Television Briefing: 6/5

— Watch a free preview of the pilot for Showtime’s Meadowlands (password - “secret”). Co-produced with the U.K.’s Channel 4, featuring David Morrissey (“The Deal,” “State of Play,” “Viva: Blackpool”) and Lucy Cohu (“The Queen’s Sister,” “Becoming Jane”), Meadowlands follows a family in a witness relocation program, who soon encounter the dangers they were on the lamb from. Series premieres June 17th.

— “The story is not over…It’s still something that’s evolving and we want to keep on top of it.” - Spike Lee will return to Katrina-torn New Orleans for a follow up to HBO’s When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts.

— Bravo’s continued strategy for reality dominance. Related: More celebrated than Sasquatch sightings in the Northwest - Austin Scarlett in Seattle.

— The Thick of It , ABC passed on Mitch Hurwitz’s (writer/producer of Arrested Development) pilot for the political comedy, based on the BBC series of the same name, but HBO, Showtime, and NBC are all interested in picking the series up.

— Fox’s On the Lot : SlashFilm asks: “Wha Happen to Brett Ratner?”, who made a quick and early exit from the judges’ table.

— “A deputy prime minister with a stutter weds the mother of a taste tester who wants to join the circus. Stars Tom Sizemore and Suzanne Summers. Genre: Sci-Fi”. Or what about “A patent clerk with narcolepsy writes a TV pilot with a jockey who refuses to bathe. Stars Rosanne Barr and Charles Durning. Genre: Sci-Fi”. - The TV Show Pitch Generator (Lost Remote)

— New York Magazine catches up with Lauren Ambrose (Six Feet Under), and gets an update on her current and future projects: motherhood, Romeo and Juliet, a couple of indies, and The Return of Jezebel James (Fox, with Parker Posey). (Pop Candy)

—  HBO has assembled the cast for Iraq drama Generation Kill, a seven part miniseries from The Wire creators David Simon and Ed Burns.

— “If we can’t restrict the use of the words ‘fuck’ and ‘shit’ during primetime, Hollywood will be able to say anything they want, whenever they want” - FCC chairman Kevin Martin.  Cynthia Littleton on the FCC’s losing battle on four letter words, receiving a “smackdown” via ruling from the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals.

— “No shit” news of the day: Nielson says DVR’s are to blame for viewership drops. Also: good TV encourages face-stuffing.

tedzee | Permalink | June 5 2007 | Comments (View)