fake TV meme-thing
from 
havocthecat
1. Comment to this post with "I surrender!" and I'll assign you the basis of some tv show idea. (Science fiction show, medical drama, criminal procedure, etc...)
2. Create a cast of characters, including the actors who'd play them
3. Add in any actor photos, character bios and show synopsis that you want.
4. Post to your own journal.
one version of this meme has people making up spin-offs for current series.
my suggestion for this meme; invent a tv movie or mini-series following the same guidelines
some can be found in this post at
havocthecat 's DW journal. others at the delicious account of
esther_asphodel
no assignments for me. i always have odd stuff floating around in my head & when i saw this i knew i had to do it.
rather hard not to cast this with all star trek people though.
this is a tv movie.
new caledonia
synopsis
new caledonia is a crime-drama set in the u.s. on a steampunk-like earth. true, there are airships, oil lamps, fountain pens & most everything is steam-powered, but there's tv & internet (everything shuts down at 10 p.m. though because who stays up later than that?) while not a matriarchal society, exactly, no one bats an eye at women is positions of authority.
cast
lieutenant rosewood (sara ramirez)
the best in new caledonia's police force. she's logical, professional & straight-laced. the only thing that gets to her is a recent series of unsolved murders & "ace reporter" darius tangiers.
darius tangiers (michael shanks)
self-described "ace reporter" for the new caledonia daily. he suspects that 12 murders of women in new caledoina over the past 3 years are connected, despite what the police say.
sergeant london jameson (dean cain)
the second best in the NC police force (& he has no problem with it) something of a ladies man, london admits to be willing to settle down if he found the right woman. he considers tangiers a menace to police work & a menace in general.
constance "connie" van pelt (kate mulgrew)
chief of the NC police force. connie worked her way up from patrol officer starting in the rough district 18. she's looking forward to early retirement in a few years. but would like these recent murders solved before they would become the blot on an otherwise near-prefect record.
chief medical examiner jaha loree (queen latifa)
descendant of the founding family of NC & one in a long line of medical personnel. thought by many to be too cheerful for a grim business. she considers herself rosewood's best friend, even if rosewood sees herself as friendless.
lian lin (ming na)
a small-time criminal with no aspirations of going big. she can get you just about anything, for a price. rosewood looks the other way in exchange for information on bigger fish.
plot & sample scenes
spoilers for a fictional tv movie.
the story opens on a gray morning; rosewood & jameson have been called to the scene of a murder. a patrol officer fills them in on the victim alesia bradford; 32, single, on her way to work at a cog factory. as usual, no one saw or heard anything. the medical examiner reports that she was strangled about 8 hours ago. the coroner's wagon arrives & jameson offers to carry the ME's equipment for her. as they walk away a flashbulb goes off near rosewood. she turns to see tangiers pop the bulb out of his camera & start to put in a new one. she advances on him and he backs up a couple of steps.
tangiers: "i see that he struck again"
rosewood: "he?"
tangiers: "most serial killers are male"
rosewood: "is that what you think we have here?"
tangiers: "isn't?"
rosewood: "is it?"
they do some verbal sparing until jameson come over & orders a patrol officer to escort tangiers away. he yells about freedom of the press. jameson complains about the press in general & tangiers in particular. later back at the police station the pair are filling out paperwork. rosewood mentions tangiers' serial killer theory, which jameson dismisses. he points out that there are roughly 40-50 murders every year in new caledonia & almost none are connected in any way, shape or form. at this point the chief strides by & tells rosewood to come to her office. jameson gives her a sympathetic look. in van pelt's office the chief shows rosewood the afternoon edition of the new caledonia daily, which features the headline of; "another NC woman struck down" with a black & white picture of a serious-looking rosewood and tangiers' byline.
van pelt: "i see this happened in district 18. my old stomping grounds. any suspects?"
rosewood: "no ma'am"
van pelt: "motive?"
rosewood: "not robbery. she still had her money pouch on her. could be domestic, we have someone looking into that"
they talk for a while about this latest case. how this compares (& doesn't) with the 11 most recent murders of women in the area. they are women with good reputations, in most cases professionals of some sort. all sorts of methods were used; beating, stabbing, strangulation, smothering, just about everything except for poison. rosewood brings up tangiers' theory, van pelt says he's just looking for a gutenberg prize for journalism. as rosewood is getting ready to leave van pelt reminds her about the mayor's ball that she & jameson are to attend. rosewood wonders why they should waste their time. van pelt's only comment that it's an election year.
the next day rosewood goes to see lian lin in a shabby-looking building near the docks. the inside is better than the outside; there's wood paneling, richly upholstered furniture, thick carpeting & crystal chandeliers. she is escorted into an office by a sumo-type man. lian greets her & rosewood comments on the decor, wondering where she stole it from. lian assures her it was all gotten by legitimate means & orders tea to be brought in for them. as she pours, lian drops veiled hints about a drug shipment that's coming in to NC, where and when the police could stop it.
lin: "i know that the police work hard to protect this city. you especially, when was your last vacation?"
rosewood: "i had 2 days off last month."
lin: "tsk. is that all? if you had a man he could make make those few days far more rejuvenating."
rosewood: "the last thing i need is a man right now."
lin: "are you sure? i could find you one you know."
rosewood: "at half-price, right?"
lian insists that she's a respectable business woman, rosewood scoffs and leaves with having touched her tea. lian notices that she didn't, frowns & barks an order in chinese to the sumo-type who comes in to take the tea things away.
a few days later rosewood & jameson are at the the mayor's formal ball griping to each other about being there instead of doing police work. the mayor drifts over with her entourage & eventually leads jameson away. he looks at rosewood as if to say duty calls. rosewood wonders out to the gardens where she finds tangiers.
rosewood: "i'm beginning to think they'll let anyone into these things."
tangiers: "it never hurts to have some leather amongst the lace. speaking of which; that's a lovely dress goldelia."
rosewood: "if. you. must. i. prefer. to. be. called. delia."
just then jameson walks over & proceeds to trade no-so thinly veiled insults with tangiers. rosewood leaves in a huff & the men blame each other for her leaving. jameson doubts that tangiers was invited to the ball and declares his intent to find out. tangiers maintains that he was invited, but leaves anyway. while jameson smirks in victory.
the next morning rosewood is called to lian lin's warehouse dear the docks. there's a swarm of police officers outside, coming & going from the building. chief medical examiner jaha loree meets her at the front entrance.
rosewood: "who was it?"
loree: "lian lin herself. never thought i'd see the day. always thought she was too smart to get found out"
rosewood: "how was she....?"
loree: "throat slashed from ear to ear. not a pretty sight"
jameson walks out and gives rosewood more details. apparently lin had either came in early or was working very late, either way she was alone. she had just collected the morning mail & brought it to her desk when she was attacked. the word informer was written in her blood on the wall behind where she lay on the floor. rosewood looks pale and walks away before jameson can continue.
later that day rosewood gets into an altercation with a drunk she's arresting & he hits her in the face. back at the police station van pelt suggests that she take the rest of the day off. she argues against it briefly before finally leaving. later that evening rosewood has made tea and is trying to relax, but keeps thinking about lian lin. there's a knock at the door rosewood answers it to find tangiers standing there. she demands to know what he wants. tangiers explains that he heard that she was attacked & he wanted to see how she was. rosewood remarks that other than a headache, she's fine. he says it must be the stress of the job. rosewood laughs and agrees that it must be. she invites him in and tangiers comments that rosewood's place is nicer than he thought it would be. she says something sarcastic and he responds in kind, they trade barbs until he calls for a truce, rosewood agrees. tangiers says he's glad that rosewood is ok, he worried about her. he always worries about her. rosewood is taken aback. tangiers announces that he intends to kiss her, then does so. after a few breathless moments they break apart.
rosewood: "you know darius, i don't think that you're supposed to announce when you're going to kiss someone"
tangiers: "with you i'd rather be safe then sorry delia."
they kiss again. in the morning tangiers comes out of the bedroom and strays into the open dining room where rosewood has several case files spread out on the table. he looks through them for a while before rosewood comes in. she yells at him for looking through them, starts to close the files & gather them up.
rosewood: "i can't believe you! looking through confidential police files! is that what last night was about?!"
tangiers: "no, last night was about last night. but delia, i just noticed something. these women who've been killed recently look like you."
rosewood: "don't be ridiculous!"
tangiers: "they all have your coloring, all the same height, all the same wei....build. delia! these women could be your sisters!"
rosewood: "what about lian lin?! what about her?! how does she fit your theory?"
tangiers: "she doesn't"
rosewood: "that's right, she doesn't!"
rosewood throws tangiers out of her house. she stomps around making breakfast and cursing tangiers. then she picks up one of the files & starts to look through it more closely. later in the afternoon tangiers goes to the police station with a bouquet flowers to apologize to rosewood. he's informed that rosewood hasn't been all day and neither has jameson. something dawn on tangiers, he throws the flowers on her desk & rushes out.
evening finds rosewood tied to a chair in the entry hall of lian lin's warehouse. her vision is blurry & she mutters about being drugged. a lamp is lit to reveal jameson, who sets the lamp on a table. he comments that he used to think that rosewood was smart, until he found out she was convorting with tangiers. rosewood responds that she wasn't, jameson calls her a lying whore & backhands her so hard that she's knocked over. he picks her up, setting the chair back on it's feet. he goes on to comment that when he saw tangiers leave her house that morning, he was sickened.
jameson: "i was right there for you, but you never noticed. the others noticed."
rosewood: "all those women....it was you?"
jameson: "i wanted them to be you so much....and they weren't. no matter how hard i tried. they. just. were. not. you!"
rosewood: "what about lian lin? was that you as well."
jameson: "she had feelers out looking for info. she thought she could score points with you. maybe retire on a high note. she was getting too close."
jameson starts to rant & rosweood notices tangiers sneaking in. she keeps jameson talking, but he hears tangiers' shoe scrape on the floor. jameson attacks him & they wrestle. rosewood struggles with the ropes tying her to the chair. tangiers briefly gains the upper hand and shoves jameson into the table with the lamp on it, knocking it over & knocking him out. the lamp breaks, sending fire up a tapestry. tangiers unties rosewood, she wonders about jameson. tangiers tells her it's too late.
outside the police & fire trucks arrive as they run out. standing off to the side rosewood ask tangiers how he knew where to find them. he explains that according to the medical report, lian lin was killed at least 1 hour before her mail arrived. jameson commented that she was found with that morning's mail. the only way it could've been brought in was by the killer & only he would know it was that morning's mail. when tangiers found out that neither rosewood nor jameson was at work, what jameson had said came back to him. when tangiers found out that rosewood wasn't at home, he figured that jameson thought that rosewood would be on to him. the first place he thought to look was lian lin's now abandoned warehouse.
rosewood berates herself for being stupid. tangiers hugs her & tells her she isn't, that she would've figured it out. it was just the fact that jameson found out about them sleeping together that set him off. rosewood wonders if anyone will believe that one of the best of the NC police force was a serial killer. tangiers tell her that he heard jameson's confession & he'll swear a to statement about what he heard. they both look at the burning warehouse & tangiers comments that this will make one hell of a story. too bad he won't write it.
the end
havocthecat
1. Comment to this post with "I surrender!" and I'll assign you the basis of some tv show idea. (Science fiction show, medical drama, criminal procedure, etc...)
2. Create a cast of characters, including the actors who'd play them
3. Add in any actor photos, character bios and show synopsis that you want.
4. Post to your own journal.
one version of this meme has people making up spin-offs for current series.
my suggestion for this meme; invent a tv movie or mini-series following the same guidelines
some can be found in this post at
havocthecat 's DW journal. others at the delicious account of
esther_asphodel
no assignments for me. i always have odd stuff floating around in my head & when i saw this i knew i had to do it.
rather hard not to cast this with all star trek people though.
this is a tv movie.
new caledonia
synopsis
new caledonia is a crime-drama set in the u.s. on a steampunk-like earth. true, there are airships, oil lamps, fountain pens & most everything is steam-powered, but there's tv & internet (everything shuts down at 10 p.m. though because who stays up later than that?) while not a matriarchal society, exactly, no one bats an eye at women is positions of authority.
cast
lieutenant rosewood (sara ramirez)
the best in new caledonia's police force. she's logical, professional & straight-laced. the only thing that gets to her is a recent series of unsolved murders & "ace reporter" darius tangiers.
darius tangiers (michael shanks)
self-described "ace reporter" for the new caledonia daily. he suspects that 12 murders of women in new caledoina over the past 3 years are connected, despite what the police say.
sergeant london jameson (dean cain)
the second best in the NC police force (& he has no problem with it) something of a ladies man, london admits to be willing to settle down if he found the right woman. he considers tangiers a menace to police work & a menace in general.
constance "connie" van pelt (kate mulgrew)
chief of the NC police force. connie worked her way up from patrol officer starting in the rough district 18. she's looking forward to early retirement in a few years. but would like these recent murders solved before they would become the blot on an otherwise near-prefect record.
chief medical examiner jaha loree (queen latifa)
descendant of the founding family of NC & one in a long line of medical personnel. thought by many to be too cheerful for a grim business. she considers herself rosewood's best friend, even if rosewood sees herself as friendless.
lian lin (ming na)
a small-time criminal with no aspirations of going big. she can get you just about anything, for a price. rosewood looks the other way in exchange for information on bigger fish.
plot & sample scenes
spoilers for a fictional tv movie.
the story opens on a gray morning; rosewood & jameson have been called to the scene of a murder. a patrol officer fills them in on the victim alesia bradford; 32, single, on her way to work at a cog factory. as usual, no one saw or heard anything. the medical examiner reports that she was strangled about 8 hours ago. the coroner's wagon arrives & jameson offers to carry the ME's equipment for her. as they walk away a flashbulb goes off near rosewood. she turns to see tangiers pop the bulb out of his camera & start to put in a new one. she advances on him and he backs up a couple of steps.
tangiers: "i see that he struck again"
rosewood: "he?"
tangiers: "most serial killers are male"
rosewood: "is that what you think we have here?"
tangiers: "isn't?"
rosewood: "is it?"
they do some verbal sparing until jameson come over & orders a patrol officer to escort tangiers away. he yells about freedom of the press. jameson complains about the press in general & tangiers in particular. later back at the police station the pair are filling out paperwork. rosewood mentions tangiers' serial killer theory, which jameson dismisses. he points out that there are roughly 40-50 murders every year in new caledonia & almost none are connected in any way, shape or form. at this point the chief strides by & tells rosewood to come to her office. jameson gives her a sympathetic look. in van pelt's office the chief shows rosewood the afternoon edition of the new caledonia daily, which features the headline of; "another NC woman struck down" with a black & white picture of a serious-looking rosewood and tangiers' byline.
van pelt: "i see this happened in district 18. my old stomping grounds. any suspects?"
rosewood: "no ma'am"
van pelt: "motive?"
rosewood: "not robbery. she still had her money pouch on her. could be domestic, we have someone looking into that"
they talk for a while about this latest case. how this compares (& doesn't) with the 11 most recent murders of women in the area. they are women with good reputations, in most cases professionals of some sort. all sorts of methods were used; beating, stabbing, strangulation, smothering, just about everything except for poison. rosewood brings up tangiers' theory, van pelt says he's just looking for a gutenberg prize for journalism. as rosewood is getting ready to leave van pelt reminds her about the mayor's ball that she & jameson are to attend. rosewood wonders why they should waste their time. van pelt's only comment that it's an election year.
the next day rosewood goes to see lian lin in a shabby-looking building near the docks. the inside is better than the outside; there's wood paneling, richly upholstered furniture, thick carpeting & crystal chandeliers. she is escorted into an office by a sumo-type man. lian greets her & rosewood comments on the decor, wondering where she stole it from. lian assures her it was all gotten by legitimate means & orders tea to be brought in for them. as she pours, lian drops veiled hints about a drug shipment that's coming in to NC, where and when the police could stop it.
lin: "i know that the police work hard to protect this city. you especially, when was your last vacation?"
rosewood: "i had 2 days off last month."
lin: "tsk. is that all? if you had a man he could make make those few days far more rejuvenating."
rosewood: "the last thing i need is a man right now."
lin: "are you sure? i could find you one you know."
rosewood: "at half-price, right?"
lian insists that she's a respectable business woman, rosewood scoffs and leaves with having touched her tea. lian notices that she didn't, frowns & barks an order in chinese to the sumo-type who comes in to take the tea things away.
a few days later rosewood & jameson are at the the mayor's formal ball griping to each other about being there instead of doing police work. the mayor drifts over with her entourage & eventually leads jameson away. he looks at rosewood as if to say duty calls. rosewood wonders out to the gardens where she finds tangiers.
rosewood: "i'm beginning to think they'll let anyone into these things."
tangiers: "it never hurts to have some leather amongst the lace. speaking of which; that's a lovely dress goldelia."
rosewood: "if. you. must. i. prefer. to. be. called. delia."
just then jameson walks over & proceeds to trade no-so thinly veiled insults with tangiers. rosewood leaves in a huff & the men blame each other for her leaving. jameson doubts that tangiers was invited to the ball and declares his intent to find out. tangiers maintains that he was invited, but leaves anyway. while jameson smirks in victory.
the next morning rosewood is called to lian lin's warehouse dear the docks. there's a swarm of police officers outside, coming & going from the building. chief medical examiner jaha loree meets her at the front entrance.
rosewood: "who was it?"
loree: "lian lin herself. never thought i'd see the day. always thought she was too smart to get found out"
rosewood: "how was she....?"
loree: "throat slashed from ear to ear. not a pretty sight"
jameson walks out and gives rosewood more details. apparently lin had either came in early or was working very late, either way she was alone. she had just collected the morning mail & brought it to her desk when she was attacked. the word informer was written in her blood on the wall behind where she lay on the floor. rosewood looks pale and walks away before jameson can continue.
later that day rosewood gets into an altercation with a drunk she's arresting & he hits her in the face. back at the police station van pelt suggests that she take the rest of the day off. she argues against it briefly before finally leaving. later that evening rosewood has made tea and is trying to relax, but keeps thinking about lian lin. there's a knock at the door rosewood answers it to find tangiers standing there. she demands to know what he wants. tangiers explains that he heard that she was attacked & he wanted to see how she was. rosewood remarks that other than a headache, she's fine. he says it must be the stress of the job. rosewood laughs and agrees that it must be. she invites him in and tangiers comments that rosewood's place is nicer than he thought it would be. she says something sarcastic and he responds in kind, they trade barbs until he calls for a truce, rosewood agrees. tangiers says he's glad that rosewood is ok, he worried about her. he always worries about her. rosewood is taken aback. tangiers announces that he intends to kiss her, then does so. after a few breathless moments they break apart.
rosewood: "you know darius, i don't think that you're supposed to announce when you're going to kiss someone"
tangiers: "with you i'd rather be safe then sorry delia."
they kiss again. in the morning tangiers comes out of the bedroom and strays into the open dining room where rosewood has several case files spread out on the table. he looks through them for a while before rosewood comes in. she yells at him for looking through them, starts to close the files & gather them up.
rosewood: "i can't believe you! looking through confidential police files! is that what last night was about?!"
tangiers: "no, last night was about last night. but delia, i just noticed something. these women who've been killed recently look like you."
rosewood: "don't be ridiculous!"
tangiers: "they all have your coloring, all the same height, all the same wei....build. delia! these women could be your sisters!"
rosewood: "what about lian lin?! what about her?! how does she fit your theory?"
tangiers: "she doesn't"
rosewood: "that's right, she doesn't!"
rosewood throws tangiers out of her house. she stomps around making breakfast and cursing tangiers. then she picks up one of the files & starts to look through it more closely. later in the afternoon tangiers goes to the police station with a bouquet flowers to apologize to rosewood. he's informed that rosewood hasn't been all day and neither has jameson. something dawn on tangiers, he throws the flowers on her desk & rushes out.
evening finds rosewood tied to a chair in the entry hall of lian lin's warehouse. her vision is blurry & she mutters about being drugged. a lamp is lit to reveal jameson, who sets the lamp on a table. he comments that he used to think that rosewood was smart, until he found out she was convorting with tangiers. rosewood responds that she wasn't, jameson calls her a lying whore & backhands her so hard that she's knocked over. he picks her up, setting the chair back on it's feet. he goes on to comment that when he saw tangiers leave her house that morning, he was sickened.
jameson: "i was right there for you, but you never noticed. the others noticed."
rosewood: "all those women....it was you?"
jameson: "i wanted them to be you so much....and they weren't. no matter how hard i tried. they. just. were. not. you!"
rosewood: "what about lian lin? was that you as well."
jameson: "she had feelers out looking for info. she thought she could score points with you. maybe retire on a high note. she was getting too close."
jameson starts to rant & rosweood notices tangiers sneaking in. she keeps jameson talking, but he hears tangiers' shoe scrape on the floor. jameson attacks him & they wrestle. rosewood struggles with the ropes tying her to the chair. tangiers briefly gains the upper hand and shoves jameson into the table with the lamp on it, knocking it over & knocking him out. the lamp breaks, sending fire up a tapestry. tangiers unties rosewood, she wonders about jameson. tangiers tells her it's too late.
outside the police & fire trucks arrive as they run out. standing off to the side rosewood ask tangiers how he knew where to find them. he explains that according to the medical report, lian lin was killed at least 1 hour before her mail arrived. jameson commented that she was found with that morning's mail. the only way it could've been brought in was by the killer & only he would know it was that morning's mail. when tangiers found out that neither rosewood nor jameson was at work, what jameson had said came back to him. when tangiers found out that rosewood wasn't at home, he figured that jameson thought that rosewood would be on to him. the first place he thought to look was lian lin's now abandoned warehouse.
rosewood berates herself for being stupid. tangiers hugs her & tells her she isn't, that she would've figured it out. it was just the fact that jameson found out about them sleeping together that set him off. rosewood wonders if anyone will believe that one of the best of the NC police force was a serial killer. tangiers tell her that he heard jameson's confession & he'll swear a to statement about what he heard. they both look at the burning warehouse & tangiers comments that this will make one hell of a story. too bad he won't write it.
the end