If you’ve watched TV long enough, you’ve likely realized that one of the ways to introduce new shows is by spinning them off from established franchises. Think CSI or Law & Order. The technical term (okay so I don’t actually know that it’s the real technical term) for it is “back door pilot”. You’re introduced to the new cast of characters and sometimes it is successful in garnering interest in the new series and sometimes it falls flat on its face. So I’ve chosen to examine what I think makes 3 back door pilots successful (or not).
JAG=>NCIS
So, I will admit that I tried to watch the pilot of JAG a while back and though it was so bad that I couldn’t even watch the whole episode. I suppose in a sense that saved me from having to get through 10 seasons of the show. I was originally interested in the show because I knew it was the show that preceded NCIS. So, I hunted on IMDB to find out which episodes of JAG Mark Harmon was in. And therefore, decided to watch just those episodes to see how well JAG could do a back door pilot. This section of the post may be a little skewed seeing as I did not avidly watch the parent show but I’ll do my best.
A brief case review: The body of a JAG lieutenant is found and Harm (the lead of JAG) is the prime suspect in the death. NCIS, led by Agent Jethro Gibbs and accompanied by Very Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, one forensic guru, Abby Sciuto and one witty medical examiner, Dr. Donald “Ducky” Mallard investigate the case. It appears that Harm is the killer but as the trial progresses; NCIS discovers irregularities that lead them to the real killer. Back at the Navy yard, the Navy is trying to break a terrorist to stop an attack on a navy asset.
What makes it good: So I will admit that I wasn’t all that invested in the JAG characters. I still don’t 100% understand the function of JAG officers. I know they’re lawyers but I guess I’m just not sure whether they act as lawyers or in a judge type role. Anyway, much like how the NCIS->NCIS: LA episodes began with the new guys, this episode opened with NCIS arriving at a crime scene. I do have to say I think the acting on JAG improved from the pilot. Anyway, one thing that surprised me was how many of the original NCIS cast was in this episode. Everyone except for McGee and Kate were in this episode. I have to say, I was very surprised by how young Mark Harmon looked. How young everyone looked actually. I also liked that they had continuity with the Director o NCIS from these 2 episodes to the first season of NCIS. Knowing what I do now about these characters, it was fascinating to see how they were first imagined. Gibbs was a lot more light-hearted than in the series and Abby wasn’t quite as wacky and hyper. Tony wasn’t quite as snobby nor did he quote movies/TV shows. I am kind of glad we don’t see a lot of the team testifying in NCIS. I mean, sure Abby does on occasion but usually the rest of the investigators don’t. She was pretty adorable on JAG though. So was Ducky. He rambled off on one of his many stories. Gibbs was just generally badass and wasn’t afraid to change his opinion when new information surfaced. We got a little of Gibbs’ sniper training when they finally took down the terrorists. Overall, I found this back door pilot to be a good precursor to NCIS.
NCIS=>NCIS: LOS ANGELES
Having come into NCIS later in the game (around season 4 or 5) I had to go back and watch the early seasons. This of course was aided by me ordering the first 5 seasons on DVD. I realized very fast that it was a great show and had a strong ensemble cast. So I wasn’t all that surprised when the writers decided to spin-off a new series. I will admit I was a little skeptical of what it would be like but I gave it a try and I’m very glad I did.
A brief case review: A case based in Los Angeles focused on international weapons dealing is linked to the death of a naval officer in DC and it brings together our Virginia-based NCIS team, led by Gibbs and the LA based Office of Special Programs (OSP) led by Agent Macey. OSP deals with undercover operations and surveillance. It turns out that the naval officer was being forced to provide money for the weapons dealer who is tied to a terrorist group. One of Macey’s agents, Callen, goes undercover as the weapons dealer after a shoot-out ends in the real dealer’s death. It turns out Ziva’s Mossad boyfriend, Michael (who we see much more of in the final two episodes of season 6 of NCIS) shows up to meet with Callen. Both NCIS and Mossad want to take down the terrorists but Michael’s interfering with the investigation.
What makes it good: The first of the two-part introduction to OPS began with the LA team on an op. It transitioned straight to Gibbs’ team in Virginia and it just felt seamless. The cases tied together in an interesting way and we got to see a new side of NCIS. McGee gets to make the trip to LA with Gibbs and he’s thrilled with all the high-tech gadgets OSP has at their disposal. It also not only continues the overall season arc of NCIS but it sets up the final two episodes of the season remarkably well. I will say I kind of wonder why they god rid of Macey and Agent Renko. They were replaced by Operations Manager Henrietta “Hettie” Lang (Linda Hunt) and green Agent Dominic Vail when NCIS: LA premiered. The chemistry between the LA team was so smooth and easy to watch and they also fit in well with Gibbs and McGee. I like that the back story they developed for Macey and Gibbs was consistent with information we’d learned in previous seasons about his first wife and daughter and their murder. We also got to see how the rest of Gibbs’ team (Tony, Ziva and Abby) fit into the storyline as well as ramping up the tension between Tony and Ziva. This had all the things that make a back door pilot good. Great casting, great acting and great storytelling.
CRIMINAL MINDS=>CRIMINAL MINDS: SUSPECT BEHAVIOR
I’m a big fan of Criminal Minds. I’ve liked all the characters we’ve had. In fact, it has spawned some interesting fanfiction back in the day. But unlike NCIS, I wasn’t 100% sure a spin-off would work. For one thing, up until now, the show gave the impression that our team based out of Quantico was it. It was the only BAU. So that was a strike against the newbies before they even started. But, I figured I’d at least give it a shot when the episode aired.
A brief case review: The BAU is called in when a father and daughter go missing. They partner with a new BAU team, led by Forest Whitaker’s character, Special Agent Sam Cooper. Between the two of them, they manage to find the Unsub (unknown subject) and rescue the father and daughter, though not after the father had to kill several people just to stay alive.
What makes it bad: In general, the gruesome factor of Criminal Minds doesn’t tend to bother me. But something about this case just freaked me out. It was brutal and just too dark. With that in mind, we got the new BAU team in play. They’re nothing like our regular team. They’re much grittier and kind of do what they want. I also didn’t feel any real connection to the team, like I did with the OSP crew on NCIS. They tried to show that Cooper and Hotch had a background together but I just didn’t feel it. Plus, the other team members had kind of shady back stories. Prophet had been in prison for something like 6 years, which I’m pretty sure doesn’t allow you to join any federal agency. So that was a huge stretch of logic. Another big stretch, was Mick. He used to be MI6, so I don’t know how he could then join the FBI, since he’s not an American citizen. It was these kinds of leaps in logic that made me really dislike this episode as well as the new characters they were trying to introduce. Plus, and I know it sounds mean, but Forest Whitaker’s eye that droops just bothers me. It’s gotten worse over the years. I know he probably doesn’t have any control over it but it just is very distracting. I think another reason that this team didn’t work for me was because we didn’t’ really have time to get to know them. With JAG and NCIS we were given two episodes to bond with the new characters. Here we had one and it felt very rushed. So, even though Garcia is supposed to also be in the spin-off, I won’t be watching.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
A Status on Writing
So, I'm still working on the back door pilot blog post. It's about 2/3 of the way complete at the moment. So it should be up sometime next week. But I wanted to drop by and share the latest on the writing and querying extravaganza.
On the writing front I started a new novel (Young Adult historical) last week. I'm about 10,000 words in so far (hoping to be at about 11,800 by the end of the day). It's an interesting story about the son of a slave owner who escapes with a young slave boy and their journey to freedom in the North but also their journey to finding happiness in each other. At least for a little while. This is not going to ultimately be a happy story for the main characters. But being an interracial couple in 1850s America wasn't likely to be very happy to begin with.
This leads me to the query front. As you know, beginning in November, I sent out 23 queries. I've gotten 14 rejections and I closed out the remaining 9 because I didn't hear anything and took that as to mean "no response means no". I know it seems premature that I'm stopping the query process with Pharaoh, but my heart just isn't in it right now. I believe, in order to be successful, you have to be really committed to the project and I just don't feel that is the case right now.
I plan to finish the current YA novel by mid-February, revise in March and hopefully find some good betas for it. I think I wiill likely try to query this project over the summer and see what happens.
On the writing front I started a new novel (Young Adult historical) last week. I'm about 10,000 words in so far (hoping to be at about 11,800 by the end of the day). It's an interesting story about the son of a slave owner who escapes with a young slave boy and their journey to freedom in the North but also their journey to finding happiness in each other. At least for a little while. This is not going to ultimately be a happy story for the main characters. But being an interracial couple in 1850s America wasn't likely to be very happy to begin with.
This leads me to the query front. As you know, beginning in November, I sent out 23 queries. I've gotten 14 rejections and I closed out the remaining 9 because I didn't hear anything and took that as to mean "no response means no". I know it seems premature that I'm stopping the query process with Pharaoh, but my heart just isn't in it right now. I believe, in order to be successful, you have to be really committed to the project and I just don't feel that is the case right now.
I plan to finish the current YA novel by mid-February, revise in March and hopefully find some good betas for it. I think I wiill likely try to query this project over the summer and see what happens.
Monday, January 3, 2011
2011 and the TV Shows it Brings
So I felt inspired by Jen's blog post about the TV shows she's excited for but won't have time to blog so I thought I would throw together my own list of shows I'm excited about for 2011. This list will include both new and returning shows.
V
Returns: 1/4/11 @ 9pm (ABC)
While V wasn't super strong last season, it was better at plot arcs and character development than FlashForward. And season 1 ended with a huge cliffhanger; an extremely emotional Anna unleashing something that turned the entire sky red. It can't be good and I'm guessing whatever the Visitors plans are will be jumping into gear from the get go of this season. I'm interested to see how the resistance, led by Erica handles having Ryan turning on them. Plus there is the intriguing Anna/Lisa dynamic now that Lisa is helping Fifth Column. And if that all wasn't enough to keep me wanting to see the new season, they resurrected Joshua at the end of last season, too. I liked his character so I'm happy he'll be around, even if he's getting tortured by Anna and her minions.
Merlin
Returns: 1/7/11 @ 10pm (SyFy)
If you’ve followed my rants about my computer at all, you’ll know it’s had some mishaps thanks to trying to watch Merlin series 3 online. So I stopped and am excited that it is coming to SyFy so soon. I can get my fix every week now! I know I’ve seen the first 10 episodes already but I want to rewatch them. This season has been really strong, even if they have moved Morgana’s storyline faster than I would have liked. I am enjoying how they are slowly laying more pieces to the Arthurian puzzle into place. I hope this will tide me over until we get series 4.
The Cape
Premieres: 1/9/11 @ 9pm (NBC)
So back when NBC was originally promoting this show, I wasn't sure it would be any good. The premise seemed a little hokey. But then I heard Summer Glau was involved and I realized I had to at least check it out. It turns out that her role is going to be very big in this show as she's the main character's side-kick of sorts. Plus she gets to be badass and beat people up. River Tam anyone? Then NBC started putting out the promos for the show and it looks really good. Not your typical superhero with no actual superpowers show. It looks dark and gritty and awesome. I may end up blogging it for More TV Please!. If that happens, I will cross-post all the recaps I do for anyone interested in reading.
White Collar
Returns: 1/18/11 @ 10pm (USA)
Okay, so technically right now White Collar isn't a returning show. It's just finishing up its summer 2010 season with 4 final episodes. But they are going to be great episodes. We find out who shot Mozzie (and why) plus who killed Kate. And the damn music box fiasco supposedly gets resolved. I just love Matt Bomer and his chemistry with Tim DeKay is just fantastic. It's a fun twist on the con show that I don't necessarily get with Leverage. So, it will be a welcome addition for a short while to my Tuesday line-up.
Fairly Legal
Premieres: 1/20/11 @ 10pm (USA)
I wasn't originally going to check this new USA legal dramedy out but then Is aw the promos and realized the lead was played by the lovely Sarah Shahi. I first discovered her on the NBC series "Life" where she played a recovering alcoholic detective partnered with a cop who had spent time in prison for being falsely convicted of murder. Then I saw her on "The L Word" which was a completely different role for her. A fun role but different. Now she's playing a lawyer who leaves the legal field in one sense and joins up in another. Fed up with the system she becomes a mediator. Having taken ADR this past semester, I want to see if they actually employ any of the mediation techniques we learned about in class. USA shows are usually pretty good at keeping things real to life but you never know. I did see a clip where a judge sent two parties to mediation and said something along the lines of "this is alternative dispute resolution, also known as mediation". It kind of irked me because generally the "aka" of alternative dispute resolution is ADR. But that could be me just getting nitpicky. We'll see how it fairs.
Body of Proof
Premieres: 3/29/11 @ 10pm (ABC)
I have been talking about this show for ages. And ABC has finally given a release date. So come the end of March, I will be blogging it each week. I will of course post the recaps when I send them over to More TV Please! for Jen to post. I can’t wait to have Jeri Ryan back on my screen every week. I’m rather indifferent to Dana Delaney, though I find her character’s back story interesting (at least what I’ve read of it). I hope the show works out. It’s a different twist on the forensic/crime drama shows out there. Plus, there’s Jeri Ryan. Did I already mention that? I can’t help it!
Doctor Who
Returns: March 2011 (BBC America)
If anyone remembers the blog post I did ages ago for More TV Please comparing the 9th, 10th and 11th Doctors, you know I’m not much of a fan of Matt Smith’s Doctor. Even after series 5, I’m still not thrilled with him. I find his portrayal to be immature and childish. I like my Doctor dark and angsty. But considering Stephen Moffat is now at the helm, I doubt if we’ll see the Doctor go dark any time soon. But there are good things to come in series 6. We get more River Song and some new bad guys. I even enjoyed the Christmas special this year (not as much as The Christmas Invasion but yeah…nothing beats David Tennant’s entrance). I will give series 6 a go and hope for the best.
Torchwood
Returns: Summer 2011 (Starz)
I am a diehard Jack/Ianto fan and am still slightly pissed with Russell T. Davies for killing Ianto. I still can’t watch Children of Earth. Thinking about it makes me sad and cry. I refuse to believe Jack’s encounter with Midshipman Frame (End of Time Part 2) was anything more than a one-night stand. And given that Jack’s rebound relationship once he returns to planet Earth is supposed to be a one-night stand, it’s not out of the realm of possibility. I’m disappointed that Jack has to have flings to get over Ianto. But I do want Jack and Gwen back on my TV screens o I will tolerate it. I want to know what gets Jack to come back to Earth and what kinds of mischief they get up to now.
Being Human
Returns sometime in 2011 (BBC America)
If you’ve been watching SyFy the last few weeks you’ve likely seen their ads for the US remake of Being Human. I urge you to purge those from your memory. Why mess with the original when its coming back to the US airwaves? Plus the SyFy version looks horribly stupid and lame. Though, funny point that they renamed the vampire from Mitchell to Aidan. Funny because Mitchell is played by an actor named Aidan Turner. Anyway, I’m excited for series 3 of Being Human because series 2 ended in a crazy place. Even if series 3 is the final for the series, it should be intense while George and Mitchell attempt to save Annie. Plus, they’re in Cardiff now. Who knows, maybe they’ll run into a rift in space and time? A girl can hope!
V
Returns: 1/4/11 @ 9pm (ABC)
While V wasn't super strong last season, it was better at plot arcs and character development than FlashForward. And season 1 ended with a huge cliffhanger; an extremely emotional Anna unleashing something that turned the entire sky red. It can't be good and I'm guessing whatever the Visitors plans are will be jumping into gear from the get go of this season. I'm interested to see how the resistance, led by Erica handles having Ryan turning on them. Plus there is the intriguing Anna/Lisa dynamic now that Lisa is helping Fifth Column. And if that all wasn't enough to keep me wanting to see the new season, they resurrected Joshua at the end of last season, too. I liked his character so I'm happy he'll be around, even if he's getting tortured by Anna and her minions.
Merlin
Returns: 1/7/11 @ 10pm (SyFy)
If you’ve followed my rants about my computer at all, you’ll know it’s had some mishaps thanks to trying to watch Merlin series 3 online. So I stopped and am excited that it is coming to SyFy so soon. I can get my fix every week now! I know I’ve seen the first 10 episodes already but I want to rewatch them. This season has been really strong, even if they have moved Morgana’s storyline faster than I would have liked. I am enjoying how they are slowly laying more pieces to the Arthurian puzzle into place. I hope this will tide me over until we get series 4.
The Cape
Premieres: 1/9/11 @ 9pm (NBC)
So back when NBC was originally promoting this show, I wasn't sure it would be any good. The premise seemed a little hokey. But then I heard Summer Glau was involved and I realized I had to at least check it out. It turns out that her role is going to be very big in this show as she's the main character's side-kick of sorts. Plus she gets to be badass and beat people up. River Tam anyone? Then NBC started putting out the promos for the show and it looks really good. Not your typical superhero with no actual superpowers show. It looks dark and gritty and awesome. I may end up blogging it for More TV Please!. If that happens, I will cross-post all the recaps I do for anyone interested in reading.
White Collar
Returns: 1/18/11 @ 10pm (USA)
Okay, so technically right now White Collar isn't a returning show. It's just finishing up its summer 2010 season with 4 final episodes. But they are going to be great episodes. We find out who shot Mozzie (and why) plus who killed Kate. And the damn music box fiasco supposedly gets resolved. I just love Matt Bomer and his chemistry with Tim DeKay is just fantastic. It's a fun twist on the con show that I don't necessarily get with Leverage. So, it will be a welcome addition for a short while to my Tuesday line-up.
Fairly Legal
Premieres: 1/20/11 @ 10pm (USA)
I wasn't originally going to check this new USA legal dramedy out but then Is aw the promos and realized the lead was played by the lovely Sarah Shahi. I first discovered her on the NBC series "Life" where she played a recovering alcoholic detective partnered with a cop who had spent time in prison for being falsely convicted of murder. Then I saw her on "The L Word" which was a completely different role for her. A fun role but different. Now she's playing a lawyer who leaves the legal field in one sense and joins up in another. Fed up with the system she becomes a mediator. Having taken ADR this past semester, I want to see if they actually employ any of the mediation techniques we learned about in class. USA shows are usually pretty good at keeping things real to life but you never know. I did see a clip where a judge sent two parties to mediation and said something along the lines of "this is alternative dispute resolution, also known as mediation". It kind of irked me because generally the "aka" of alternative dispute resolution is ADR. But that could be me just getting nitpicky. We'll see how it fairs.
Body of Proof
Premieres: 3/29/11 @ 10pm (ABC)
I have been talking about this show for ages. And ABC has finally given a release date. So come the end of March, I will be blogging it each week. I will of course post the recaps when I send them over to More TV Please! for Jen to post. I can’t wait to have Jeri Ryan back on my screen every week. I’m rather indifferent to Dana Delaney, though I find her character’s back story interesting (at least what I’ve read of it). I hope the show works out. It’s a different twist on the forensic/crime drama shows out there. Plus, there’s Jeri Ryan. Did I already mention that? I can’t help it!
Doctor Who
Returns: March 2011 (BBC America)
If anyone remembers the blog post I did ages ago for More TV Please comparing the 9th, 10th and 11th Doctors, you know I’m not much of a fan of Matt Smith’s Doctor. Even after series 5, I’m still not thrilled with him. I find his portrayal to be immature and childish. I like my Doctor dark and angsty. But considering Stephen Moffat is now at the helm, I doubt if we’ll see the Doctor go dark any time soon. But there are good things to come in series 6. We get more River Song and some new bad guys. I even enjoyed the Christmas special this year (not as much as The Christmas Invasion but yeah…nothing beats David Tennant’s entrance). I will give series 6 a go and hope for the best.
Torchwood
Returns: Summer 2011 (Starz)
I am a diehard Jack/Ianto fan and am still slightly pissed with Russell T. Davies for killing Ianto. I still can’t watch Children of Earth. Thinking about it makes me sad and cry. I refuse to believe Jack’s encounter with Midshipman Frame (End of Time Part 2) was anything more than a one-night stand. And given that Jack’s rebound relationship once he returns to planet Earth is supposed to be a one-night stand, it’s not out of the realm of possibility. I’m disappointed that Jack has to have flings to get over Ianto. But I do want Jack and Gwen back on my TV screens o I will tolerate it. I want to know what gets Jack to come back to Earth and what kinds of mischief they get up to now.
Being Human
Returns sometime in 2011 (BBC America)
If you’ve been watching SyFy the last few weeks you’ve likely seen their ads for the US remake of Being Human. I urge you to purge those from your memory. Why mess with the original when its coming back to the US airwaves? Plus the SyFy version looks horribly stupid and lame. Though, funny point that they renamed the vampire from Mitchell to Aidan. Funny because Mitchell is played by an actor named Aidan Turner. Anyway, I’m excited for series 3 of Being Human because series 2 ended in a crazy place. Even if series 3 is the final for the series, it should be intense while George and Mitchell attempt to save Annie. Plus, they’re in Cardiff now. Who knows, maybe they’ll run into a rift in space and time? A girl can hope!
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