Tag: TV writing

Hoo Boy! An Aircraft Carrier Drama!

We haven’t been this excited about a show since, oh, SUPER TRAIN. (Mom made us watch from the womb.)

2 unrecognizable writers with deals we wish we had

Fox Buys Aircraft Carrier Drama From Writers Russel Friend and Garrett Lerner – by Nellie Andreeva

Longtime House executive producers Russel Friend & Garrett Lerner are back at Fox with a new project. The network has handed out a script commitment with penalty to an untitled ensemble drama written and executive produced by Friend and Lerner. Set at a naval aircraft carrier, the project has an upstairs/downstairs dynamic:  the “downstairs” is filled with 18-20-year-olds, their coming-of-age stories heightened by the life and death nature of their everyday jobs; the “upstairs” is anchored by a female fighter pilot and her season long quest to solve a murder that occurs on board…

Lerner and Friend joined House at the beginning of season 2 as co-executive producers and were upped to executive producers at the end of Season 3. They stayed with the show until the end of its eight-season run in May. read article

It’s Official: Dan Harmon is No Longer an Underdog

Another day, another deal. We’re thinking NBC did Dan a favor:

COMMUNITY’s Dan Harmon Also Signs TV Deal with CBS – by Adam Chitwood

Following his very public ousting from the showrunner position at NBC’s Community, fans were eager to know where Dan Harmon’s inevitable new series would pop up.  As the key creative force behind the brilliance of Community, Harmon fielded interest from a number of networks.  It appeared as though we had our answer when news broke last week that Harmon was nearing a deal with Fox for a new multi-camera comedy series, but now word comes that Harmon is alsopenning a project for CBS. read article

All Hail the Hack Writer – Especially This Hack Writer

The 6 Most Important Sci-Fi Ideas (Were Invented by a Hack) – by Cezary Jan Strusiewicz

The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells is credited as one of the most influential science fiction books ever written, having introduced ideas like super-advanced aliens coming to Earth and said aliens hating the shit out of us and trying to wipe us out. Even though it was published as a novel all the way back in 1898, it’s seen as the blueprint for every alien invasion blockbuster released more than a century later. This article isn’t about that book.

In the same year, a writer named Garrett P. Serviss crapped out an unauthorized sequel to Wells’ book called Edison’s Conquest of Mars, in which famed inventor Thomas Edison turns the tables on the aliens from The War of the Worlds by flying to Mars and killing all of them with his revenge boner — it’s the Victorian-era equivalent of shameless straight-to-DVD crapfests like Transmorphers and Titanic II. read article

Chuck Lorre’s Putting Out a Book

…And you can too, once you’re rich, almost famous, and on Charlie Sheen’s Enemies List:

Chuck Lorre Releasing $100 Coffee Table Book – by Margaret Lyons

Chuck Lorre is releasing a coffee table book composed of selections from the vanity cards he airs at the end of each of his shows (Grace Under Fire, Cybill, Dharma & Greg, Mike & Molly, Two and a Half Men, The Big Bang Theory). What Doesn’t Kill Us, Makes Us Bitter will cost $100. Yes, $100. The money goes to charity, but that still seems like a lot just to read a rich guy complain about how critics don’t like Two and a Half Men enough. The book doesn’t include all the vanity cards, but they did throw that extra comma in the title for free, so …

munchman: DOCTOR WHO Season Trailer

It’s the Doctor! It’s the Doctor! Just the sight of him makes both my hearts stand still.