Pilot season.

[the_grynne]

Jace at Televisionary has some pilot reviews for the upcoming Fall season: nay to HBO's vampire drama True Blood (based on the Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris), BIG FAT NAY to the US remake of Life on Mars (no surprises there), but an awesome YAY! to J. J. Abram's sci-fi mystery series Fringe (starring Anna Torv, John Noble and Joshua

Comments

[missus_emm]

I'm glad someone else reviewd Life on Mars US and prevented me from having to see it. I was not in the least bit convinced. Televisionary Blog seems quite good - I'm subscribing.

[the_grynne]

I so wanted it to be good, but I had my doubts as soon as I saw the direction they were going with the cast.

[ohvienna]

I've heard that they are recasting everyone in the LoM pilot except for Sam, which means they are definitely going to reshoot the pilot. Funny thing is, he's the biggest problem for me, apart from the L.A. setting. There are so many other U.S. cities that could have given off a vibe similar (but different, of course) to Manchester. I would have been interested to see how the show veered off to fill an entire US season+ more if it was a hit in any way. Now to, with Kelley gone and the makers of October Road stepping in, and the, I'm assuming unintentional hilarity of the trailer (which unfortunately utilized everything that was exactly the same about the real thing to anyone that's familiar with LoM already)...ugh. 10 bucks they cast Laura Prepon from that and That 70s Show as Annie, merr.

[the_grynne]

which unfortunately utilized everything that was exactly the same about the real thing to anyone that's familiar with LoM already

That's the problem, I think - they're trying to copy the formula, instead of finding a new visual style and tone that works for them, and when you've cast an actor who is nothing like Simm, well then what you end up with is not verisimilitude, but a big mess.

[ohvienna]

I do think the tone comes across a bit differently in that trailer -- you can tell that they're going for a lighter tone, something that's some ridiculous cross between 70s American film and Starsky and Hutch. It's bizarre and I think it doesn't work well. I don't mind that much about the style being similar (heh, they did make Sam getting hit by the car look snazzier) - again, just going by a trailer of a pilot that's going to be reshot - and the similar graphics is...okay (it works fine on The Office), I just think that the juxaposition with the L.A. setting doesn't work at all (as that blog review said, the sun and the palm trees? No way.)

It's damned if it does, damned if it doesn't for people who already love LoM. If they did something completely different, people would be up in arms about how they changed it so much -- as it is from the trailer it looks too carbon copy (mostly because they used similar shots and probably goodly chunks of the script as well, but I keep thinking about how the US pilot of The Office was so exactly

[liminalliz]

HBO WILL HAVE A VAMPIRE DRAMA? *perplexed by both FEARING SUCH A THING and COVETING IT*

[the_grynne]

It's the one with Anna Paquin playing a Southern waitress who is psychic. And she meets vampires (who are "out" in human society) and gets entangled with them, and stuff happens. I had great hopes for it, because Anna is so perfect for the role. Maybe they'll be able to reshoot the pilot before it airs.