Take Me To The Pilots ’12: ABC’s ‘The Zero Hour’ – by Daniel Fienberg
The Pitch: Horologists, Nazis, Rosicrucians and Goose… Oh my!
Quick Response: In previewing “Do No Harm” last week, I mentioned that it was one of “three or four audaciously weird, wacky and possibly terrible (but possibly terribly addictive) new dramas” premiering at midseason. ABC’s “The Zero Hour” is another. Creator Paul T. Scheuring (“Prison Break”) is no stranger to seemingly unsustainable premises that may have been better suited to a miniseries format and I guess you could *kinda* argue that “Prison Break” found ways to regularly reinvent itself frequently enough to justify airing for four seasons, rather than for eight episodes as a Limited Series Event. But “Zero Hour,” with its tenuous and sometimes foolhardy alternate history involving the secret religious orders and scientific exploration and the Holocaust, is possibly even less suited for a long run and even more suited for a strictly capped episode run. Some stories aren’t meant to run for 200 episodes and I get the feeling that with its Rosicrucians, demon babies, underground clockmakers and 12-centric numerology, “The Zero Hour” should maybe run 10 hours, deliver answers and get out while the getting’s good.
Tag: TVWriter™
How the Copyright Bots Kept Us From Seeing Neil Gaiman Receive His Hugo for DOCTOR WHO!
What? There’s “copyright bots?” WTF?
How copyright enforcement robots killed the Hugo Awards – by Annalee Newitz
Last night, robots shut down the live broadcast of one of science fiction’s most prestigious award ceremonies. No, you’re not reading a science fiction story. In the middle of the annual Hugo Awards event at Worldcon, which thousands of people tuned into via video streaming service UStream, the feed cut off — just as Neil Gaiman was giving an acceptance speech for his Doctor Who script, “The Doctor’s Wife.” Where Gaiman’s face had been were the words, “Worldcon banned due to copyright infringement.” What the hell?
Strong Female Characters Trump Sexual Violence
…Nonviolently, of course. (Hence our use of the word “trump” in the title, instead of “beat,” “kill,” etc. Ah, it’s good to be entitled enlightened. Excuse the Freudian slip.)
Study: We Benefit From Seeing Strong Women on TV – by Lindsay Abrams
How Writing for Publication Really Works
We love the titles of this writer’s (Nathan Bransford) books. Jacob Wonderbar and the Cosmic Space Kapow. Jacob Wonderbar for President of the Universe. Jacob Wonderbar and the Interstellar Time Warp. Someday we’re going to have to read them. Till then, we have this:
The Publishing Process in GIF Form – by Nathan Bransford
At first you’re thinking of writing a novel and you’re all…But then you have an idea!
What Does It Mean To “Know How To Write?”
We’re moving onto The New Yorker’s turf now. Watch out, Sports Illustrated, you could be next!
EVERYTHING IS FICTION – by Keith Ridgway
I don’t know how to write. Which is unfortunate, as I do it for a living. Mind you, I don’t know how to live either. Writers are asked, particularly when we’ve got a book coming out, to write about writing. To give interviews and explain how we did this thing that we appear to have done. We even teach, as I have recently, students who want to know how to approach the peculiar occupation of fiction writing. I tell them at the beginning—I’ve got nothing for you. I don’t know. Don’t look at me.