Broadcast networks infatuation with lower-license-fee internationally produced drama series, which b

Broadcast networks infatuation with lower-license-fee internationally produced really cheap airplane tickets drama series, which began during the run-up to the 2007 writers strike, is entering a major new phase with NBC s midseason scheduling of the Entertainment One -produced 22-episode drama The Firm , based on John Grisham s novel and the Tom Cruise-starring movie. Back in 2007, two of the acquired series stockpiled by the U.S. networks as strike contingency, Flashpoint by CBS and Crusoe by NBC, aired in-season on Fridays and Saturdays, and Flashpoint even got a brief turn in the Thursday 10 PM slot when the broadcast nets ran out of originals at the height of the labor dispute. But since then, NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox have largely limited lower-license-fee drama series acquisitions to summer runs. (Fox s attempt to extend the run of such a series, The Good Guys , into the regular really cheap airplane tickets season backfired.) really cheap airplane tickets Then in April, NBC picked up The Firm based on a spec script by Lucas Reiter. Two weeks later, at NBC s upfront presentation, the network announced The Firm as a midseason replacement to air on Sundays. And today, the straight-to-series drama was upgraded to the Thursday 10 PM slot, which for years had been considered NBC s top drama slot, home of such iconic series as Hill Street Blues, LA Law and ER . The network muddied the waters really cheap airplane tickets in the past year or so by slotting really cheap airplane tickets reality shows/comedies in the hour, but proclaimed at its upfront in May that it plans to go back to the time period s storied drama history with Prime Suspect . When the new cop drama fizzled, NBC moved The Firm to the primetime period.
While the circumstances are unusual one could argue that NBC is in almost as dire straights today as it was during the writers strike   a series developed and produced outside the traditional network/studio system landing one of broadcast TV s highest-profile time periods is a milestone for such projects by indie studios, whose number has been on the rise. Just last week, NBC gave a potential straight-to-series order to Hannibal , a drama based on the Hannibal Lecter character and penned by Bryan Fuller, which is produced by Gaumont really cheap airplane tickets International Television. Ironically, really cheap airplane tickets Reiter originally developed an adaptation of The Firm a few years ago through the traditional network development machine. The project was set up at CBS and didn t go to pilot. Reiter really cheap airplane tickets then wrote a new script, which Entertainment One used to strike an international distribution pact with Sony Pictures TV Networks and a domestic one with NBC. After the pickup by NBC, CBS filed a lawsuit against Reiter and eOne, but the matter has since been settled.
If the producers of The Firm can keep NBC s drama series execs far far away from their scripts/show, The Firm may have a chance to succeed. NBC s team has killed really cheap airplane tickets more shows in the past three years than any other network by their meddling.
THE FIRM will stand as an interesting test of NBC s new strategy, taste and focus, especially since a lot of people expected AWAKE to get this slot instead (most likely THE FIRM simply tested higher, MUCH higher, than AWAKE, forcing really cheap airplane tickets NBC to put considerable resources behind it at midseason).
really cheap airplane tickets In the markets where they have an AXN channel Sony holds rights to the show. In the rest of the world it is Canada s Entertainment One that owns the show. Maybe it is out of habit bit most everyone talks about it like the broadcaster has final say or much at all. NBC was offered and bought broadcast rights much like CTV buys Desperate Housewives for Canada. That doesn t get any say in the show s production. And while set in Washington the show is made primarily around Toronto, which NBCU folk know as home to Warehouse really cheap airplane tickets 13.
This is like with The Listener which was on NBC in the US and is on CTV in Canada really cheap airplane tickets and on FOX in the rest of the world. It was a hit for FOX, pretty good for CTV, and a failure for NBC. NBC bailed in season 1 and now the show is close to its third season premiere. If NBC bails again mid-season the rest of the world will still get it all. Because it isn t owned by the US broadcaster.
Done right not LA LAW style this could be a high-quality drama in the league of MAD MEN or DAMAGES. But with NBC in charge, and putting it on broadcast rather than cable, chances are it will be gutted in order to satisfy broadcast restrictions.
THE FIRM needs to distinguish itself from NBC s other legal procedural HARRY S LAW. A more distinctive strategy for NBC would be to go against the grain. There are WAY too many legal and medical procedurals populating really cheap airplane tickets the time-slots. It is difficult to develop truly unique storylines and characters that appeal to viewers really cheap airplane tickets if the shows are almost interchangeable.
really cheap airplane tickets Yes, TV has traditionally had its share of legal and medical procedurals, but just because it is easy to do doesn t make it right. For every ER or HILL STREET BLUES, there wre dozens of cheap imitators really cheap airplane tickets that didn t even last a single season.