Development

Apple

Apple’s App Store-based reality show is its second rumored TV series

Multiple outlets are reporting that Apple’s second major television initiative will be a reality/non-scripted series. The computer giant is reportedly working with Will.i.am, Ben Silverman, and Howard T. Owens to “spotlight the app economy,” according to an article originally printed in the New York Times. This joint venture marks the first officially Apple-announced series in what is rumored to be its big play against streaming giant Netflix.

Details are very scarce outside of the project’s acknowledgement. The format for distribution isn’t really even known at this point, although it can be reasonably assumed the series will be available through Apple Music. Apple recently offered an exclusive concert film of Taylor Swift’s blockbuster 1989 world tour through the new streaming service.

Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet software and services, announced the engagement. He told the New York Times, though, that interested parties should not read too much into the initiative, shunning speculation of Apple’s intent to take on popular streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime.

“This doesn’t mean that we are going into a huge amount of movie production or TV production or anything like that,” Cue told the newspaper. Still, Apple historically has never been one to tip their hand to developing projects early in their inception.

The App Store reality show was developed by Silverman, executive producer of such hit shows as Jane the VirginMarco Polo, and Flaked.

Previous rumors have revealed Apple’s intent to create original programming. Aside from the App Store reality series, Apple was heavily tipped to have been working with Dr. Dre on Vital Signs, an original series loosely based on Dre’s personal life.

The App Store opened for business on July 10, 2008, to immediate success on Apple’s iPhone and through iTunes. It currently boasts more than 1.5 million apps and downloads topping 100 billion. There have been hundreds of success stories, but none have been so high profile as perhaps the Flappy Bird game. The mobile game was rumored to have grossed $50,000 per day before the developer removed the game due to  its overwhelming response.

It is not known what kinds of stories Apple will be telling with its App Store reality series.

Flappy Bird expose anyone?

Apple

Apple is reportedly moving full steam ahead with original streaming content in an extension of its partnership with Dr. Dre. As originally reported in The Hollywood Reporter, the tech giant is pursing a dark drama called Vital Signs that is starring the Beats co-founder. The series is reportedly loosely based on Dre’s personal life and will focus on Dre’s reaction to various emotions during important phases of his life. The half-hour series will likely be offered through Apple Music.

Vital Signs is rumored to be full of sex and violence, which will undoubtedly help distinguish it among the variety of online and network programming. In fact, THR reports that an extended orgy sequence was filmed this week. Apple and Dre declined to comment to THR on the series, but Sam Rockwell (Poltergeist) and Mo McCrae (Murder in the First) are rumored to have been cast.

Vital Signs reportedly runs six episodes and is directed by music video director Paul Hunter.

Hairspray

Following the major success of last season’s The Wiz Live!, NBC has announced that their next live musical presentation is going to be none other than the hair-tastic Hairspray. I’m telling you now that this is going to be a ratings behemoth.

Hairspray is an interesting animal simply because of its production history. John Waters directed the cult classic film in 1988, and then it became a hit Broadway musical in 2002. It cleaned up at the Tony Awards that year (collecting 8 including Best Musical), and then was turned into a critically acclaimed movie musical in 2007. The second film adaptation was nominated for 3 Golden Globes and an Outstanding Ensemble Screen Actors Guild Award.Hairspray

So why is Hairspray a great choice for NBC? Unlike the grittier Waters original, the musical adaptation is one of the cheeriest musicals of the last 10 years, and its singable score invades your brain for days to come. Tracy Turnblad is a lovable leading lady, and she’s one of the only chubby characters to snag the stud of  any musical. The show has a squeaky clean message of tolerance and accepting others, so that will be gold for NBC to capitalize on. The cast is also massive, so NBC could parade a nice sized group of musical all-stars for this show.

The question now is who will star as the pint-sized girl who wants to change the world? Any suggestions?

The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that Matthew Weiner has selected his first gig since the series finale of his chain-smoking, critical darling, Mad Men. Weiner is going to be helming an episode of the upcoming fourth season of Netflix’s Orange is the New Black.

The Jenji Kohan prison comedy (or drama as the Emmy voters see it) has previously had some famous faces behind the camera. Jodie Foster was nominated for both the Directors Guild of America and Emmy Awards for her direction on Orange, and Nicole Holofcener directed last season’s “Fake It Till You Fake It Some More.”

Weiner and Kohan have been friends for years, and there is no word yet on what episode he will be directing. One thing is for certain, though. Weiner is great with ensembles, and Orange is the New Black is one of the strongest ensembles currently on television. Star Laura Prepon echoed Weiner’s strength with a large production:

“With a huge cast like ours, when you have a director who knows exactly what they want, it makes everything go a lot smoother. I love Matt — he’s awesome” she said.

Will Weiner’s magic touch bring season 3 naysayers back to Litchfield? He has collected an impressive 9 Emmy Awards for producing and writing both Mad Men and The Sopranos, but Weiner hasn’t won any for directing.

Today, Showtime announced a filming start date for its 2017-targeted Twin Peaks reboot. Beginning in September 2015, Kyle MacLachlan will reprise his role as Agent Cooper with David Lynch directing the script by Lynch and Mark Frost. Other casting announcements are pending, but most original cast members are believed to return. 

This announcement is a step in the right direction after months of “will they or won’t they” drama regarding budget, casting, and Lynch’s official participation. The reboot was originally target to air in 2016, but due to the numerous production delays, the new season of Twin Peaks is unlikely to air until 2017.

  

Here we go again with the Twin Peaks drama.

First, Showtime’s on board and so were Kyle MacLachlan and writer/director David Lynch and co-writer Mark Frost. Then, Lynch seemed iffy on the project. But the scripts were ready! But then Lynch said Showtime was cheap and backed out completely. Then, the cast members got all “We Are the World” and made a You Tube video. Then, Lynch came back! With double the original series order!

Oh happy day, right?

Well, now Frost told the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum – side note: an odd place to divulge such information – that the series won’t actually premiere in 2016 after all. It’s been pushed back to 2017, according to Variety.

“A lot of people always look back at ‘Twin Peaks’ and say that was the start of this explosion we’ve had in good television drama, but we did it in a time when there were still only three networks,” said Frost. “The challenge for us is to try and come back and raise the bar above what we did the last time. We’re coming back with season three of ‘Twin Peaks’ after a 25-year absence. We’ve finished the scripts, we start production in September, and that will be coming out on Showtime sometime in 2017.”

So, another twist in the saga of Twin Peaks. I’m all for producing the right show that honors the original series. I won’t deny, though, that I’m a little disappointed.

I just hope that gum I love comes back into style at some point before I die.

We’ve all heard that Hollywood just recycles old ideas over and over, mass producing entertainment for the masses. Twin Peaks. The X-FilesMinority ReportCoach. The 10,000th take on Frankenstein. Call it the McDonald’s Effect on television, comfort food for the mind. Still, even I was a bit taken aback by the sheer volume of remakes and revisits announced today by multiple networks.

I know that favorites House of Cards and Game of Thrones were famously based on other material, but is this what we really expect from the “Golden Age of Television?”

Most high profile among the announcements today was FOX’s revelation that they are developing a short event series based on the smash 1987 thrilled Fatal Attraction which famously starred Michael Douglas and Glenn Close. Before rolling your eyes too quickly, the project will be penned by Mad Men writers Marie and Andrew Jacquemetton for Paramount Television. The series, detailing a married man’s affair and the subsequent fallout, has the potential to continue into a second season should the project prove successful.

Following closely in the prestige project list is A&E’s remake of the classic 70s mini-series Roots which has attracted Laurence Fishburne, according to today’s Variety. The new project has been described as incorporating elements of the original mini-series while adding new content pulled from historical research. The big question in my mind is how critics will react to the project after the minor push-back the Oscar-winning 12 Years a Slave received for its similarity to the original Roots mini in certain quarters.

Lifetime TV made two additional fairly large announcements today. One included the announcement of an original film about the life of Charlie Manson. While technically not a remake, the story of Charlie Manson has been oft-told, most recently in NBC’s Aquarius. This new production, tentatively titled Manson’s Lost Girls, centers around the girls who fell under Manson’s influence and carried out a series of brutal murders in the late 60s. The announced cast includes Jeff Ward (The Mentalist) as Manson and MacKenzie Mauzy (Into the Woods), Eden Brolin (I Dream Too Much), and Greer Grammer (Awkward) as the influenced girls.

Also from Lifetime is yet another “Unauthorized” telepic of behind the scenes shenanigans of famous television shows. Following in the footsteps of Lifetime’s Saved By the Bell and the yet-to-air Beverly Hills, 90210, and Full House pics is the Unauthorized Melrose Place Story. This outing will reportedly center on the recruitment of Heather Locklear to save the once-flagging drama. No word on whether or not Marcia Cross’s storyline as psycho Kimberly will be incorporated.

Finally, ABC announced today that Black-ish star Anthony Anderson will host a 6-episode reboot of the classic game show To Tell The Truth. Betty White and NeNe Leakes have been announced as panelists for the truth-telling show. The addition of the new game show is in direct reaction to the recent success of Celebrity Family Feud on Sunday nights.

Well, this is an unexpected turn of events. Sort of…

David Lynch broke to Twitter again today to announce that his much-anticipated Showtime-based Twin Peaks revival is once ahead moving ahead at full steam. With Lynch at the helm of the enter season. That’s the somewhat unexpected part. I never really imagined that the highly publicized revival (nor the cable helmer with huge pockets) would move forward with the cult favorite without its central creative force in tact.

The unexpected part is that Showtime has committed to more than the originally allotted nine episodes, allowing for much more cherry pie than originally anticipated. Showtime has confirmed the joint effort with Lynch but has not commented on how many episodes the limited series will run.

Lynch had previously announced on Twitter that he was backing out of the project due to budget disputes with Showtime. The series had been scripted by Lynch and original series co-creator Mark Frost. Original Twin Peaks cast members took to You Tube to express support for Lynch. Kyle MacLachlan remains the sole officially cast actor for the series.

Twin Peaks, barring any additional budget disputes, will premiere on Showtime in 2016.

Variety reported today that the Weinstein Company plans to pursue a television “event series” based on Truman Capote’s seminal In Cold Blood. This isn’t the first time the novel has been optioned for television – Anthony Edwards, Eric Roberts and Sam Neill starred in a 1996 CBS miniseries.

The Weinstein project will be produced by Gary Oldman (Bram Stoker’s Dracula) and Douglas Urbanski’s Flying Studios with Kevin Wood penning the script. No official filming start date or eventual air date has been announced.

The In Cold Blood saga has seen its way to the big screen in three incarnations: in 1967 with Robert Blake, in 2005 with Philip Seymour Hoffman as Capote, and in 2006 with Toby Jones playing Capote in Infamous.

You hear that? That’s the sound of a legion of garter belts getting in a twist.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, and the milestone is being met with the announcement that FOX will be presenting a remake on television. Kenny Ortega, the man behind the High School Musical franchise, will helm the project, but it will not be a live broadcast like NBC’s Peter Pan or The Sound of Music.

According to Entertainment Weekly, Ortega will be sticking to the original 1973 stage material by Jim Sharman and Richard O’Brien. Does this mean we will get a rendition of Rocky Horror with the forgotten Brad Majors ballad, “Once in a While”? Since this presentation won’t be televised live, it might give Ortega more directorial freedom, but does this mean content will be toned down? Will the casting be as overly scrutinized as it was when NBC announced their leading ladies?

I only have one suggestion: If you’re going to touch-a-touch-a something some iconic, make it better than the Glee/Rocky Horror episode (probably the last time it was on prime time). That shouldn’t be that hard, right?

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