site, meaningfully named “ithitshome.” That is meaningful, right?

The good folks at HOMELAND are working desperately to make the show interactive (or at least seem interactive) and therefore attract young gamer-types to its bosom. On the one hand, this could be a way to make the show hipper. On the other hand, it could be because somebody at the network is terrified that the “all-important youth demographic” won’t show up. On the third hand, it could be both. Or something we haven’t thought of yet.

Yeah, we’ll go with the third hand. Makes controlling games much easier anyway. More importantly, how do you react to this attempt to earn your viewership/love? Let us know!