Day One

[nacho]

Some Day One  news:

David Lyons, Carly Pope, Adam Campbell and Thekla Reuten have joined the cast of NBC's post-apocalyptic drama pilot Day One, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Day One revolves around a group of neighbors in an apartment complex after a catastrophic event.

Lyons will play the male lead, a Marine and an Iraq veteran who is a natural leader. Reuten (Sleeper Cell) will play an odd woman who keeps copious notes on other tenants. Pope will play a brilliant young woman who lives with her boyfriend (Campbell), an MIT graduate and computer genius.

[nacho]

Spinning this out of the "failed pilots for 2009" thread since the show got picked up for 13 episodes and I'm a sucker for the poccy-clipse.

More news, and behind the scenes shots (not viewable by me at work) at the link below.

http://www.quietearth.us/articles/2009/05/04/Six-behind-the-scenes-clips-from-NBCs-postapocalyptic-DAY-ONE

[nacho]

The trailer, which I can't view at work, is up at Quiet Earth:

http://www.quietearth.us/articles/2009/07/07/Exclusive-Trailer-for-NBCs-DAY-ONE-is-like-War-of-the-Worlds-meets-LOST

[nacho]

Finally, some Day One news... And it sounds terrible!


First -- the premise:

Looks like NBC's Day One will have more in common with ABC's upcoming V than with CBS' lamented Jericho in the post-apocalyptic drama derby. (Massive spoilers ahead!)

NBC President of Prime Time Entertainment Angela Bromstad spilled more details about the show in a group interview following her press conference today in Pasadena, Calif., as part of the Television Critics Association's summer press tour, and she gave up a big piece of the show's premise: It's about an aliens.

"It's an alien invasion," Bromstad said. "Not just a disaster. It's an alien invasion." That appears to confirm impressions left by a grainy trailer for the show that was leaked online.

Earlier, Bromstad had said the show might be of limited duration and tell a contained story, but she declined to be more specific about how many episodes that first, and possibly only, season will contain.

"We're still determining that," Bromstad said. "We're getting scripts in next week. We have three additional scripts coming in, so we're still talking to [series creator] Jesse [Alexander] about what our programming needs are and creative needs."

Bromstad is encouraged by the amount of genre programming on other networks. "I think it's a very rich area now," she said. "Before Lost came on, there wasn't really that much out there before Lost and Heroes. Now we've got Lost, Heroes, FlashForward, V, in addition to great stuff on Syfy. It's just a really fertile, rich area to channel right now."

Meanwhile, Bromstad talked a bit about the returning series Chuck. Chuck fans may still have a long wait until that show returns midseason. Bromstad offered some hope that it may run earlier, or extend longer once it starts.

"The great thing with Chuck is that they're on a great track creatively," she said. "We've got three or four scripts in already, so it is something that we can move around, but right now it's not scheduled to come on until March. It's only got a 13-episode pickup. We have talked about 'Is Chuck something that we allow to run over into the summer and be part of our summer programming?' Those are just discussions that we're going to continue to have. Right now it's due to come on midseason."

Bromstad said she is confident the audience will return no matter when she decides to slot it on the schedule. "Chuck has a really loyal fan base, so we thought that that would help sustain it," Bromstad said. "I think that we were anxious to put on new shows. Because we're down to 8 to 10 o'clock, we really wanted to put as many new shows on as possible."

Fan campaigns helped contribute to Chuck's renewal, but they were not the only factor. "I think fans and critics were instrumental in keeping that show," Bromstad said. "We love the show. The ratings were instrumental in keeping that show."

NBC did let its genre mystery Medium go, and it moves to CBS in the fall. Bromstad said it was a tough call. "I love [producer] Glenn [Gordon Caron], I love that show," Bromstad said. "The intention was always to pick it up. We weren't able to make a deal. We were able to make a deal on Chuck. Chuck fits in our brand. We had to make those choices, and [Chuck]'s a little bit of a younger show as well."

Second: The Cold Feet:

NBC's upcoming post-apocalyptic series Day One isn't due until 2010, but network executives are already suggesting it may be short-lived.

"We've always looked at Day One as a big event for us and not necessarily a show that would be an ongoing, returning show for a second season," NBC president of prime time entertainment Angela Bromstad said in a press conference today in Pasadena, Calif., as part of the Television Critics Association summer press tour. "It would depend on its success. Just by nature of the genre, they always then get a little narrow, and whether or not we can sustain it on the air ..."

Jesse Alexander's new series begins on the first day after a disaster, when a Los Angeles community sets out to rebuild.

CBS' Jericho, another serialized post-apocalyptic show, did not last more than a season and a half.

Still, NBC executives say they want to expand the network's genre programming. "Heroes was really so successful for us, and it's a genre we cannot ignore," Bromstad said. "It does tend to be a little more of a narrow genre."

Speaking of Heroes, former producer Bryan Fuller has moved on to his own development deal at NBC after a brief stint back on the show's writing staff after his ABC series Pushing Daisies got canceled. Bromstad asserted that he's right where she wants him, having already done his job to get Heroes back on track.

"It doesn't mean anything [for the show] one way or the other," Bromstad said. "He's no longer in the writers' room, and the show is doing exceptionally well creatively. Bryan came back to be in the writers' room initially and helped [them] get back on track. He was there from the start and on the original writing staff. So I think he was there in the beginning to get them back on track and [help] everybody sort of decide where they're going creatively. Our deal with Bryan now is in development. We're looking forward to his development."

One genre show that did not connect with audiences was Kings, a retelling of the biblical story of David, set in a parallel universe. Bromstad said she knew all along it was a tough sell.

"I think that it was an amazingly big swing and a great production, and Michael Green is a phenomenal writer," Bromstad said. "I think our challenge now—and hopefully what you see with the new shows is in a really crowded marketplace—you have to sell something. People want to know what something's about. That was a very complex idea. It was a show that was originally developed when I was there before [with] Laura Lancaster. We thought it was too highbrow and sophisticated to sell in a 30-second spot. It doesn't mean we're not looking for big ideas, but they have to be big ideas an audience can grab onto and relate to."

[Cassander]

i'm so sick of hearing that someone in television is a "phenomenal writer."  apparently in LA it means you can write an hour long episode in a week's time AND you have a nice Gal Friday to clean up your grammar and punctuation.  if there were that many phenomenal writers in the industry, good actors would be shitting all over themselves to work on shows and take less salary and good fictional TV wouldn't cost so much to make, thus giving it an edge over Reality TV. 

but, i guess, the networks trying to figure out what the hell America wants plays a part.  there could be 150,000 phenomenal writers in LA who are working on great scripts that get tossed immediately because they're not enough like Lost or Heroes.

[Cassander]

actually, i take that back.  i'm not really that preturbed.  the best show on TV right now is Mad Men, and despite two emmy winning seasons and a ton of press, there's only going to be about 2 million people that tune in to the premiere on sunday.  you can't even lead a horse to water anymore.

[nacho]

Man, brace yourself.  The studios are going to go insane trying to find the "next Lost" this season and next.  I love how half the shows coming out are "the next Lost." 

[nacho]

So V gets nuked, then Survivors and Day of the Triffids get yanked, and now:

Remember Day One, NBC's upcoming post-apocalyptic sci-fi series? Well, last time we looked, the network executives were backpedaling on the midseason show, suggesting that it was always intended as a limited series.

Well, I guess they weren't kidding: The news just broke that the network has cut the show from a 13-episode series to a four-hour miniseries instead, according to Variety

[nacho]

And the latest news -- Day one has now been cut down to just a two hour movie.  And, as far as I know, the release date is still up in the air.  No word on NBC, and TVIV is blocked at work.  (Sad Nacho.)