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shadowkatWe're nearing the end of the notorious and rather difficult January Talking Meme (remind me not try this again) - which I've aptly nicknamed - "what question can I possibly come up with that would stump shadowkat67?" I'm thinking the final two questions may come very close to winning that contest.
* [Side note: January 27:Curiouswolf - Analyze Spike's IDW comics supporting cast. This may have to wait a few weeks, because I read those comics so long ago that I can no longer remember the supporting characters well enough to analyze them. I honestly don't know if I can do this - you may have succeeded in stumping me. Where was this meme four years ago?]
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cactuswatcher- January 26, if you had the ear of a major network, what one specific TV show idea would you ask them to produce?
This is admittedly not as bad as I originally thought. I remembered it being "what "ideal" TV show would you pitch" but the question is actually far easier to answer. It helps if you read the question a few times, before answering. OTOH...it should be noted that this question is limited to "one specific idea" not "eight". And...I have a lot of ideas, so narrowing it to one is dicey to say the least. That's my problem - too many ideas, too many choices, how can I possibly choose just one? And which one?
So before I provide the "one specific" idea, below are the 8 ideas that I came up with and the pitfalls for each one, which if you pay close attention have at least one thing in common, other than being ideas for television series:
1.) Redo the television serial SMASH, but focusing more on the process of creating a musical and less on the soapy melodrama. What I would like to see is a "Chorus Line" style television series that is not a reality show. Or more specifically a workplace dramedy/musical that focuses on the creation, staging, and production of musical. It would start in Ithaca Repertory Theater, then show the process of trying to get the show to Broadway. The songs would be created - for the musical only, sort of like NASHVILLE. The set-up would be similar to Noises Off and Slings and Arrows - which is a show within a show format.
The Pitfalls: Been there, done that. Didn't work.
It's hard to sell the creation of a stage musical as a series, without doing the melodrama behind the scenes. Also, the musical would have to be captivating to hold the viewers attention with good songs. So you are stuck creating the series and creating the musical within the series. That's hard to pull off. (See SMASH).
And how do you sustain it for more than one season? You could create a new musical each season, with new cast, new production. Hard to pull off once, how do you do it twice?
Another possibility is have it be about the staging of a revival of a previously established musical. Such as say a revival of the Mikado, or MAME or South Pacific. Then you don't have to create the songs. Still - would people be that interested in staging a musical? And is the behind the scenes workplace drama that involving? I'd love it but would anyone else?
2) The anthology series is sort of making a comeback. And I rather like the narrative format of series like American Horror Story and True Detective. Each year is a closed arc. 13-20 episodes. Then new actors and a whole new story for the next year. Similar to the old 1970s-1980s - miniseries, except a longer format, and a revolving door approach. Also consistency in actors and writers.
But the difficulty here is what to focus on? Do you adapt Broadway stage musicals for television? You could actually do this - and focus on fantasy/fairy tales.
*. Into the Woods (a 13 episode arc)
*. Wicked (a 13 episode arc, continuing with the author's other novels in the series, which song-writers would be hired to create songs for. )
*. Peter Pan (both the original and the new musical Peter Pan and the Starcatcher - the back story)
Pitfalls: That's just three seasons. You'd need to get rights to more of them. Cinderella, which has already been done is another possibility. So is Aladdin. That stays within the fantasy/fairy tale theme. But it could get old after a while. Also, with the exception of Wicked and Peter Pan and the Starcatcher, everything's been made into a movie.
Another possibility is just adapt lengthy musicals that lend themselves to film: Maybe an adaptation of Sondheim's little know work - Assassins? Or an adaptation of Ragtime? Or Showboat? Both are longer works that were crunched down to size.
No, not sure this would work all that well. Also the problem with musical adaptations for television - is they never quite work as well as you think. I'm not sure why.
Another possibility is to combine #2 with #1 and have it be about the staging, production, and creation of a musical such as Wicked or Into the Woods? Do the musical and the creation of it. One season is the creation of it, the casting, the staging, the work-place drama, the next season is the performance of the musical? No, wouldn't work. No one would believe a 13 episode musical on stage.
So a musical anthology series, while interesting, may be difficult to pull off for multiple episodes. There's not enough musicals that lend themselves to this - without a lot of new songs being added.
You could do "Musical Theater" - which would be a new musical every two or three episodes.
So say, do Into the Woods for January, Wicked in February, South Pacific - March, Spring Awakening in April and Cats in May.. etc? That might compete too much with Broadway? I don't know.
Also what would you call the thing? Broadway Comes to TV? Musical Theater Tonight? A Night of Fantasy and Music? The Wonderful World of Musical Theater?
3) Chronicles of Lymond - Adapt a classical adventure story, preferably one that hasn't been done to death, for television - and that has more than one book in the series, yet also a clear ending, and the rights are available. Chronicles of Lymond by Dorothy Dunnett would be perfect. It takes place in the 1500s. It features a classical hero, who is a bit of a rogue, and quite witty. And has an large ensemble of complex characters and villains. Also five thick novels, each one could be a separate season. This could be a five season series, possibly stretched to six, since one of the books could be split into two seasons. It has romance, politics, swashbuckling, action, intrigue...and it's historical, plus fairly accurate. You could film in France, Russia, and Scotland. The time period is Queen Mary, prior to Elizabeth.
Pitfalls? Depends on if the rights are available. Otherwise I don't really see any. It's more thrilling than the Tudors or the Borgias...and already fictionalized, so historical accuracy is not as big a problem. It has the swashbuckling and political intrigue of Game of Thrones and the Three Musketeers - but not a fantasy (so no need for the complicated special effects of Game) and longer than the Three Musketeers - so more story. Also more focus, one hero. Actually that could be a potential pitfall - you are sort of dependent on a charismatic star, but so are a lot of television series. And you'd have to get the cast under contract for five years. But Game of Thrones has similar issues.
4) Anthology series around plays and musicals staged for television. They used to do this in the early days of HBO, and broadcast television. Playhouse 90 - adapted stage plays for TV, and HBO adapted them later in the 1980s. This was before HBO did its own scripted television serials. I sort of miss them. We see them pop up occasionally, but not like before - where it was once a week or once a month.
It would be nice to see classic theater pieces staged and telecast, sort of similar to what the BBC did with Shakespeare. But focus on other plays - such as Lillian Hellman's Children's Hour and Little Foxes, or Eugene O'Neill's plays, or Raisin in the Sun along with the sequel to it. There's also the Christopher Durange comedies. And you could do a staging of Hamlet, followed by Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guilderntern. A new play each week.
Pitfalls: Again getting the rights to some of these could be problematic. And audiences may not want to watch plays on tv any longer. Some plays don't transfer well to the small screen. And would you show a theater presentation or do a live taping inside a studio? Would it be live or taped? Lots of logistical issues would have to be worked out. What would you call it? Playhouse 90 Redux? Theater Tonight? And how to sell it?
5) A science fiction anthology series similar to Twilight Zone, except using science fiction stories written by Ray Bradbury, Philip K. Dick, Issac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, Octavia Butler, James Tippetree...
Pitfalls: Rights again. Not all are readily available. Also production - science fiction is expensive. And if done poorly, looks silly. And this sort of thing has been done to death.
6) A series based on Anne McCaffrey's Dragon Riders of Pern. Be about people being chosen by dragons on another planet that is plagued by a deadly parasitic menace. The only way to fight this menace which pops up every 100 years is to train dragons to fight it. And ride them. But part of the problem is convincing everyone that the menace is going to happen. Then getting people inspired to fight. And finding people who can train the dragons and bond with them. There's a ton of books that can inspire ideas. Also, dragons! Romance! Adventure! And family drama! And political intrigue!
Pitfalls: Eh...dragons are expensive and difficult to do well. And there's a lot of room for cheesy special effects and dumb dialogue. Plus rights might be an issue - McCaffrey's estate is a bit restrictive on this point. Be so nice if we didn't have to worry about pesky copy-right laws, wouldn't it?
7) Series based on Vicky Bliss Mysteries by Elizabeth Peters...which are about an Art Historian who gets involved with an Art Thief/Forger of antiquities. They solve mysteries together - she wonders if he is manipulating her and if he may in fact be the culprit in each one. It's sort of an edgy Remington Steel. Takes place in Germany (which could be dicy), Egypt, Sweden, and Italy.
Pitfalls: There's only four books in the series, okay five (one is horrid). So not that much material. Agatha Christie, she's not. And I'm not sure it has staying power. After about the sixth episode, people are going to get fed up with Vicky not trusting Sir John Smythe who has risked his life multiple times to save her. Plus, she will eventually feel a wee bit like a damsel. And it's not like we don't already have three television series with the male/female detective team. Probably would be a better bet to do a series based on Amanda Peabody, the archaeologist - but I admittedly don't care about those books or characters.
8) Adapt children's fantasy novels - such as Phillip K. Pullman's His Dark Materials. I actually would like to see that one done for TV. I think it would work better for television than it did for film. It's complex.
Pitfalls? The books piss off a lot of heavily conservative Christians, particularly Catholics. Mainly because they are a thinly disguised critique of organized religion, specifically Judeo/Christian. And they are complicated books. With a complicated mythology.
Also fantasy serials don't always work well on tv. I still want to reboot Jim Butcher's Dresden Files.
Okay that's eight ideas, be happy I stopped at eight...and the winner is? Give up? Come on, all you have to do is read the pitfalls.
That's right, it's #3 - Adaptation of Dorothy Dunnett's novels - the Chronicles of Lymond for television. (And when you get through with those, see if you can adapt the others, hey it worked for the BBC with Dickens and Jane Austen.)
This idea has the least number of pitfalls, is the cheapest to make, and most likely to succeed considering the current trends. Granted not necessarily the most innovative, but in some ways it is - because the story and characters are rather rich, and it hasn't been done before.
Plus it is action series/adventure, with cliff-hangers, plot-twists, and surprises. Not quite as heavy on the violence as Game of Thrones, nor as heavy on the sex. So a broadcast network could easily pull it off. Maybe team up with a British or European network, to share cost and distribution. And you could do web-episodes...little bits on characters. I already know who could play Lymond - Tom Hiddleston, although another possibility might be Joseph Morgan (might be too limited) or David Tennant (a blond David Tennant, hmmm... I don't know, maybe not), Nikloia (the guy playing Jaime on Game of Thrones - eh, he's playing Jaime).
Hmmm...Aren't you happy that I don't do this for a living? Because if I had an ear of a tv network, we'd have more musicals, fairy tales, fantasy serials and action adventure serials than we currently do. And far less horror shows, vampire shows, zombies, serial killers, medical dramas, anti-hero crime dramas, and procedurals than we currently do - which I'm beginning to get burned out on. Speaking of vampire serials? I considered doing one based on Ann Rice's Interview with a Vampire novels - which would actually be interesting, she built quite a world and mythos there. But I think we've reached the saturation point on that specific genre, don't you?
So, what specific television idea would you pitch if you had the ear of a major television network?
* [Side note: January 27:Curiouswolf - Analyze Spike's IDW comics supporting cast. This may have to wait a few weeks, because I read those comics so long ago that I can no longer remember the supporting characters well enough to analyze them. I honestly don't know if I can do this - you may have succeeded in stumping me. Where was this meme four years ago?]
cactuswatcher- January 26, if you had the ear of a major network, what one specific TV show idea would you ask them to produce?This is admittedly not as bad as I originally thought. I remembered it being "what "ideal" TV show would you pitch" but the question is actually far easier to answer. It helps if you read the question a few times, before answering. OTOH...it should be noted that this question is limited to "one specific idea" not "eight". And...I have a lot of ideas, so narrowing it to one is dicey to say the least. That's my problem - too many ideas, too many choices, how can I possibly choose just one? And which one?
So before I provide the "one specific" idea, below are the 8 ideas that I came up with and the pitfalls for each one, which if you pay close attention have at least one thing in common, other than being ideas for television series:
1.) Redo the television serial SMASH, but focusing more on the process of creating a musical and less on the soapy melodrama. What I would like to see is a "Chorus Line" style television series that is not a reality show. Or more specifically a workplace dramedy/musical that focuses on the creation, staging, and production of musical. It would start in Ithaca Repertory Theater, then show the process of trying to get the show to Broadway. The songs would be created - for the musical only, sort of like NASHVILLE. The set-up would be similar to Noises Off and Slings and Arrows - which is a show within a show format.
The Pitfalls: Been there, done that. Didn't work.
It's hard to sell the creation of a stage musical as a series, without doing the melodrama behind the scenes. Also, the musical would have to be captivating to hold the viewers attention with good songs. So you are stuck creating the series and creating the musical within the series. That's hard to pull off. (See SMASH).
And how do you sustain it for more than one season? You could create a new musical each season, with new cast, new production. Hard to pull off once, how do you do it twice?
Another possibility is have it be about the staging of a revival of a previously established musical. Such as say a revival of the Mikado, or MAME or South Pacific. Then you don't have to create the songs. Still - would people be that interested in staging a musical? And is the behind the scenes workplace drama that involving? I'd love it but would anyone else?
2) The anthology series is sort of making a comeback. And I rather like the narrative format of series like American Horror Story and True Detective. Each year is a closed arc. 13-20 episodes. Then new actors and a whole new story for the next year. Similar to the old 1970s-1980s - miniseries, except a longer format, and a revolving door approach. Also consistency in actors and writers.
But the difficulty here is what to focus on? Do you adapt Broadway stage musicals for television? You could actually do this - and focus on fantasy/fairy tales.
*. Into the Woods (a 13 episode arc)
*. Wicked (a 13 episode arc, continuing with the author's other novels in the series, which song-writers would be hired to create songs for. )
*. Peter Pan (both the original and the new musical Peter Pan and the Starcatcher - the back story)
Pitfalls: That's just three seasons. You'd need to get rights to more of them. Cinderella, which has already been done is another possibility. So is Aladdin. That stays within the fantasy/fairy tale theme. But it could get old after a while. Also, with the exception of Wicked and Peter Pan and the Starcatcher, everything's been made into a movie.
Another possibility is just adapt lengthy musicals that lend themselves to film: Maybe an adaptation of Sondheim's little know work - Assassins? Or an adaptation of Ragtime? Or Showboat? Both are longer works that were crunched down to size.
No, not sure this would work all that well. Also the problem with musical adaptations for television - is they never quite work as well as you think. I'm not sure why.
Another possibility is to combine #2 with #1 and have it be about the staging, production, and creation of a musical such as Wicked or Into the Woods? Do the musical and the creation of it. One season is the creation of it, the casting, the staging, the work-place drama, the next season is the performance of the musical? No, wouldn't work. No one would believe a 13 episode musical on stage.
So a musical anthology series, while interesting, may be difficult to pull off for multiple episodes. There's not enough musicals that lend themselves to this - without a lot of new songs being added.
You could do "Musical Theater" - which would be a new musical every two or three episodes.
So say, do Into the Woods for January, Wicked in February, South Pacific - March, Spring Awakening in April and Cats in May.. etc? That might compete too much with Broadway? I don't know.
Also what would you call the thing? Broadway Comes to TV? Musical Theater Tonight? A Night of Fantasy and Music? The Wonderful World of Musical Theater?
3) Chronicles of Lymond - Adapt a classical adventure story, preferably one that hasn't been done to death, for television - and that has more than one book in the series, yet also a clear ending, and the rights are available. Chronicles of Lymond by Dorothy Dunnett would be perfect. It takes place in the 1500s. It features a classical hero, who is a bit of a rogue, and quite witty. And has an large ensemble of complex characters and villains. Also five thick novels, each one could be a separate season. This could be a five season series, possibly stretched to six, since one of the books could be split into two seasons. It has romance, politics, swashbuckling, action, intrigue...and it's historical, plus fairly accurate. You could film in France, Russia, and Scotland. The time period is Queen Mary, prior to Elizabeth.
Pitfalls? Depends on if the rights are available. Otherwise I don't really see any. It's more thrilling than the Tudors or the Borgias...and already fictionalized, so historical accuracy is not as big a problem. It has the swashbuckling and political intrigue of Game of Thrones and the Three Musketeers - but not a fantasy (so no need for the complicated special effects of Game) and longer than the Three Musketeers - so more story. Also more focus, one hero. Actually that could be a potential pitfall - you are sort of dependent on a charismatic star, but so are a lot of television series. And you'd have to get the cast under contract for five years. But Game of Thrones has similar issues.
4) Anthology series around plays and musicals staged for television. They used to do this in the early days of HBO, and broadcast television. Playhouse 90 - adapted stage plays for TV, and HBO adapted them later in the 1980s. This was before HBO did its own scripted television serials. I sort of miss them. We see them pop up occasionally, but not like before - where it was once a week or once a month.
It would be nice to see classic theater pieces staged and telecast, sort of similar to what the BBC did with Shakespeare. But focus on other plays - such as Lillian Hellman's Children's Hour and Little Foxes, or Eugene O'Neill's plays, or Raisin in the Sun along with the sequel to it. There's also the Christopher Durange comedies. And you could do a staging of Hamlet, followed by Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guilderntern. A new play each week.
Pitfalls: Again getting the rights to some of these could be problematic. And audiences may not want to watch plays on tv any longer. Some plays don't transfer well to the small screen. And would you show a theater presentation or do a live taping inside a studio? Would it be live or taped? Lots of logistical issues would have to be worked out. What would you call it? Playhouse 90 Redux? Theater Tonight? And how to sell it?
5) A science fiction anthology series similar to Twilight Zone, except using science fiction stories written by Ray Bradbury, Philip K. Dick, Issac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, Octavia Butler, James Tippetree...
Pitfalls: Rights again. Not all are readily available. Also production - science fiction is expensive. And if done poorly, looks silly. And this sort of thing has been done to death.
6) A series based on Anne McCaffrey's Dragon Riders of Pern. Be about people being chosen by dragons on another planet that is plagued by a deadly parasitic menace. The only way to fight this menace which pops up every 100 years is to train dragons to fight it. And ride them. But part of the problem is convincing everyone that the menace is going to happen. Then getting people inspired to fight. And finding people who can train the dragons and bond with them. There's a ton of books that can inspire ideas. Also, dragons! Romance! Adventure! And family drama! And political intrigue!
Pitfalls: Eh...dragons are expensive and difficult to do well. And there's a lot of room for cheesy special effects and dumb dialogue. Plus rights might be an issue - McCaffrey's estate is a bit restrictive on this point. Be so nice if we didn't have to worry about pesky copy-right laws, wouldn't it?
7) Series based on Vicky Bliss Mysteries by Elizabeth Peters...which are about an Art Historian who gets involved with an Art Thief/Forger of antiquities. They solve mysteries together - she wonders if he is manipulating her and if he may in fact be the culprit in each one. It's sort of an edgy Remington Steel. Takes place in Germany (which could be dicy), Egypt, Sweden, and Italy.
Pitfalls: There's only four books in the series, okay five (one is horrid). So not that much material. Agatha Christie, she's not. And I'm not sure it has staying power. After about the sixth episode, people are going to get fed up with Vicky not trusting Sir John Smythe who has risked his life multiple times to save her. Plus, she will eventually feel a wee bit like a damsel. And it's not like we don't already have three television series with the male/female detective team. Probably would be a better bet to do a series based on Amanda Peabody, the archaeologist - but I admittedly don't care about those books or characters.
8) Adapt children's fantasy novels - such as Phillip K. Pullman's His Dark Materials. I actually would like to see that one done for TV. I think it would work better for television than it did for film. It's complex.
Pitfalls? The books piss off a lot of heavily conservative Christians, particularly Catholics. Mainly because they are a thinly disguised critique of organized religion, specifically Judeo/Christian. And they are complicated books. With a complicated mythology.
Also fantasy serials don't always work well on tv. I still want to reboot Jim Butcher's Dresden Files.
Okay that's eight ideas, be happy I stopped at eight...and the winner is? Give up? Come on, all you have to do is read the pitfalls.
That's right, it's #3 - Adaptation of Dorothy Dunnett's novels - the Chronicles of Lymond for television. (And when you get through with those, see if you can adapt the others, hey it worked for the BBC with Dickens and Jane Austen.)
This idea has the least number of pitfalls, is the cheapest to make, and most likely to succeed considering the current trends. Granted not necessarily the most innovative, but in some ways it is - because the story and characters are rather rich, and it hasn't been done before.
Plus it is action series/adventure, with cliff-hangers, plot-twists, and surprises. Not quite as heavy on the violence as Game of Thrones, nor as heavy on the sex. So a broadcast network could easily pull it off. Maybe team up with a British or European network, to share cost and distribution. And you could do web-episodes...little bits on characters. I already know who could play Lymond - Tom Hiddleston, although another possibility might be Joseph Morgan (might be too limited) or David Tennant (a blond David Tennant, hmmm... I don't know, maybe not), Nikloia (the guy playing Jaime on Game of Thrones - eh, he's playing Jaime).
Hmmm...Aren't you happy that I don't do this for a living? Because if I had an ear of a tv network, we'd have more musicals, fairy tales, fantasy serials and action adventure serials than we currently do. And far less horror shows, vampire shows, zombies, serial killers, medical dramas, anti-hero crime dramas, and procedurals than we currently do - which I'm beginning to get burned out on. Speaking of vampire serials? I considered doing one based on Ann Rice's Interview with a Vampire novels - which would actually be interesting, she built quite a world and mythos there. But I think we've reached the saturation point on that specific genre, don't you?
So, what specific television idea would you pitch if you had the ear of a major television network?
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no subject
Date: 2014-01-27 04:11 am (UTC)I believe Dorothy Dunnett's sons own the rights (or at least that's what I recently remember reading somewhere on one of the sites dedicated to her work.)
I really wish you were a network exec :D
Because if I had an ear of a tv network, we'd have more musicals, fairy tales, fantasy serials and action adventure serials than we currently do. And far less horror shows, vampire shows, zombies, serial killers, medical dramas, anti-hero crime dramas, and procedurals than we currently do - which I'm beginning to get burned out on.
Ha! As long as you green lighted "Breaking Bad" and "Justified", I'd be totally ok with your choices :D I'm so tired of serial killers, I can't tell you!! I feel like EVERY SINGLE CRIME drama now is about a serial killer, and as "Justified" (and BB) shows us, there are plenty of crimes that aren't serial murder that are incredibly damaging and awful for their victims.
no subject
Date: 2014-01-27 10:32 pm (UTC)I'm so tired of serial killers, I can't tell you!! I feel like EVERY SINGLE CRIME drama now is about a serial killer, and as "Justified" (and BB) shows us, there are plenty of crimes that aren't serial murder that are incredibly damaging and awful for their victims.
Yes. Exactly. I couldn't watch Hannibal (anit-hero crime drama meets serial killer). And The Following. It does seem like all of them have this - even The Bridge and the Killing, which are admittedly the better ones. I can't watch them any longer...it's too predictable.
no subject
Date: 2014-01-27 05:17 am (UTC)Pitfalls: Rights again. Not all are readily available. Also production - science fiction is expensive. And if done poorly, looks silly. And this sort of thing has been done to death.
Actually I would strongly disagree-- stories of this quality have almost never been shown on television. Modern SF, both on television and in movies is heavily dependent on having lots of flashy special effects and action action action. Many of the writers you mentioned, and many more, would have stories available that would be interesting and often provocative, and require less in the way of special effects than what's already out there.
If the major broadcast nets can afford shows like Sleepy Hollow or Dracula, where it's quite obvious that they're dropping a bundle simply on the way the show looks, I'd say they can afford to spend some of that coin on top flight writers.
(I will note that both of the above are 13 weeks series, which I think is a positive trend.)
The writers don't even need to be the only the old guards either. In any given year's worth of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, for example, there are any number of great stories by authors both old and new. And that's just one magazine.
no subject
Date: 2014-01-27 07:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-27 10:22 pm (UTC)So if it's not action-adventure with lots of special effects - they don't greenlight it. (And having met quite a few people at work and socially who are in their target audience, I can see their point.)
no subject
Date: 2014-01-27 10:26 pm (UTC)I know this - because they've tried various times to revive the Twilight Zone Sci-Fi anthology series...and failed miserably. I think Twilight Zone and the Outer Limits survived as long as they did - due to the limited number of choices available, and Rod Serling's relationships with the Sci-Fi community. I don't know. But the revivals of this genre have never worked.
no subject
Date: 2014-01-28 05:21 am (UTC)To be fair, in regard to what I just stated, what I see is the biggest roadblock to having "narrowcasting" work on a financially viable basis is the refusal of the cable and satellite providers to allow a la carte programming to subscribers.
I would happily pay, say, $10.00 per month to receive a channel that provided truly quality science fiction and fantasy programming. However, I would not pay $60.00 a month or more to get it because it was forcibly bundled in a programming "tier" with 50 other channels.
One might hope that the internet will provide a solution to this, and perhaps it eventually will, but so far the nets are controlling that line of distribution as well. I was recently reminded of this as NBC has been promoting the upcoming Olympic Games, noting (as they did for the previous games) that "You can view all of the events, at any time, online!"
Sounds good. I'd very much like to watch some of the events that they almost never feature in the primary network broadcast, and I tried to do so last time. But guess what-- before you can have access to the whole range of material, you must fill in an electronic form at NBC.com stating that the cable or satellite service you subscribe to allows you to receive NBC's other channels, which are the ones that carry the additional programming, and you must provide your cable/sat account number so they can verify this. If you don't? You can't stream them from NBC. Period, the end.
I have only basic/basic cable, so the option they bragged about isn't available to mere peasants like me.
no subject
Date: 2014-01-29 01:31 am (UTC)Amazon, itunes, Google Play, netflix - all offer affordable streaming options.
Amazon Prime - will permit you to do it for free.
I don't - because I find watching stuff on my ipad or computer head-ache inducing and I've no patience for the download/commercial issues. Also, not techie enough or patient enough to figure out how to link it to my tv or by something that can.
There's also illegal file downloading, which I have no clue how to do, but others on the net appear to.
no subject
Date: 2014-01-27 03:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-27 10:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-28 03:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-29 01:35 am (UTC)Chronicles of Lymond - actually is a hybrid of the Tudors and The Three Musketeers...or similar to Game of Thrones (except not fantasy). It reminds me a great deal of the British series based on Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe novels.
I know someone has option Hillary Mantel's Wolf Hall and Bringing Up the Bodies to do an adaptation, just can't remember if they are doing it as a play or a film.
no subject
Date: 2014-01-29 01:37 pm (UTC)We just don't want it on Starz, because most of their content is poorly done. (with the exception of Party Down...)
no subject
Date: 2014-01-29 11:05 pm (UTC)Good point. And it was a requirement of the question - "the ear of a major network".
And Reign is doing moderately well in its nitch demographic. (Although interestingly enough the only people who are watching Reign on my flist - aren't in that demographic at all...but that's another discussion. LOL!)
Agreed on Starz. They come up with great ideas, but horrid execution, apparently. Also not so great in the casting department, regrettably.
Personally, I wish HBO would do it - I have HBO and it does a great job with this sort of thing. OTOH...HBO would probably feel the need to sex it up, which would be a wee bit inappropriate.
no subject
Date: 2014-01-29 11:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-29 11:18 pm (UTC)Depends on how you define it...18-45 or 18-35. But yep, with few exceptions.
What's hilarious to me...is if these silly marketing folks only knew how many men and women in their late 40s, 50s, and 60s were watching these series - their minds would explode.
no subject
Date: 2014-01-29 11:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-29 11:36 pm (UTC)Flaw in human thinking...continues to be an over-reliance on faulty assumptions based on statistical data. Some day, people will figure out that statistics can be manipulated and are not exactly accurate.