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Tuesday, 30 August 2011 11:22

EMMY GET YOUR GUNS! - The new T.V. western revival.

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cowboys and aliens Hollywood has always been a town of trends. The risk of failure, financial uncertainty and loosing money has made modern industry execs no braver that a one month bunny rabbit.

With the economy still weak investors are hard to come by and those around don't wish to gamble too hard. But then there's the old saying: "The show must go on"... And therefore the industry has to make products. T.V. has been, for the last years, the best area of quality vs. production the industry has had to offer. Film has been great but more driven to the teen market. T.V. has settled with the more mature demographic who enjoys it's costume dramas more that caped men behind colorful explosions.

In a recent writing class I had an idea of Western series, because since the great Deadwood, there hasn't been any western series and I thought it was prime for a comeback. The success of the True Grit remake, I thought, would certainly help my case.The idea was certainly entertained but there was the doubt that a period acton/drama would have any legs.

Well, maybe I was ahead of the curb early this year, or the curb has just kicked me in the head because in recent months there has been a firestorm of T.V. projects all around the good 'ol wild west.

I'm sure Cowboys and Aliens bad B.O. has scared all film executives into stop green lighting western projects (even causing the demise of the new Lone Ranger remake at Warners to star Johnny Depp as Tonto, with the Pirates of the Carribean production team behind it). But that hasn't been the case on the other side of the fence in T.V. land. A slew of productions have been ordered by ABC, CBS and other cable outlets.

Westerns are a great genre if done right. True Grit is a great example and Cowboys and Aliens a bad one. Not that I'm against "mash-ups" but it has to be done right. Cowboys and Aliens had some very weak ploting issues and the whole "Alien technology thing" is just getting boring. People are getting tired and voting with their money. But if you give me a great character, fighting even bigger bad characters with gunslinging, fast horse riding and shoot ' em ups I'm there! Just don't mix my six shooter with a tri-cord.

Also remember that one of the best selling video games of last year was a western. That means that the kiddy demographic is already sold.

So here are quick list of the new shows that may or not be coming to you this or next year.

ABC - "HANGTOWN" - Created by Battlestar Gallactica and Caprica writer Matt Roberts (whom had already a deal to remake The Wild Wild West series last year and fell through) it centers around a border town in the 1900's when the railroad is expanding and it has more of CSI twist. A tough as nails Marshal who uses his instincts to solve crimes, an east coast Dr. who comes to the town to put his knowledge of forensics to play and a "sassy" female reported hell bend on sending dime novel stories to her editors about the wild frontier. This will have to be great on the character side to create some interest since it's just CSI in the wild west.

"GUNSLINGER" by writer/ producer David Zabel very little is known of this project but some speculate it's a take on the 1960's series "Have gun will travel" - Again if they don't get the tone right a big yawn will be in order.

AMC - 'HELL ON WHEELS" - Entails the story of the building of the Pacific Railroad in the 1860's. This has the promise of another Deadwood. Again characters tell the whole story but I doubt AMC will come through in the budget as HBO did for Deadwood to make it an all around contender.

TNT - "GATEWAY" - A more family oriented drama about three bothers getting their "revenge on" by battling the areas corrupt cattle barron who gunned down their pa'. This seems also ho-hum.

CBS - " RALPH LAMB" about the 1960's Las Vegas lawman who dispensed justice on horseback. Has the tone of a Mad Men meets Tombstone, with some showgirls thrown in. Could be interesting.

NBC - Not to be left out of the trend, is coming out with a series by "Friday night lights" producer Peter Berg, but this series is told from a female's perspective of the west. On this one, I don't know what to say...

Interesting that the big cable boys, HBO, SHOWTIME and STARZ haven't gotten in on this. Maybe they're being smart and want to see the bodies on the floor to later home in on the contenders.

So there you go folks, again one disclaimer. Some of these shows have been ordered, some are on contention of casting and others may not pass the studio hatchet so we'll have to see which one comes out.

May the fastest pen win.

Read 1790 times Last modified on Wednesday, 05 August 2015 16:16
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