Category Archives: Quartz

‘Selfie’ was the Word of the Year—and Now it’s a TV Show

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selfie oscars

Today I wrote about ABC’s odd decision to take a modern day take on My Fair Lady, and call it Selfie. Speaking at TCA summer press tour, the show’s creator Emily Kapnek said the title “feels very topical and relevant to me,” but I’m not so sure:

But taking a series, which its creator and the network hope will air for years to come, and calling it Selfie seems about as risky a bet as naming a show Macarena back in the mid-1990s (which no one did, thankfully). Given that some have argued that the word has already jumped the shark, Selfie’s title could quickly feel dated, and eventually become an albatross for the show.

Only time will tell if audiences will find Selfie, and its title, worthy of a retweet — or a delete.

‘Selfie’ was the word of the year—and now it’s a TV show

Can a Brad Pitt Movie From 1995 Become a Hit TV Show?

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brad pitt movie

TV might be better than movies, but it has also become the movies. The latest example is 12 Monkeys, the new Syfy series debuting in January, which is based on the 1995 film with Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt.

Aaron Stanford, who plays the Bruce Willis role, told me for this Quartz story that as more and more new series struggle for viewers’ attention each year, any kind of brand recognition can help a show get that all-important leg up.

“Absolutely. The name itself seems to resonate with people,” Aaron Stanford, who is playing the Bruce Willis role, told Quartz. “Anyone who I’ve spoken to about 12 Monkeys, it clicks with them. It is a pre-existing brand. People recognize it, and they recognize it as something of quality. So it’s now our responsibility to uphold that brand and continue on and make this a quality program.”

As executive producers Terry Matalas and Richard Suckle told me, the key to potential success isn’t the title, but the idea and its execution. I really enjoyed the 12 Monkeys pilot and hope the show continues in that same rich vein.

Can a Brad Pitt movie from 1995 become a hit TV show?

LeBron James’s Next Big Move—as a TV Producer

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lebron james

Yes, LeBron James is returning to the Cleveland Cavaliers, but that’s not the only thing he has on his plate. James is also executive producing the upcoming Starz comedy series Survivor’s Remorse. While James was otherwise occupied, the show’s other producers and stars were on hand at TCA summer press tour to talk about the show. As I wrote at Quartz,

Despite the show’s obvious parallels to the life of its superstar producer, “this is not a show about LeBron James. This is a fictional show,” said executive producer Mike O’Malley, who admitted that they changed the original script, which was originally set in Cleveland (near James’s Ohio hometown of Akron), to distance themselves from those comparisons.

When James is branching into Hollywood, his manager and business partner Maverick Carter said that he’s not laying groundwork for a post-NBA career in Hollywood.

LeBron James’s next big move— as a TV producer

How ‘The Comeback’ Came Back

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The Comeback

Most of the reporters on hand for TCA summer press tour are counting the days until The Comeback’s return in November. Lisa Kudrow and Michael Patrick King talked to us about Valerie Cherish’s triumphant return. As I wrote at Quartz,

While Kudrow and her co-creator Michael Patrick King had talked casually over the years about what Valerie might be up to now, “it was too much of an emotional risk” to think seriously about the idea, Kudrow said at the Television Critics Association summer press tour. That changed when HBO called them in, after two network staffers persuaded HBO programming president Michael Lombardo to consider reviving it. “It just started with a kernel of a creative idea,” said Lombardo. “We started imagining it, and we called Michael Patrick King and Lisa. They came in for a meeting and it was so exciting, funny and it just happened.”

They, and HBO execs, also talked about how much reality TV — and HBO — has changed in the nine years since The Comeback went off the air, and what could be next for the show.

How ‘The Comeback’ came back

HBO Plots the Future of ‘Game of Thrones,’ ‘True Detective’ and Maybe Even ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’

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hbo plots the future

There’s nothing like earning 99 Emmy nominations to put a bounce in your step, and HBO was indeed in high spirits at TCA summer press tour. As I wrote at Quartz,

But the network is more concerned about keeping its subscribers happy, not Emmy voters. Speaking to reporters today at the Television Critics Association’s summer press tour, chairman and CEO Richard Plepler and HBO programming president Michael Lombardo unveiled their strategy to keep the premium network’s most popular shows rolling along—and their subscribers (114 million worldwide, which generated $4.9 billion in revenue last year, plus countless others who watch HBO Go via shared passwords)—eagerly coming back for more.

At the top of their list: making a plan for Game of Thrones, plotting Season 2 of True Detective, hoping out hope for more Curb Your Enthusiasm and giving closure to True Blood, Boardwalk Empire and The Newsroom.

HBO plots the future of ‘Game of Thrones,’ ‘True Detective’ and maybe even ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’

Netflix Has Gone From Emmys Crasher to Guest of Honor

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netflix emmys crasher

I arrived in Los Angeles yesterday for TCA summer press tour, and one of my first assignments was this Quartz reaction to today’s Emmy nominations. As the streaming network more than doubled its 2013 nomination tally, from 14 to 31, it’s shifted from interloper to frontrunner.

But today’s impressive tally also increases the pressure on Emmy night. After last year’s Emmys, I wrote that Netflix was one of the night’s biggest winners, even though it didn’t win any major awards. Last year, just earning those nominations and smaller wins (like the directing Emmy for House of Cards) legitimized Netflix in the same way that early Emmy victories had once done for HBO, AMC, and FX.

This year, however, House of Cards and Orange is the New Black have catapulted from “just happy to be here” to frontrunner status. That means on August 25, Netflix needs to win one of the big trophies—outstanding comedy series for Orange, or outstanding actor in a drama for Kevin Spacey of House of Cards—to truly be considered one of television’s elite networks.

Plus, charts!

Netflix has gone from Emmys crasher to guest of honor

Fox Has Killed Its Plan to Kill TV Pilot Season

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fox killed its plan

This has been inevitable since former Fox head of programming Kevin Reilly left/was pushed out last month: his plan — announced at TCA winter press tour — to kill pilot season has itself been killed. Fox has pulled the plug on Hireoglyph, one of the shows Reilly had ordered “straight to series” last fall. As I wrote at Quartz,

Ironically, Fox ended up doing the very thing Reilly had tried to avoid: sinking large amounts of money into a show that will never see the light of day.

While Fox is still moving forward on Gotham, one of its other straight-to-series pickups, it’s clear that the reports of the death of pilot season have been greatly exaggerated.

Fox has killed its plan to kill TV pilot season

American Singing Competitions are Hoping Israel Can Save Them

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american singing competitions

The singing competition genre has gone off-key in the U.S., but ABC is hoping that a hit series from Israel — Rising Star, in which audiences vote in real-time, via the show’s app —will get it back on track. As I wrote at Quartz,

Speaking to reporters at the Television Critics Association’s winter press tour in January, ABC Entertainment Group President Paul Lee called Rising Star “the next generation of reality shows,” adding, “It’s almost like a modern Colosseum. I mean, people are literally voting up or down. … And it really has been a big hit over there. We think it will be a star maker over here.”

Easier said than done. After all, TV success in one country does not always translate to another. For every American Idol—based on the British series Pop Idol—there is an X Factor, which couldn’t replicate the UK original’s success here. (Rising Star has also been sold to France, Germany, Italy and Russia.)

I have my doubts for several reasons, most notably the fact that the show will air in four different time zones, meaning that not everyone will be able to vote “live.” And it was just two summers ago that ABC announced another heavily-hyped singing competition, Duets, which faded quickly. It seems unlikely that Rising Star will fare any better.

American singing competitions are hoping Israel can save them 

The Television Miniseries is Back (Under a New Name)

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television miniseries

After a dormant period, the miniseries genre is having a renaissance. Just don’t call them that, as I wrote at Quartz.

But nobody calls these shows “miniseries,” anymore. Instead, the networks have embraced terms like “limited series” and “event series” to describe programs with a predetermined end or cast that changes from season to season.

So what’s the difference? Not even the people running the networks can answer that one. “I don’t know,” NBC Entertainment president Robert Greenblatt admitted to reporters at the Television Critics Association’s press tour in January.

“It’s a genre that has kind of gone out of our sort of vocabulary for a long time because we stopped doing them,” said Greenblatt. “I think we use the word miniseries when something is closed-ended and can’t continue.…I don’t know what a limited series is.”

CBS Entertainment chair Nina Tassler also spoke with me at TCA about why the m-word has become so verboten, and I help clear up the confusion between miniseries, limited series, event series and anthology series.

The television miniseries is back (under a new name) 

Not Even TV Shows Set in Hollywood Can Afford to Film There Anymore

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not even tv shows set in hollywood

USA’s Graceland is set in L.A., but the series is actually filmed all the way on the other side of the county, in Fort Lauderdale. As I wrote at Quartz,

While Hollywood and the rest of Los Angeles has been the center of the TV and film industry for decades, that’s all changed in recent years as other states and provinces have lured productions away with budget-saving tax incentives. Hollywood used to stand in for any location around the world; now even shows that are actually set in and around LA can no longer afford to shoot there.

Graceland creator Jeff Eastin talked with me about California’s meager $100 million film and TV tax credit program, in which credits are distributed via lottery system. He explained the benefits of shooting in Florida versus California:

“The number I hear thrown about is a 30% savings,” says Eastin. “If you’re talking literally $300,000 on every $1 million, that’s pretty substantial when our budgets are $2-$3 million [per episode]. The cost savings are really substantial when ultimately you’re trying to put as many dollars as you can on the screen. Especially for a cable show, where the budgets aren’t what big networks shows are, we’re counting every dollar.”

No wonder that out of the 28 new drama series picked up for next season, 20 of them will be filmed outside of California.

Not even TV shows set in Hollywood can afford to film there anymore