uh what

[tempestsarekind]

(I had to use this icon. I mean, Shakespeare and witches, on TV?)

My best friend sent me a screencap of this article the other day, but I didn't have a chance to go looking for it until now:

Mark Harmon Developing Young William Shakespeare Drama for CWRead more... )

Comments

[ajodasso]

...that could either go spectacularly well or spectacularly wrong, and I'm sad to say I'm betting on the latter.

[tempestsarekind]

So am I. :) It's not that you couldn't make a good show about Shakespeare, but I am not at all convinced that these are the people to do it.

[negothick]

One wonders sometimes how these movies and TV shows keep getting financing. Who do they think their audience will be? It can't be "academics and other Shakespeare/Austen/ Darwin scholars," or they wouldn't feel the need to dumb down the scripts. I guess that the rare breakout film or show--like Shakespeare in Love or Game of Thrones--makes producers believe that the "general audience"(however defined) will somehow buy anything even vaguely similar. I can hear the elevator pitches now: "It's like Game of Thrones, only with Shakespeare"; "It's like Downton Abbey, only with Jane Austen"; "It's like. . .I don't know what!. . ., only with Darwin."

[litlover12]

Crazy, isn't it? I think they're drawing historical names out of a hat at this point.

[tempestsarekind]

Yeah - why Shakespeare, now? The Hollow Crown wasn't such a big deal that I'd expect it to have sparked this show, and otherwise I can't figure it out.

[tempestsarekind]

I actually can't figure out how one could mash up Shakespeare and Game of Thrones - I mean, Shakespeare himself, who…sat around and wrote plays, and acted a bit? Unless "Game of Thrones" actually means "anything even remotely fantasy-like" in this case.

[tempestsarekind]

Yes, that's the unfortunate bit: it could be a great subject for a TV show or miniseries, but the CW does not have the best track record! Still, you're right: maybe there will be giant tortoises!