Fall TV Blues (or perhaps that should be Blows)
So, it's the fall TV season, and normally that's a time of excitement (well, at least, for people like me who have no life), new shows coming out that might become a favorite. And I'm glad a few shows are returning, but other than that... I'm feeling very meh this time around about what's out there. Oh, I'm sure there are probably some decent dramas or sitcoms for people who like those, but I'm a SF guy (and fantasy to a lesser extent), but what they're offering does not thrill me.
In fact, although I'll probably be checking out 4-5 new shows, I can't think of one that I'm the least bit excited about beyond the level of "well, it's something to watch, maybe it'll be better than I expect." That's because mostly they seem pretty lame, either conceptually, or just what I've seen of the previews, or both. Mostly conceptually, though, because before I watch it, the concept is what drags me to the screen and gets me excited.
I was discussing this on a chat the other day (okay, maybe about a week ago), and instead of just complaining about the shows that ARE coming out, I wanted to talk about the fall season I WISH we could have... shows that would get me excited if they were debuting this year. I'm focusing on ideas that I think can be done on a reasonable budget. I'd love to see grand, space opera SF epics with loads of effects, but one must be realistic, so I'm trying to limit myself to things that I think could be done with about the same amount of money that the shows out now have.
To make it a little more fun, I'll list the 'types' of genre shows we've seen offered this year, and give my own concept for one of these types, one that again, would get me excited if I heard there was a show about it coming out. Disclaimer: I hate coming up with names. So, whenever I need one for a pitch, I will freely use lame ones like "John Smith" and "Jane Doe". Just substitute a cool name whenever you see a lame one.
The Big Time Travel Showcase (Terra Nova):
I just can't get into Terra Nova. The concept's okay, I guess, but aside from 'woo, dinosaurs are cool and occasionally scary', I'm getting a sense of... that it's basically a 'frontier' show, without much interesting or cool going for it in the story, except instead of attacks by bears, it'll be dinosaurs. Even if they had some sort of indigenous intelligent-dinosaur civilization (lost to time), it would be a little better but still just people trying to build a new world. Now, I always thought a cooler way to do the story, if you were going to do the basic premise, was to have everybody jump several million years into the FUTURE, after Earth had recovered, and new life had evolved. But, abandoning the basic premise, here's my high concept time travel show.
Future Shock:
A government research lab conducts an experiment in teleportation... with a stunning and unexpected result. Now, the city of (I don't know, let's say... Albuquerque, New Mexico) is sent back in time to the 1950s. With no way to get home, they must survive in a world in the midst of a Cold War... a war that their advanced technology and knowledge of the future might make Hot.
I enjoy the "whole community sent back in time" genre, as exemplified by the novels/series 1632 (in which a midwestern US town is inexplicably transported to Europe in 1632), and Island in the Sea of Time (in which the modern-day island of Nantucket, along with a coast guard ship that happened to be in the area, are sent back in time to the Bronze Age). They're in the past, no way back, they just have to make the best of it, and deal with the people at that time, try to introduce their technological improvements, things like that. I didn't choose one of those books specifically to adapt because I didn't want this all to be adaptations of existing works, but obviously I'd be happy with either of them, too (probably Island more).
I chose the 50s because it's "in" now (with Mad Men and such), and lets you explore the culture shock, have people meet relatives who were dead in their time, and also because you don't have to move the city somewhere else on Earth as well as in time in order to interact with the most well-known parts of history like you would if you had it a few centuries ago (although interacting with Native peoples in North America could make some good stories too). Plus, it's less expensive. In fact, no matter what time you choose it's pretty inexpensive, since you can set much of the story in the city-from-the-present, and on location you often have a lot of wilderness or stuff you can get from other period dramas.
Other options (if you wanted to ditch the time-travel-to-the-past part of the category, and the title) would be the city being transplanted to an alien planet, or to the present, but an alternate history (a la the novel Mysterium, by Robert Charles Wilson). I might like the latter most of all, actually, but Fringe might have that vibe covered.
The Cops + A Supernatural/SF Element Show (Grimm, Person of Interest)
Delta Green:
After a mission that nearly cost him his life, his job, and his sanity, FBI agent John Smith is approached to join a secret organization calling itself Delta Green. Every once and a while, he's called to go out with a small team and pose as EPA, DEA, or occasionally even FBI under assumed names, investigate strange phenomena, stop whatever's causing it, and make sure it never makes the news. If his cover is blown, he won't just be disavowed, he'll probably be killed. It's dangerous. It doesn't pay well. His fellow agents are a little nuts, and sometime he doubts it's even a part of the government at all.
What he does know is that Delta Green fights to save the world from horrors beyond time itself, and the people who want to bring them here. And if Delta Green fails even once, it could mean the End of the World.
I've always wanted to see a DG series, so, well, that's a natural for this category. You can play with a
small team but have dramatic twists, like one of them going insane and needing to be put down, have them start out with the people believing it's legal, just secret, then revealing that they're completely unsanctioned and that there are other secret organizations like MJ-12 that really do exist but have essentially sold out humanity, lots of questions about whether the ends justify the means in certain instances, going scorched earth to prevent an alien infestation by eliminating anyone who might have been exposed, innocent or not (because they can't afford the resources to keep them monitored or take the risk that they are and spread things again), etc.
Another option for this genre I like is reviving the "Global Frequency" idea, or something much like it (a team of people who make themselves available on an internet website that's not especially secret, listing their qualifications and a willingness to help, becoming a sort of open source intelligence agency).
Modern Day Fantasy (Once Upon a Time, Grimm again)
Neverwhere:
There's a world you don't know about. They call it London Below, because it exists in the city's abandoned subway tunnels and sewers, but it also exists beside you, parallel. They can see us, but you can't, won't see them... unless you slip through the cracks in reality and join them.
And if you do that, you'd best learn how things work fast, because there's no going back. London Below is full of monsters and magic, wonder and horror, any of which might kill you if you're not careful.
Because I've already read the book and watched the original British miniseries, I'd actually want to set this after the initial miniseries, and just either take the first mini either for granted as having happened, and use it as backstory (while including a new viewpoint character), or maybe make and adaptation the first season but then hopefully move on quickly and just focus on the fantasy of a world right beside our own.
I'd like to set it in London, but if it's on an American network they might want to set it in New York Below. If we do that, rather than try to adapt the story, I'd rather continue it... new viewpoint character, maybe Richard (and the key) is lost, and Door and the Marquis are going on a quest to try to find him, dragging this new character along with the promise that the key will let them restore their life. Maybe they do actually get Richard back fairly early, but the key is still lost.
And getting Neil Gaiman on board, in some capacity, would be a must.
Reality (OH MY GOD TOO MANY TO LIST LET IT DIE)
While I don't really like the reality genre as a whole (for SF at least, I do confess there are a few of the reality game shows I watch, but I don't like the paranormal detective stuff), I wouldn't mind a reality show that gets a lot of experts together and gives them a Sci-Fiish "What If" scenario. Like, "What if aliens landed today?" "What if we developed FTL technology"
Maybe two teams of experts, one who decide the conditions (what the aliens are like), and the other who have to cope with the problems, come up with solutions. I dunno, it's just an unformed idea.
So my real choice for this is:
"America's Next Sci-Fi Hit!":
A reality show where people design a SF show. First stage is pitches, then various challenges (securing a cast, coming in under budget) people slowly get winnowed down. The top three get full pilots made, and the winner gets a pickup for the next year.
A little like the "America's Next Top Restaurant" style, they both look at the concept of the show, and the potential showrunner's skills in important areas. The 'experts' give advice and the showrunners have to fight for their own vision, or change and risk compromising it. Maybe they have a stable of in-house actors to help workshop the shows, so for writing challenges ('introduce your characters') they perform scenes to orders, things like that.
(Technically this type of show could work for non-Sci-Fi shows as well, or an open category to design a hit TV series, some of the entries possibly being SF, but an all SF one works best for the exercise).
Ghosts (A Gifted Man, American Horror Story, Bedlam)
We'll do a twofer and combine this genre with:
Supernatural Teen Drama (Secret Circle)
Limbo High:
Death is a lot like high school...
John Smith has just died, and he wasn't a good guy... but he's been given a second chance. His soul is sent to a phantom boarding school, full of people like him, people who's lives started to go off the rails in High School. Stripped of almost all of his memories, how he behaves in Limbo High will determine his afterlife.
Some of the students start to forget they're dead and either fall back into old patterns, or try to make a new start. Others are like John, troubled by flashes of memories and people they left behind... and when one of his classmates discovers a way to sneak out of Limbo and haunt the real world, they have a chance to track down their real lives, and even contact their loved ones.
But tampering with the border between life and death is dangerous, and there's a reason souls in Limbo are stripped of their baggage... and will the truth set them free, or damn them?
Okay, it's kind of lame, but I just came up with it, and yet I still find it more interesting than any of the options in the two genres that are really shows. I do kind of like the idea of a series set in the land of the dead, and occasionally crossing over to the living world (as ghosts). I actually quite like ghosts, conceptually speaking, but sooooo over stories based on the premise of "I can talk to ghosts, let's use that gift to solve crimes/do good and/or help them over the stuff they left unfinished so they can cross over."
The Obligatory Remake Series (Charlie's Angels, this year, even though not really SF):
The Starlost:
When John Smith defies his family and his community's oldest orders, he's sentenced to death... but stumbles across an incredible truth. The world he knew is just one of several biospheres on a generation starship, sent out from Earth centuries ago to find a new home for humanity. But the ship, and the plan, has gone off course, and unless he can find a way to right it, not only will there be no promised land... humanity itself might go extinct.
I've never actually seen the series, I've heard it was awful, but I like the general thumbnail premise. I think this is an idea that could do well with a BSG-style updating, just take a couple ideas, update it, and jettison the rest.
I do worry the 'generation starship' idea, at least one with independent biospheres of several kilometers long, might be a little dated, SF-wise, but it does allow us to do it mostly on the cheap (since much of it can take place in biospheres that just look like Earth, or standard SF-hallways.
Stuff that doesn't fit into one of this year's categories but that I'd like to see anyway...
The Infinity Complex:
A John Doe, the apparent victim of a robbery, is found wearing clothes that obviously aren't his, and no identification. He has no memory of his identity, either. The only clues he has are the address to an apartment complex, and a key for apartment 1123, hidden in his shoe. The only problem is, there's no apartment 1123 in that complex.
Yet, when he and a doctor investigate, they find that there is an 1123, and it's no ordinary apartment. It has rooms and hallways that seem to stretch on for miles, and a back door. But the back door doesn't open on the same place twice. It leads to other worlds and other times, exposing the two to wonders and dangers they'd never imagined.
Yeah, I did this idea already in my April Fools post of 2010
Some kind of Whedonverse spinoff or new series
Just cause.
Yeah, not the greatest ideas, really, but again, any of them would get me more excited than anything we've seen on the networks so far.
In fact, although I'll probably be checking out 4-5 new shows, I can't think of one that I'm the least bit excited about beyond the level of "well, it's something to watch, maybe it'll be better than I expect." That's because mostly they seem pretty lame, either conceptually, or just what I've seen of the previews, or both. Mostly conceptually, though, because before I watch it, the concept is what drags me to the screen and gets me excited.
I was discussing this on a chat the other day (okay, maybe about a week ago), and instead of just complaining about the shows that ARE coming out, I wanted to talk about the fall season I WISH we could have... shows that would get me excited if they were debuting this year. I'm focusing on ideas that I think can be done on a reasonable budget. I'd love to see grand, space opera SF epics with loads of effects, but one must be realistic, so I'm trying to limit myself to things that I think could be done with about the same amount of money that the shows out now have.
To make it a little more fun, I'll list the 'types' of genre shows we've seen offered this year, and give my own concept for one of these types, one that again, would get me excited if I heard there was a show about it coming out. Disclaimer: I hate coming up with names. So, whenever I need one for a pitch, I will freely use lame ones like "John Smith" and "Jane Doe". Just substitute a cool name whenever you see a lame one.
The Big Time Travel Showcase (Terra Nova):
I just can't get into Terra Nova. The concept's okay, I guess, but aside from 'woo, dinosaurs are cool and occasionally scary', I'm getting a sense of... that it's basically a 'frontier' show, without much interesting or cool going for it in the story, except instead of attacks by bears, it'll be dinosaurs. Even if they had some sort of indigenous intelligent-dinosaur civilization (lost to time), it would be a little better but still just people trying to build a new world. Now, I always thought a cooler way to do the story, if you were going to do the basic premise, was to have everybody jump several million years into the FUTURE, after Earth had recovered, and new life had evolved. But, abandoning the basic premise, here's my high concept time travel show.
Future Shock:
A government research lab conducts an experiment in teleportation... with a stunning and unexpected result. Now, the city of (I don't know, let's say... Albuquerque, New Mexico) is sent back in time to the 1950s. With no way to get home, they must survive in a world in the midst of a Cold War... a war that their advanced technology and knowledge of the future might make Hot.
I enjoy the "whole community sent back in time" genre, as exemplified by the novels/series 1632 (in which a midwestern US town is inexplicably transported to Europe in 1632), and Island in the Sea of Time (in which the modern-day island of Nantucket, along with a coast guard ship that happened to be in the area, are sent back in time to the Bronze Age). They're in the past, no way back, they just have to make the best of it, and deal with the people at that time, try to introduce their technological improvements, things like that. I didn't choose one of those books specifically to adapt because I didn't want this all to be adaptations of existing works, but obviously I'd be happy with either of them, too (probably Island more).
I chose the 50s because it's "in" now (with Mad Men and such), and lets you explore the culture shock, have people meet relatives who were dead in their time, and also because you don't have to move the city somewhere else on Earth as well as in time in order to interact with the most well-known parts of history like you would if you had it a few centuries ago (although interacting with Native peoples in North America could make some good stories too). Plus, it's less expensive. In fact, no matter what time you choose it's pretty inexpensive, since you can set much of the story in the city-from-the-present, and on location you often have a lot of wilderness or stuff you can get from other period dramas.
Other options (if you wanted to ditch the time-travel-to-the-past part of the category, and the title) would be the city being transplanted to an alien planet, or to the present, but an alternate history (a la the novel Mysterium, by Robert Charles Wilson). I might like the latter most of all, actually, but Fringe might have that vibe covered.
The Cops + A Supernatural/SF Element Show (Grimm, Person of Interest)
Delta Green:
After a mission that nearly cost him his life, his job, and his sanity, FBI agent John Smith is approached to join a secret organization calling itself Delta Green. Every once and a while, he's called to go out with a small team and pose as EPA, DEA, or occasionally even FBI under assumed names, investigate strange phenomena, stop whatever's causing it, and make sure it never makes the news. If his cover is blown, he won't just be disavowed, he'll probably be killed. It's dangerous. It doesn't pay well. His fellow agents are a little nuts, and sometime he doubts it's even a part of the government at all.
What he does know is that Delta Green fights to save the world from horrors beyond time itself, and the people who want to bring them here. And if Delta Green fails even once, it could mean the End of the World.
I've always wanted to see a DG series, so, well, that's a natural for this category. You can play with a
small team but have dramatic twists, like one of them going insane and needing to be put down, have them start out with the people believing it's legal, just secret, then revealing that they're completely unsanctioned and that there are other secret organizations like MJ-12 that really do exist but have essentially sold out humanity, lots of questions about whether the ends justify the means in certain instances, going scorched earth to prevent an alien infestation by eliminating anyone who might have been exposed, innocent or not (because they can't afford the resources to keep them monitored or take the risk that they are and spread things again), etc.
Another option for this genre I like is reviving the "Global Frequency" idea, or something much like it (a team of people who make themselves available on an internet website that's not especially secret, listing their qualifications and a willingness to help, becoming a sort of open source intelligence agency).
Modern Day Fantasy (Once Upon a Time, Grimm again)
Neverwhere:
There's a world you don't know about. They call it London Below, because it exists in the city's abandoned subway tunnels and sewers, but it also exists beside you, parallel. They can see us, but you can't, won't see them... unless you slip through the cracks in reality and join them.
And if you do that, you'd best learn how things work fast, because there's no going back. London Below is full of monsters and magic, wonder and horror, any of which might kill you if you're not careful.
Because I've already read the book and watched the original British miniseries, I'd actually want to set this after the initial miniseries, and just either take the first mini either for granted as having happened, and use it as backstory (while including a new viewpoint character), or maybe make and adaptation the first season but then hopefully move on quickly and just focus on the fantasy of a world right beside our own.
I'd like to set it in London, but if it's on an American network they might want to set it in New York Below. If we do that, rather than try to adapt the story, I'd rather continue it... new viewpoint character, maybe Richard (and the key) is lost, and Door and the Marquis are going on a quest to try to find him, dragging this new character along with the promise that the key will let them restore their life. Maybe they do actually get Richard back fairly early, but the key is still lost.
And getting Neil Gaiman on board, in some capacity, would be a must.
Reality (OH MY GOD TOO MANY TO LIST LET IT DIE)
While I don't really like the reality genre as a whole (for SF at least, I do confess there are a few of the reality game shows I watch, but I don't like the paranormal detective stuff), I wouldn't mind a reality show that gets a lot of experts together and gives them a Sci-Fiish "What If" scenario. Like, "What if aliens landed today?" "What if we developed FTL technology"
Maybe two teams of experts, one who decide the conditions (what the aliens are like), and the other who have to cope with the problems, come up with solutions. I dunno, it's just an unformed idea.
So my real choice for this is:
"America's Next Sci-Fi Hit!":
A reality show where people design a SF show. First stage is pitches, then various challenges (securing a cast, coming in under budget) people slowly get winnowed down. The top three get full pilots made, and the winner gets a pickup for the next year.
A little like the "America's Next Top Restaurant" style, they both look at the concept of the show, and the potential showrunner's skills in important areas. The 'experts' give advice and the showrunners have to fight for their own vision, or change and risk compromising it. Maybe they have a stable of in-house actors to help workshop the shows, so for writing challenges ('introduce your characters') they perform scenes to orders, things like that.
(Technically this type of show could work for non-Sci-Fi shows as well, or an open category to design a hit TV series, some of the entries possibly being SF, but an all SF one works best for the exercise).
Ghosts (A Gifted Man, American Horror Story, Bedlam)
We'll do a twofer and combine this genre with:
Supernatural Teen Drama (Secret Circle)
Limbo High:
Death is a lot like high school...
John Smith has just died, and he wasn't a good guy... but he's been given a second chance. His soul is sent to a phantom boarding school, full of people like him, people who's lives started to go off the rails in High School. Stripped of almost all of his memories, how he behaves in Limbo High will determine his afterlife.
Some of the students start to forget they're dead and either fall back into old patterns, or try to make a new start. Others are like John, troubled by flashes of memories and people they left behind... and when one of his classmates discovers a way to sneak out of Limbo and haunt the real world, they have a chance to track down their real lives, and even contact their loved ones.
But tampering with the border between life and death is dangerous, and there's a reason souls in Limbo are stripped of their baggage... and will the truth set them free, or damn them?
Okay, it's kind of lame, but I just came up with it, and yet I still find it more interesting than any of the options in the two genres that are really shows. I do kind of like the idea of a series set in the land of the dead, and occasionally crossing over to the living world (as ghosts). I actually quite like ghosts, conceptually speaking, but sooooo over stories based on the premise of "I can talk to ghosts, let's use that gift to solve crimes/do good and/or help them over the stuff they left unfinished so they can cross over."
The Obligatory Remake Series (Charlie's Angels, this year, even though not really SF):
The Starlost:
When John Smith defies his family and his community's oldest orders, he's sentenced to death... but stumbles across an incredible truth. The world he knew is just one of several biospheres on a generation starship, sent out from Earth centuries ago to find a new home for humanity. But the ship, and the plan, has gone off course, and unless he can find a way to right it, not only will there be no promised land... humanity itself might go extinct.
I've never actually seen the series, I've heard it was awful, but I like the general thumbnail premise. I think this is an idea that could do well with a BSG-style updating, just take a couple ideas, update it, and jettison the rest.
I do worry the 'generation starship' idea, at least one with independent biospheres of several kilometers long, might be a little dated, SF-wise, but it does allow us to do it mostly on the cheap (since much of it can take place in biospheres that just look like Earth, or standard SF-hallways.
Stuff that doesn't fit into one of this year's categories but that I'd like to see anyway...
The Infinity Complex:
A John Doe, the apparent victim of a robbery, is found wearing clothes that obviously aren't his, and no identification. He has no memory of his identity, either. The only clues he has are the address to an apartment complex, and a key for apartment 1123, hidden in his shoe. The only problem is, there's no apartment 1123 in that complex.
Yet, when he and a doctor investigate, they find that there is an 1123, and it's no ordinary apartment. It has rooms and hallways that seem to stretch on for miles, and a back door. But the back door doesn't open on the same place twice. It leads to other worlds and other times, exposing the two to wonders and dangers they'd never imagined.
Yeah, I did this idea already in my April Fools post of 2010
Some kind of Whedonverse spinoff or new series
Just cause.
Yeah, not the greatest ideas, really, but again, any of them would get me more excited than anything we've seen on the networks so far.