Pilot Screener Review - The Body Politic

THE BODY POLITIC

Status: Busted...? (been a while since I heard anything, and can't remember if it was still in consideration for midseason or just completely dead)

For script review, see The Body Politic.

The impetus for my finally starting these screener reviews. I'll be honest, nothing has truly jumped out at me that I felt DEMANDED to be blogged about. Until I (finally) got my grubby hands on The Body Politic, a 30-minute presentation of the only CW drama pilot not picked up to series (besides the shocking Lily / Gossip Girl Spin-Off fiasco).

What a shame. What a horrible, crying shame that this presentation will not be completed and aired and loved by, um, millions? What passes for successful first-run programming on CW these days? 2.5 million? Yeah...

Presentations are challenging because a lot of connective tissue is lost. There's a full pilot script, but only about 2/3 of it is shot (TBP was shot in 8 days, I believe, while most drama pilots average 14) in order to save precious, precious money. You try and hit the big scenes, and some of the other stuff falls by the wayside to, in success, be shot or recast later (in TBP, much of the dealings with the older characters... the two Senators featured as well as Brian Austin Green's character who, literally, was only in the presentation for a half-second). You sell the show.

And, boy, did they sell me on this show (recall from my script reviews of the "Jury's Out" CW shows that I said it's all about chemistry and casting).

Minka Kelly, as I've said, is a TV star waiting to breakout and this was a great vehicle for her (though I do wish that the pervasive voice over had been toned down). That lady could have chemistry with the bannister if she wanted, so it's not hard to buy a love triangle involving Jason Dohring and Jay Hernandez. She is lovable and innocent and you really do feel for her in the moments before, during, and after her character (once named Lily, then Hope, now Frankie / Francesca) meets her biological father (though she does not tell him this). You want this girl to thrive on Capitol Hill.

The rest of the more heavily featured cast works well. Dohring's reporter character (Charlie) and Gabrielle Union's experienced staffer (Jessica) get the most air time of the other characters. The show tries to buy back some audience love for Jessica with some character history about being a young leader for women's rights, but I don't think it's enough. Plus, it's always a good thing to have a character who might backstab your lead and smile while doing it. That's politics, baby. Had the pilot gone forward, I'd have recast the woman (I couldn't even find casting information on her to give you the actress's name) who played Senator Buckley (the Democrat Majority leader who is pissed that the President is nominating a Republican for Attorney General... this plotline was very much incomplete in the presentation) as she just did nothing for me (though she got very little screen time). Also missing from the presentation was much of the plotline about a foreclosures freezing bill that Buckley was trying to stop because of a Democrat Senator was told to sponsor the AG nomination by the White House. I recall, in the script, that added some weight to the emotional proceedings.

The Body Politic has been called the best pilot not picked up by some. At this point, I've got to agree. I have no idea why this wasn't picked up to series. If I had any sway at CW (and I don't), the mistake would be corrected.

Pilot Screener Reviews... Starting Now!

First off... Happy July 4th, everyone!

I've been away from the blog (not to mention PIFeedback) for a while. It's been an intense summer thus far... but I'm back now and, at the very least, should be posting screener reviews regularly in the coming days (because, honestly, not a ton to say about any summer ratings...)

I've seen just shy of everything that's out there to be seen on the drama side (there are still no Flash Forward screeners, anyone who has been able to seen / review it has been a part of ABC's press / critics screenings... I also haven't yet gotten my hands on Parenthood, Day One, Inside the Box, Maggie Hill, US Attorney, A Marriage, Masterwork, or Solving Charlie) plus, I believe, all of the comedies that were picked up (in addition to several busted comedy pilots).

There have been a few surprises, both in good and bad ways (scripts I liked that didn't work out on screen, scripts I didn't like that worked far better than I expected). There are the disappointments of high quality pilots not being picked up (for any number of reasons, from budget / license fee negotiations to the network deciding to not explore a genre), and there are the disappointments of poor quality pilots (or ones that just don't hold my interested) being picked up. That's the joy of pilot season. You really never know what's going to leap up from that page and make magic (and some things still don't work but were picked up and are being retooled so even now I don't know what the end product will be like).

Which leads me to the review I'm going to start writing now-ish (and will hopefully get out before headed out for dinner and fireworks with friends). Stay tuned...

Screener Reviews... Forthcoming!

They are. I swear. Just not today or this weekend (it's LGBT Pride in LA, after all).

Anyway, screeners are still pouring in / making their way to me. I don't have everything (yet).

A brief note... NO ONE has Flash Forward. No one. I have friends on the show, and they don't even have it (in fact, there is some super crazy protocol for the scripts to ensure that there aren't even any electronic copies being distributed).

Of course, my theory is, and always will be, that the real reason to watch these screeners is to watch the BUSTED pilots (the ones that don't get picked up) to see why... not to watch something months in advance of its premiere. Though in special cases (i.e. Glee) it's nice to know what I'm going to be obsessed with well in advance.

Please, please, please don't e-mail me to get copies of these. I simply can't do that. It would be a total breach of trust.

Nose Dive

Royal Pains, consider yourself one "one episode left" notice. I was VASTLY underwhelmed by tonight's follow-up to the pilot. Mostly because you retained about 300% of the quirk of the pilot but 25% of the drama.

Now, I know. You aren't a murder mystery show. But both Monk and Psych manage to fit quirk within a murder mystery every week and keep things moving along in an amusing way (diminishing returns on Monk, IMHO, but that's why I stopped watching it). Medical shows can be funny and quirky and still solve medical mysteries. In fact, that show is House. You, Royal Pains, are not House. You aren't trying to be House. I get it.

But, please, could you try a little harder to HOLD MY ATTENTION!?

Show of hands... who knew what was wrong with the ballerina 3 minutes after the second act started (since we didn't see the ballerina until the end of the first act, and even then it was COMPLETELY SEPARATE FROM THE PLOT LINE WE WERE IN).

Also, could they be moving any faster on the Hank/Jill romance? It's episode two and they already have reached smoochus interruptus.

Sigh.

Anyway. I'm hoping this is a fluke of bad storytelling and not a hint at the formula to come from Royal Pains. Because if it is representative of what's ahead... well, I won't be watching after next week. And I really want to be watching after next week because I need more scripted TV in my summer life.

SYTYCD note - results show more engaging than Idol's (woo! no Ford commercials!), the "dance for your life" bit is interesting, Sean Kingston is not even a mediocre live performer, and the right guy and girl went home tonight.

PS - I'm Not Dead

Just very, very bored by the summer ratings. I'm not getting regular / complete cable numbers, so reporting on anything is spotty (and big stuff like the Burn Notice, Royal Pains, Weeds, Nurse Jackie, The Closer, and Raising the Bar premiere data is actually being written up in the trades).

Will get to screener reviews as I can, but have been embroiled in some writing projects that have definitely occupied my time and / or brain.

What can I say? Summer sucks.

On recommendation, I have been watching So You Think You Can Dance for the first time this summer... what a treat last night's performance show was! The audition and Vegas rounds... not so much. Judging the performances from home is very, very different for SYTYCD than it is for Idol. On Idol, you know when there's a missed note or pitchiness or whatever. On SYTYCD all of the dancers are amazing, but the line separating them on any given week or performances seems to be the choreography they're given within the genre they receive, and the amount of personality brought to the performance. It's not like any of the Top 20 wiped out last night (do they ever? Again, this was my first performance show viewing).

Some brief notes on the cable premieres of the last week...

Burn Notice - still a ton of fun, glad to see that even though they sort of seemed to explode the premise for the show at last season's end, the episodes are still very much in the same vein... but with even more sense of danger because Michael is now on the grid. Glad to see USA pushing Donovan and Anwar for Lead Male and Supporting Female Emmys in the trade FYCs.

Royal Pains - the opening 15-ish minutes were a pain and a bit of a buy (what with the hospital board black listing the lead character everywhere in NYC...), and I found the lead character to be very annoying with his repeated protest that he wasn't going to be the concierge doctor in the Hamptons... it's the premise for the show, so it didn't hold any water after his first complaint. Looking forward to the first post-pilot episode tonight, which won't have to deal with setting the premiere up, and hopefully won't have Dr. Hank quite so recalcitrant.

Weeds - I'm not sure why I'm still watching this show. It wasn't funny last season and it isn't funny now. I don't even like any of the characters anymore (even Shane).

Nurse Jackie - the press has gone gaga over this show, and it's good to see Falco in such an interesting (and different) role. looking forward to what episode two has in store.

The Closer - same old summer popcorn background noise. Was kind of surprised at the lack of a post-Brenda's-wedding plotline or even a mention. Much like Burn Notice... business as usual.

Top Chef Masters - fun if different from the Mothership. I didn't warm to Kelly Choi, and definitely miss Padma and Tom. However, if the Mothership wants to bring Gael Greene on as a guest judge at any point in the coming season, I'm all for it.

Oh, Right, The Blog...

Been distracted with the run up to the coming TV season. Will get some reviews out eventually, especially as the screeners pile up.

Unfortunately, that will be delayed further by today's California Supreme Court decision, as my RL self is pretty damn active in the LGBT community. Will be at the WeHo protest tonight at 7pm, outside the Beverly Hilton where Obama will be tomorrow, in Fresno on Saturday, and probably Pasadena on Sunday.

Find a local protest and get involved!

Playing It Safe

Huh.

And here I thought CBS was in a position to do something radical.

Sure, Big Bang Theory moves to the post-Two and a Half Men slot, and How I Met Your Mother returns to its old 8pm timeslot (where it never did as well as it has at 8:30pm...)

Sure, after one season after NCIS, The Mentalist is moved away and a compatible combination is broken up (will The Mentalist flourish on Thursdays at 10pm? Who knows... there's certainly less competition, though the CSI lead-in, at this point, will be questionable). Putting NCIS and NCIS2 together seems like a smart move... but with how well The Mentalist did, why not try NCIS2 at 10pm? How well The Good Wife can do out of these shows compared to how well The Mentalist certainly would have done in the mix is going to be at the forefront.

No Wednesday changes? Hm.

Survivor/CSI stay the course on Thursdays despite CSI's recent decline? In some ways, to move it could be too knee-jerk... but something more than sticking The Mentalist on at 10pm seemed in order.

Medium after Ghost Whisperer is the biggest no-brainer, so, while we have no idea if the ratings will pay off, it certainly seems like CBS did the right thing here.

Three Rivers on Sunday between relative-demo-factory The Amazing Race and ancient Cold Case. We'll see how that works out.

Performance Finale

Lambert: Mad World not as good as the first time.

Allen: Ain't No Sunshine better than the first time.

Lambert: A Change Is Gonna Come outstanding.

Allen: What's Goin' On merely okay.

Kara: Wow, she let her name be attached to that song? Not good for either contestant. Out of range / wrong key for Kris, and far outside Adam's genre.

Le shrug.

At this stage it doesn't matter *to me* who wins (especially with Allison Iraheta out of the competition... she had the most distinctive sound this season even if her song choice was rarely spot on and she didn't do the now-seemingly-necessary rearrangement of her songs... listen to the studio versions of her songs, she's amazing).

Adam and Kris were both amazing in their own rights and ways throughout the season, and they're in very different places for the industry. And, no doubt, both will be getting record deals.

In the long run, I don't think winning Idol is going to help or hurt Adam's career. Winning Idol will help Kris' career.

Conversely, a Kris win hurts Idol, as a show. Adam is the reason the show has been buzzing so loudly this season, even if the Nielsen ratings reflect a decline in viewership. An Adam win is electrifying, and his not-the-Idol-single debut single release, and album release, around the time of the Idol premiere will be a massive PR boon... no matter how bad it might suck (and it sooooo could... I mean, just because you have Christina Aguilera's pipes doesn't mean you go on vocals runs all the time instead of singing melodies... which is where I, again, point to the studio versions of Adam's songs, which restrain his screaming and runs in a way that makes even the more offensively outrageous performances listenable). Kris is safe and I don't think his single/album will create the whirlwind of buzz that Adam's will... even though they probably will be more radio-friendly (in an easy-listening, Adult Contemporary sort of way).

Ultimately, a Kris win tomorrow night simply means a disappointment for the show. Not for viewers or listeners.

That said, I think Kris will win. You either love or hate Adam. It's hard to hate Kris. You might find him bland, but you don't hate him. He's the underdog, and he will likely pick up more of Danny Gokey's voters than Adam will (because people had already made their decision on Adam).

Oh, and, yes. I'd love Adam to win what with the whole "he's probably one of us gays" thing.

PS - What'd you all think of Glee? I liked the longer rough cut I saw months ago better... but, darn it, if those last minutes with the kids singing "Don't Stop Believin'" isn't still massively uplifting and creating of the warm fuzzies. Hope you stuck around for it.

CW Pickups

Melrose 2.0, Vampire Diaires, and Beautiful Life are a go for fall.

Had heard a week or so ago that Body Politic was not going to be for fall, but still could be in for midseason. Gossip Girl spin-off has been varying between yay or nay depending on what time of the day it is and, THANK GAWD, is now officially dead. No word on Light Years (or whatever the title of it became, since it's no longer Light Years). Priviledged is also officially dead.

Seriously, though, CW. You *must* order something for midseason. You will be utterly, completely screwed otherwise, even with giving up Sundays.

ABC Fall Schedule

I'm disappointed in ABC's fall schedule. It does some things that it needs to (um, anything on Wednesday nights). But it doesn't make the bold moves I wish it did (Sunday stays intact).

Monday: same as the spring, DWTS / Castle

Tuesday: Shark Tank (whatever that is, it's a reality show... I'm sensing Opportunity Knocks failure?) / DWTS Results / The Forgotten (I'll get to the review later... this move actually makes sense, it's practically the one place on CBS's schedule there isn't a massively successful crime show... at least until CBS makes its announcements tomorrow)

Wednesday: ALL NEW. 2-hour comedy block (I've seen 9pm entrant Modern Family and, I was complete shocked as it's an ABC sitcom, it was funny) and Eastwick.

Thursday: Flash Forward at 8pm, I'm good with this move, Survivor is the only major player left in this hour. Fox should be happy, too, it will (hopefully) deliver male viewers to the night who will then switch over the Fringe at 9pm. I'm assuming ABC is hoping that FF will deliver male viewers to Grey's... we'll see. The crossover audience, I suspect, isn't much. However if FF can pull decent-to-great numbers... the crossover aud boosting Grey's won't matter.

Friday: Ugly Betty, for its final season, gets the Friday night treatment it was headed for in its first season.

Sunday: same as, um, the last 3 years... but with a weakening, um, everything...

ABC has a lot of midseason programming. The question is... what fails? What changes? Where does Lost go? Scrubs / Better Off Ted? V? Happy Town? The Lawyer Show That Isn't From David E Kelley (yay)? So much up in the air.

This upfront comes down to CBS's announcement tomorrow. Until recent numbers for CSI, I was pretty sure CBS was going to stay the course... but now I'm thinking some major changes are in order.

NBC Fall Schedule

Reactions... Thursday 8-10pm could be stronger for SNLWUT leading into P&R... but without the election happening (or Fey's scorchingly buzzful Palin impersonation), is it really going to generate the kind of heat it did last year? And, once again, 30 Rock delayed until late October... but in this case for a good cause, Community. Having a few weeks of Community after The Office, then moving it to 8pm is a good call. I've seen Community, and it was rather funny. Chevy Chase is underused, but Joel McHale is hilarious.

The rest of the week, The Jay Leno Show hurts NBC's scheduling ability. There's very little flow to, really, any of it.

Monday: Heroes / Trauma. Male skewing, presumably. High action?

Tuesday: The Biggest Loser (2-hours). Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyy? Especially with a 90 minute winter/spring edition planned to give a spot to comedy 100 Questions.

Wednesday: Parenthood / SVU. Yeah, those fit together...

Friday: L&O / Southland. So, L&O is finally going to die a quiet, middling death on Friday night. And decreasingly rate newbie Southland is joining it. Okay, this pairing makes a modicum of sense (crime shows, at least), but it's such a towel throw that I still have to disparage it.

FOX Fall Schedule

FOX always confuses me...

We'll see how So You Think You Can Dance? performs as a fall series, but part of the fun and excitement of that show has, for me, always been as a summer diversion... and having two cycles in a row of it seems like overkill. Having SYTYCD from 8-10pm on Tuesdays doesn't make me very happy, because, outside of some initial audition and performance shows, really, it should be one hour. Put the 9pm slot to good use (and, interesting that Past-Life, for now, gets the post-Idol Tuesday slot... that pilot must've come in something amazing, I'm so very curious to see it).

Glee on Wednesdays at 9pm works for me, even though it will have to be off the air for a little while in the winter due to Idol auditions. It also seems to mean that Idol's results show is actually going to be in the 8pm hour this year... perhaps ABC should reconsider my earlier suggestions and program Flash Forward at 9pm (or at 8pm this fall, then shift it to 9pm once Lost returns, so FF can avoid Idol).

Fringe on Thursdays at 9pm is an EXCITING programming move. Not so much for fans of Supernatural, who I suspect will be up in arms over this. We have no idea how Fringe will perform outside the post-Idol bubble. But, y'know, which the exception of a resurgent Grey's Anatomy (which, honestly, can't share much of an audience with Fringe)... this timeslot is ripe for the taking. CSI is down (though maybe moving to 10pm, if I had any say in the matter). NBC's comedies are down.

And then there's Friday. Where we see Dollhouse getting the substantial lead-in support that, um, 'Til Death will surely be (after how many months off the air? 24?)