(no subject)

[shadowkat]

Apparently Joss Whedon has parted ways with The Nevers, which is coming to HBO in the Summer

Question posed on FB - "When did Joss Whedon become Brian Fuller?"

LOL!

Good question.

Followed by..."what was the last show that Brian Fuller actually stuck with?"

ME: Possibly Pushing Daisies, which admittedly didn't last long.

I was thinking about that when I was trying to watch the first episode of S1 Discovery "On Demand", and realized Fuller was the original show-runner, who parted ways after the first season.

Whedon appears to be doing the same thing.

Comments

[yourlibrarian]

It's true that they tend to have longer development times -- I hadn't realized there were so many dropped projects though. That must have cost a lot with nothing to show for it.

I wonder if part of it is because of the change in ownership. AT&T now owns HBO and is losing money badly in other areas, and has already gotten rid of a lot of people at HBO in order to cut costs. The acquisition went through in 2018 but a lot of changes didn't take effect until later last year after HBO's previous head resigned. Perhaps Whedon had been allowed to work at a slower pace and was now being pushed to speed things up. I agree that the production time is much more like films than TV.

[shadowkat]

Hard to know. I know they've a lot in development for HBO Max. I also know COVID restrictions raises costs and they've had to cut across the board. And that Whedon has a tendency to get into fights with his bosses. He actually (for the most part) gets along rather well with actors, but he can have issues with the producers. (Brian Fuller has the same problems. So too does Aaron Sorkin. And Amy Pallindino. And a few others. It is NOT an easy industry to work in. Bullying and harrassment is highest in the entertainment industry across the board.)

And, I know from various things I've read here and there - that Whedon didn't know what he wanted half the time and kind of was figuring it out as he rolled. HBO prefers a clear game plan. Whedon is an intitutive writer who kind of makes it up as he goes and changes his mind.

He got away with a lot on Buffy. Usually you have a typical work week - five days a week, maybe 10-12 hour days if that. Whedon took the full seven days and often filmed past midnight. He would sneak the crew and cast in over the weekends to perfect the shots. And he was a perfectionist.

Various actors on that show over the years have mentioned that he would make them repeat the scene until they got the lines right - by letter. Brendan reports - Whedon would come up to him and say - ""The" is in there for a reason, please don't leave it out." They weren't permitted to audlib nor improv, and had to be spot on. (Vincent Karthesier hated working on Angel, and Boreanze preferred Bones where he had more control.) And I've watched outtakes - they did over 30-40 shots for a couple of lines in Wrecked and Smashed, to the point that Marsters was cursing and asking for line and Gellar was rolling her eyes. He also made a fuss over Marsters hair in Lessons - in the commentary.