APPLEBAUM
Network: CBS
Written By: Ayelet Waldman
Revisions By: Sherri Cooper & Jennifer Levin
Draft Date: January 23, 2012
Pages: 65
Disclaimer!
I love these kinds of reviews. Short, sweet, very little to think about.
Ladies and gentleman, welcome to mediocrity... the kind of television show that I raise my nose at, but CBS shoves on the air and gets 10+ million viewers every week showing. It goes down easy. You don't have to think about it. A question is posed and then it is answered and, just maybe, there's a little emotional story for the investigator characters. Bing, bang, boom, you're done.
Ugh, I'm so bored by it all!
The "take" of this particular iteration of the crime procedural is a light-hearted mix of family and investigation. That, and the main character, Juliet, is a PI, not a cop (though her PI partner is an ex-cop). Juliet is a happily married mother of three and an ex-public defender. No, I'm not entirely sure why, after having her third child, she went into a life of being a PI instead of going back to her job as a PD. I think we're supposed to read/watch and think, "Oh, it's so amusing how she's balancing being a mother and a PI, and how her perspective and relationships as a mother help her solve crimes!"
Juliet Applebaum isn't exactly Gregory House or Patrick Jane, though, in the sense of "I'm dying to come back and watch this magnetic, flawed character every week." Things, really, are good in her life. No conflict at home (except whether her six-year-old daughter, Ruby, has an eating disorder and if Juliet can survive a visit from her mother, who happens to be a judge). No sexual tension with Al Hockey, the ex-cop who is her partner in crime solving. But there is a fun, light flippancy about a lot of it, and it comes across as more grounded and believable and comes together better than CBS's attempt last season at a quirky PI show, Hail Mary.
The case of the week in the pilot is the death/murder of the assistant principal of the charter school Juliet is trying to get Ruby into. I'm not sure if Juliet and Al Hockey will be looking into murders on a week-to-week basis, Jessica Fletcher-style, or if some weeks may be more traditional PI work. The benefit of murder is that there are life and death stakes. It was a problem, I think, shows like Veronica Mars (which I loved... for the first two seasons... in retrospect am kind of ambivalent on the third) ran into... week to week it was a crapshoot whether the mystery of the week held water. Veronica Mars had the additional elements of teen drama, social status clashes, and long-arc mysteries tiding over the weaker MotWs... and that stuff isn't really present in Applebaum.
So perhaps a murder of the week formula is what the series, should it get there, needs. But I think this show would stand a better chance of getting to series with a touch more drama to look forward to, whether we're talking UST or simply wanting to watch a unique force of nature get the bad guy in the end. Juliet's not there yet.
Showing posts with label CBS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CBS. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Friday, September 30, 2011
How To Be A Gentleman Series Premiere Quarter Hour Breakdown
HOW TO BE A GENTLEMAN
8:30-8:45
- 9.694 million viewers
- 5.9/10 HH
- 3.0/8 A18-49
8:45-9:00
- 8.258 million viewers
- 5.1/8 HH
- 2.5/7 A18-49
8:30-8:45
- 9.694 million viewers
- 5.9/10 HH
- 3.0/8 A18-49
8:45-9:00
- 8.258 million viewers
- 5.1/8 HH
- 2.5/7 A18-49
Monday, September 26, 2011
A Gifted Man Series Premiere Quarter Hour Breakdown
A GIFTED MAN
8:00-8:15
- 8.915 million viewers
- 6.0/11 HH
- 1.4/5 A18-49
8:15-8:30
- 9.268 million viewers
- 6.2/11 HH
- 1.4/5 A18-49
8:30-8:45
- 9.725 million viewers
- 6.4/11 HH
- 1.5/5 A18-49
8:45-9:00
- 9.880 million viewers
- 6.4/11 HH
- 1.5/5 A18-49
8:00-8:15
- 8.915 million viewers
- 6.0/11 HH
- 1.4/5 A18-49
8:15-8:30
- 9.268 million viewers
- 6.2/11 HH
- 1.4/5 A18-49
8:30-8:45
- 9.725 million viewers
- 6.4/11 HH
- 1.5/5 A18-49
8:45-9:00
- 9.880 million viewers
- 6.4/11 HH
- 1.5/5 A18-49
Friday, September 23, 2011
Person of Interest Series Premiere Quarter Hour Breakdown
PERSON OF INTEREST
9:00-9:15
- 14.007 million viewers
- 8.7/13 HH
- 3.3/9 A18-49
9:15-9:30
- 13.336 million viewers
- 8.3/13 HH
- 3.1/8 A18-49
9:30-9:45
- 13.046 million viewers
- 8.1/12 HH
- 3.0/7 A18-49
9:45-10:00
- 12.941 million viewers
- 8.1/12 HH
- 2.9/7 A18-49
Copy/paste my Charlie's Angels response... can't be what CBS was hoping for.
9:00-9:15
- 14.007 million viewers
- 8.7/13 HH
- 3.3/9 A18-49
9:15-9:30
- 13.336 million viewers
- 8.3/13 HH
- 3.1/8 A18-49
9:30-9:45
- 13.046 million viewers
- 8.1/12 HH
- 3.0/7 A18-49
9:45-10:00
- 12.941 million viewers
- 8.1/12 HH
- 2.9/7 A18-49
Copy/paste my Charlie's Angels response... can't be what CBS was hoping for.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Unforgettable Series Premiere Quarter Hour Breakdown
UNFORGETTABLE
10:00-10:15
- 14.843 million viewers
- 9.4/15 HH
- 3.1/8 A18-49
10:15-10:30
- 14.168 million viewers
- 9.1/15 HH
- 2.9/7 A18-49
10:30-10:45
- 13.851 million viewers
- 8.9/16 HH
- 2.8/7 A18-49
10:45-11:00
- 13.479 million viewers
- 8.6/15 HH
- 2.7/7 A18-49
Better than The Good Wife was pulling by the end of last year post-NCIS: LA, IIRC. Solid if unspectacular... but what do you expect from yet another CBS crime procedural at this point?
10:00-10:15
- 14.843 million viewers
- 9.4/15 HH
- 3.1/8 A18-49
10:15-10:30
- 14.168 million viewers
- 9.1/15 HH
- 2.9/7 A18-49
10:30-10:45
- 13.851 million viewers
- 8.9/16 HH
- 2.8/7 A18-49
10:45-11:00
- 13.479 million viewers
- 8.6/15 HH
- 2.7/7 A18-49
Better than The Good Wife was pulling by the end of last year post-NCIS: LA, IIRC. Solid if unspectacular... but what do you expect from yet another CBS crime procedural at this point?
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Two and a Half Men Season Premiere Quarter Hour Breakdown
Ugh, FINE, Internet, you win this round.
TWO AND A HALF MEN
9:00-9:15
- 27.435 million viewers
- 16.0/23 HH
- 10.2/24 A18-49
9:15-9:30
- 29.899 million viewers
- 17.3/25 HH
- 11.0/26 A18-49
9:30-9:31
- 31.025 million viewers
- 17.7/25 HH
- 11.4/26 A18-49
TWO AND A HALF MEN
9:00-9:15
- 27.435 million viewers
- 16.0/23 HH
- 10.2/24 A18-49
9:15-9:30
- 29.899 million viewers
- 17.3/25 HH
- 11.0/26 A18-49
9:30-9:31
- 31.025 million viewers
- 17.7/25 HH
- 11.4/26 A18-49
2 Broke Girls Series Premiere Quarter Hour Breakdown
2 BROKE GIRLS
9:31-9:45
- 20.467 million viewers (final minute of Two and a Half Men: 31.025 million)
- 12.0/17 HH (out of 17.7/25)
- 7.5/17 A18-49 (out of 11.4/26)
9:45-10:00
- 18.341 million viewers
- 10.9/16 HH
- 6.7/15 A18-49
Y'know... this is actually really solid sampling, given the event status of the Two and a Half Men premiere. Less demo bled from the middle of 2 Broke Girls than left the Up All Night premiere last Wednesday. There was so much curiosity tune-in to 2.5 Men (me, for one, and I've never sat through an entire episode before... plus I'd already seen 2 Broke Girls so didn't record it). We'll have to see how 2 Broke Girls fares out of HIMYM next week (which is likely going to be weaker than the 4.7/13 it posted at 8pm this week... though who knows...)
9:31-9:45
- 20.467 million viewers (final minute of Two and a Half Men: 31.025 million)
- 12.0/17 HH (out of 17.7/25)
- 7.5/17 A18-49 (out of 11.4/26)
9:45-10:00
- 18.341 million viewers
- 10.9/16 HH
- 6.7/15 A18-49
Y'know... this is actually really solid sampling, given the event status of the Two and a Half Men premiere. Less demo bled from the middle of 2 Broke Girls than left the Up All Night premiere last Wednesday. There was so much curiosity tune-in to 2.5 Men (me, for one, and I've never sat through an entire episode before... plus I'd already seen 2 Broke Girls so didn't record it). We'll have to see how 2 Broke Girls fares out of HIMYM next week (which is likely going to be weaker than the 4.7/13 it posted at 8pm this week... though who knows...)
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Pilot Screener Reviewlets - CBS Dramas
- The 2-2: so not my cup of tea, and doesn't succeed on a "CBS procedural" level, either. A headscratcher of a pick up in my book. Slight serialization to it, not sexy, not unique, and not a "everyone focus on solving one murder." Shrug. Reminds me of ABC's The Unusuals, only that had an infectious sense of silliness going for it (oh, and Adam Goldberg in common...)
- A Gifted Man: the whole is not greater than the sum of its parts. Everyone, and I mean everyone, is playing down from what they could be doing elsewhere in this. I mean... what is Margo Martindale doing following up her amazing stint on Justified as Patrick Wilson's semi-sassy secretary!?
- Hail Mary: the hilariousness of Sandra Bullock's character from The Blind Side partnering with a wise-cracking ex-gangbanger to become a PI team needed to be turned up to 11. Feels really odd that their so successful on such an easy case, yet the police are hapless. Only on TV...
- Person of Interest: So, Michael Emerson is kind of playing Ben... with a limp. Everything he says is needlessly mysterious and creepy. Hey, he's got a niche. The concept is that his character is provided with numbers - social security numbers - that a Big Brother-type machine (that can see you through every camera anywhere and can hear your phone conversations and knows who you are) he designed post 9/11 for the government considers irrelevant (as far as massive terrorist type activities), but are actually tips that something criminal is going to go down. The number could be that of a perpetrator, an accomplice, a victim... he doesn't know. He just gets the numbers (through a backdoor he designed... claiming that getting any more information that this would tip someone off). It's an interesting way into a procedural, that will provide plenty of "we thought it was this, but it's actually this... oh wait, we were wrong again!" twists. But part of me wishes that the information, which for much of the pilot is mysterious and seemingly beamed down to Michael Emerson from on high, or aliens, or magic, or something, had remained mysterious. But the other part of me is glad that the series is NOT about the mystery of how he gets the information. That's out of the way, so now it's just investigation, investigation, investigation. I could give or take Caviezel as the shadowy/traumatic-past field operative who gets recruited to be Emerson's primary investigator. Could be something I'm hooked into... could be something that's exactly the same every week and I decide isn't worth my time.
- Unforgettable: oh, my, do I have to swallow my pride on this one. This is almost a perfect CBS procedural and I'm guessing it's going to be the biggest hit of the fall season (though I still won't be watching). Some of the things I hated about the script (the five minutes in the beginning in a NYC cab that, for some reason, only had nostalgic radio stations on it that sent the lead character into uncontrollable flashback memories) are gone. Probably for production reasons, some of the described coolness of Carrie's memory flashes are gone (she could only pop back to what was in her field of vision, everything else was black, the edges were fuzzy), too, which is unfortunate because she is now, like, an infallible superwoman with almost 360 degrees of picture-and-sound-perfect memory. It might have been hard to explain to viewers, too. There's still a bunch of eye-rolling moments in breaking the case, but, whatever.
One of the show's two biggest challenges going forward is going to be bringing the other characters up from a peanut gallery position. Even Dylan Walsh's character, Al, who will be Carrie's partner, seems like little more than someone to talk to. He needs something about him that helps solve murders, so every beat doesn't hinge on something Carrie remembers. Otherwise, yeah, she's superwoman. I think we're supposed to feel a big UST thing between Carrie and Al. Not there, yet. The show's other biggest challenge is going to be explaining how Carrie's abilities help when she ISN'T at/around the scene of the crime when it happens / doesn't have even a little history with the victim. I like Poppy Montgomery as a redhead, but she slips out of her accent on several occasions.
Not yet watched: The Doctor
- A Gifted Man: the whole is not greater than the sum of its parts. Everyone, and I mean everyone, is playing down from what they could be doing elsewhere in this. I mean... what is Margo Martindale doing following up her amazing stint on Justified as Patrick Wilson's semi-sassy secretary!?
- Hail Mary: the hilariousness of Sandra Bullock's character from The Blind Side partnering with a wise-cracking ex-gangbanger to become a PI team needed to be turned up to 11. Feels really odd that their so successful on such an easy case, yet the police are hapless. Only on TV...
- Person of Interest: So, Michael Emerson is kind of playing Ben... with a limp. Everything he says is needlessly mysterious and creepy. Hey, he's got a niche. The concept is that his character is provided with numbers - social security numbers - that a Big Brother-type machine (that can see you through every camera anywhere and can hear your phone conversations and knows who you are) he designed post 9/11 for the government considers irrelevant (as far as massive terrorist type activities), but are actually tips that something criminal is going to go down. The number could be that of a perpetrator, an accomplice, a victim... he doesn't know. He just gets the numbers (through a backdoor he designed... claiming that getting any more information that this would tip someone off). It's an interesting way into a procedural, that will provide plenty of "we thought it was this, but it's actually this... oh wait, we were wrong again!" twists. But part of me wishes that the information, which for much of the pilot is mysterious and seemingly beamed down to Michael Emerson from on high, or aliens, or magic, or something, had remained mysterious. But the other part of me is glad that the series is NOT about the mystery of how he gets the information. That's out of the way, so now it's just investigation, investigation, investigation. I could give or take Caviezel as the shadowy/traumatic-past field operative who gets recruited to be Emerson's primary investigator. Could be something I'm hooked into... could be something that's exactly the same every week and I decide isn't worth my time.
- Unforgettable: oh, my, do I have to swallow my pride on this one. This is almost a perfect CBS procedural and I'm guessing it's going to be the biggest hit of the fall season (though I still won't be watching). Some of the things I hated about the script (the five minutes in the beginning in a NYC cab that, for some reason, only had nostalgic radio stations on it that sent the lead character into uncontrollable flashback memories) are gone. Probably for production reasons, some of the described coolness of Carrie's memory flashes are gone (she could only pop back to what was in her field of vision, everything else was black, the edges were fuzzy), too, which is unfortunate because she is now, like, an infallible superwoman with almost 360 degrees of picture-and-sound-perfect memory. It might have been hard to explain to viewers, too. There's still a bunch of eye-rolling moments in breaking the case, but, whatever.
One of the show's two biggest challenges going forward is going to be bringing the other characters up from a peanut gallery position. Even Dylan Walsh's character, Al, who will be Carrie's partner, seems like little more than someone to talk to. He needs something about him that helps solve murders, so every beat doesn't hinge on something Carrie remembers. Otherwise, yeah, she's superwoman. I think we're supposed to feel a big UST thing between Carrie and Al. Not there, yet. The show's other biggest challenge is going to be explaining how Carrie's abilities help when she ISN'T at/around the scene of the crime when it happens / doesn't have even a little history with the victim. I like Poppy Montgomery as a redhead, but she slips out of her accent on several occasions.
Not yet watched: The Doctor
Friday, April 15, 2011
Pilot Script Review - Hail Mary
HAIL MARY
Network: CBS
Written By: Jeff Wadlow
Draft Date: January 7, 2011
Pages: 59
It's the madcap amateur private investigation adventures of crazy white woman and drug-dealing black guy!
No, seriously, that's what it is. Plus a little Southern charm to go with it.
Set in Atlanta, Mary Beth Baker, a polite but tough Southern belle in the vein of Leigh Ann Tuohy from The Blind Side (prone to cover up swear words with phrases like "son of a biscuit") is a guidance counselor out to help her students, preferring creative tough love over punishment and constantly butting heads with the principal at the high school, a rabid Georgia Tech football fan, and a grieving mother whose son, Josh, was murdered a year ago in what seemed to be an altercation involving drugs. The crime was never solved and Mary Beth spent her savings on a PI who, well, never solved the case. Her dead son's best friend, KZ, is a small time thug and fast-talking con-artist. The two are brought together by a case eerily similar to Josh's death. By solving it they hope to find the truth about what happened to Josh. Along the way, Mary Beth manages to butt heads with what seems to be the entire Atlanta PD.
That they succeed shouldn't surprise you. What did surprise me was that Josh's death isn't a long arc. The ramifications of a reveal involving corruption within the police department seem to be the long-odds Mary Beth and KZ will find themselves up against in series.
There's a lot of what feels, to me, like way-too-on-the-nose dialogue. No one will accuse this script of subtlety. There's also an out of place (for me, dawg) character in Billy Shifflet, a 10-year old neighbor of Mary Beth's who stops by three times during the script to impart extremely eloquent and beyond-his-years wisdom to anyone and everyone. Mary Beth's technological incompetence (itself rather unbelievable for a woman of modest means in her late-30s... it's not like she's 70 and can't use a computer or, like, the answering machine... we're definitely in caricature-land here) necessitates the character Ingrid, a mid-20s punk-rock tech-geek administrative assistant at the high school who helps Mary Beth out in her investigation.
I... think it's okay? I think it's surprising as a CBS show, because there's so much off-beat, caricature-y humor or at least many attempts at it. And that humor will make or break the show. I think it would be really refreshing to have something with a peculiar sense of humor to upend the musty old crime shows on CBS. I'll have to see if it plays or falls flat on its face.
Network: CBS
Written By: Jeff Wadlow
Draft Date: January 7, 2011
Pages: 59
It's the madcap amateur private investigation adventures of crazy white woman and drug-dealing black guy!
No, seriously, that's what it is. Plus a little Southern charm to go with it.
Set in Atlanta, Mary Beth Baker, a polite but tough Southern belle in the vein of Leigh Ann Tuohy from The Blind Side (prone to cover up swear words with phrases like "son of a biscuit") is a guidance counselor out to help her students, preferring creative tough love over punishment and constantly butting heads with the principal at the high school, a rabid Georgia Tech football fan, and a grieving mother whose son, Josh, was murdered a year ago in what seemed to be an altercation involving drugs. The crime was never solved and Mary Beth spent her savings on a PI who, well, never solved the case. Her dead son's best friend, KZ, is a small time thug and fast-talking con-artist. The two are brought together by a case eerily similar to Josh's death. By solving it they hope to find the truth about what happened to Josh. Along the way, Mary Beth manages to butt heads with what seems to be the entire Atlanta PD.
That they succeed shouldn't surprise you. What did surprise me was that Josh's death isn't a long arc. The ramifications of a reveal involving corruption within the police department seem to be the long-odds Mary Beth and KZ will find themselves up against in series.
There's a lot of what feels, to me, like way-too-on-the-nose dialogue. No one will accuse this script of subtlety. There's also an out of place (for me, dawg) character in Billy Shifflet, a 10-year old neighbor of Mary Beth's who stops by three times during the script to impart extremely eloquent and beyond-his-years wisdom to anyone and everyone. Mary Beth's technological incompetence (itself rather unbelievable for a woman of modest means in her late-30s... it's not like she's 70 and can't use a computer or, like, the answering machine... we're definitely in caricature-land here) necessitates the character Ingrid, a mid-20s punk-rock tech-geek administrative assistant at the high school who helps Mary Beth out in her investigation.
I... think it's okay? I think it's surprising as a CBS show, because there's so much off-beat, caricature-y humor or at least many attempts at it. And that humor will make or break the show. I think it would be really refreshing to have something with a peculiar sense of humor to upend the musty old crime shows on CBS. I'll have to see if it plays or falls flat on its face.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Pilot Script Review - Untitled Susannah Grant Project
UNTITLED SUSANNAH GRANT PROJECT
Network: CBS
Written By: Susannah Grant
Draft Date: January 7, 2011
Pages: 66
This feels, very, very much the prototypical CBS procedural pilot with one minor (and, in my opinion, completely superfluous, but it's the only thing that makes it anything other than completely normal) twist.
This is a medical procedural about Michael Halstead, wealthy neurosurgeon to the rich and the famous. He's got his own surgical center. Yeah, he's that guy. All work, no family to go home to. The closest thing is his sister, Didi, and her troublemaking teenage son, Milo (who Michael does not want to play father figure to... so, guess what, at the end of the episode, Michael allows himself time to start bonding with Milo). Michael doesn't need family. Again... he has work. And he's the best.
But all isn't good in Michael's life. He's been having a recurring dream about a bouncing red ball with a smiley-face and car bumpers. Quelle horreur! He also bumps into Anna, his ex-wife, when he's picking up some take-out — the usual — from a fancy Beverly Hills restaurant. She's apparently been in Los Angeles at a free clinic for 8 years and hasn't told him. He's insulted, but she follows him home, they talk... and he wakes up to find her gone. When he looks into her free clinic... he finds out she's dead. Killed in a hit-and-run (while chasing a ball some kids were playing with).
Being a neurosurgeon, Michael researches what this hallucination might be and even goes so far as to get an MRI done and evaluate himself. No tumor. Perhaps it's the side effects of the Percocet he's been taking for pain in his shoulder following a surgery (if that were the case, it'd be way too similar to a development on House a couple seasons ago, where the acerbic doctor was seeing the ghost of Cutthroat Bitch because of his vicodin addiction... not that the script points this out because why would it). He doesn't know, but it definitely seems like Michael is seeing a ghost or a spirit (Didi's boyfriend Anton, a Native American faith healer, "confirms" this).
Anna keeps popping up asking him to do things. She asks him to go to her clinic and give them the password to her computer so the clinic can keep operating (because she didn't train a replacement). Nevermind the fact that the clinic has called the Geek Squad and her password is six symbols and all letters. The Geek Squad just hasn't gotten there yet. Anyway, while Michael is there, he overhears a social worker trying to help a poor, scared mother of five and he eventually / begrudgingly tells them to come to his medical center and they'll get help for free (cue my eyes rolling at the plot about rich white man finding his soul and helping some poor minorities free of charge).
My problem is that the paranormal is utterly unnecessary to this. And, so, it comes across really forced and really, really bald (industry-speak for "not subtle"). Michael already knows what the password is, Anna tells him it's the same one it's always been. The only thing she ever does it shove him somewhere he's unwilling to go... and even then it takes a couple pushes. And when she's not pushing him to go somewhere or do something, she's playing conscience, at one point literally asking "Doing the right thing for the wrong reason — is it still virtuous? What matters more? The intention or the act?")
After a couple moments of Michael being told by Didi to see Anton about this ghost problem, Michael eventually goes and Anton begins to excise Anna... and then Michael stops him. He can't give up the ghost. So, y'know, she'll be sticking around. Hooray...?
Also really "bald" is the opening exposition about Michael and one of the cases of the week... a billionaire in a car crash, news footage of the exterior of the surgical center, reporters we never see explaining said billionaire is "presumably in the care of renowned neurosurgeon Michael Halstead..." In fact, that's not just "bald." That's what we call "pilot-ese."
Beyond Anna there are three cases of the week. The introduction is the rich billionaire who got into a car crash and almost severed his optic never. Then there's a 19-year old female tennis star on the verge of winning an in-season Grand Slam (she's won all but the US Open, which starts soon) but who, after a car crash, may have a brain aneurysm — treatment for which would mean she'd miss the tournament and her pushy father won't have that despite her meek mother's objections. And, finally, there's the case of Ines's family.
Again, it's all very standard. I imagine there's an audience for this. I'm just not among that audience.
Network: CBS
Written By: Susannah Grant
Draft Date: January 7, 2011
Pages: 66
This feels, very, very much the prototypical CBS procedural pilot with one minor (and, in my opinion, completely superfluous, but it's the only thing that makes it anything other than completely normal) twist.
This is a medical procedural about Michael Halstead, wealthy neurosurgeon to the rich and the famous. He's got his own surgical center. Yeah, he's that guy. All work, no family to go home to. The closest thing is his sister, Didi, and her troublemaking teenage son, Milo (who Michael does not want to play father figure to... so, guess what, at the end of the episode, Michael allows himself time to start bonding with Milo). Michael doesn't need family. Again... he has work. And he's the best.
But all isn't good in Michael's life. He's been having a recurring dream about a bouncing red ball with a smiley-face and car bumpers. Quelle horreur! He also bumps into Anna, his ex-wife, when he's picking up some take-out — the usual — from a fancy Beverly Hills restaurant. She's apparently been in Los Angeles at a free clinic for 8 years and hasn't told him. He's insulted, but she follows him home, they talk... and he wakes up to find her gone. When he looks into her free clinic... he finds out she's dead. Killed in a hit-and-run (while chasing a ball some kids were playing with).
Being a neurosurgeon, Michael researches what this hallucination might be and even goes so far as to get an MRI done and evaluate himself. No tumor. Perhaps it's the side effects of the Percocet he's been taking for pain in his shoulder following a surgery (if that were the case, it'd be way too similar to a development on House a couple seasons ago, where the acerbic doctor was seeing the ghost of Cutthroat Bitch because of his vicodin addiction... not that the script points this out because why would it). He doesn't know, but it definitely seems like Michael is seeing a ghost or a spirit (Didi's boyfriend Anton, a Native American faith healer, "confirms" this).
Anna keeps popping up asking him to do things. She asks him to go to her clinic and give them the password to her computer so the clinic can keep operating (because she didn't train a replacement). Nevermind the fact that the clinic has called the Geek Squad and her password is six symbols and all letters. The Geek Squad just hasn't gotten there yet. Anyway, while Michael is there, he overhears a social worker trying to help a poor, scared mother of five and he eventually / begrudgingly tells them to come to his medical center and they'll get help for free (cue my eyes rolling at the plot about rich white man finding his soul and helping some poor minorities free of charge).
My problem is that the paranormal is utterly unnecessary to this. And, so, it comes across really forced and really, really bald (industry-speak for "not subtle"). Michael already knows what the password is, Anna tells him it's the same one it's always been. The only thing she ever does it shove him somewhere he's unwilling to go... and even then it takes a couple pushes. And when she's not pushing him to go somewhere or do something, she's playing conscience, at one point literally asking "Doing the right thing for the wrong reason — is it still virtuous? What matters more? The intention or the act?")
After a couple moments of Michael being told by Didi to see Anton about this ghost problem, Michael eventually goes and Anton begins to excise Anna... and then Michael stops him. He can't give up the ghost. So, y'know, she'll be sticking around. Hooray...?
Also really "bald" is the opening exposition about Michael and one of the cases of the week... a billionaire in a car crash, news footage of the exterior of the surgical center, reporters we never see explaining said billionaire is "presumably in the care of renowned neurosurgeon Michael Halstead..." In fact, that's not just "bald." That's what we call "pilot-ese."
Beyond Anna there are three cases of the week. The introduction is the rich billionaire who got into a car crash and almost severed his optic never. Then there's a 19-year old female tennis star on the verge of winning an in-season Grand Slam (she's won all but the US Open, which starts soon) but who, after a car crash, may have a brain aneurysm — treatment for which would mean she'd miss the tournament and her pushy father won't have that despite her meek mother's objections. And, finally, there's the case of Ines's family.
Again, it's all very standard. I imagine there's an audience for this. I'm just not among that audience.
Pilot Script Review - Ringer
RINGER
Network: CBS
Written By: Eric Charmelo & Nicole Snyder
Draft Date: undated
Pages: 61
This must be the annual "not a typical CBS drama" CBS script.
So... are you shocked that I really liked it? Even though the first thing it made me think of was "I Know Who Killed Me" (the title, anyway, I didn't see the movie, and one wikipedia page later I was assured that Ringer and the Razzie-fied Lindsay Lohan trainwreck had little in common).
Ringer is a combination of things. It's a "be careful what you wish for" story. It's a case of mistaken identities (damn identical twins). It's upstairs/downstairs. It's part crime mystery and part family drama. It's structured as a "how did we get here" piece, with an opening moment to tease you just enough to let the story build a background before the shit starts hitting the fan (and then not getting to that teased opening until almost the final moments). There's even some twisty, intriguing gaslighting going on.
And, for about 8 pages in the first act, it's going to be Sarah Michelle Gellar playing off of herself, which I cannot wait to see. I try to not think about casting when I read these scripts, but when you have 8 pages of identical twins talking with / doing things with each other and no one else... well, you need a capable actor to pull it off.
We meet Bridget Cafferty, an ex-stripper/prostitute turned waitress, in an NA meeting in Wyoming.
Okay, technically we meet her as she's having her head bashed into the wall of a swanky Manhattan penthouse, but that's chronologically later.
While Bridget was stripping in a club owned by a Native American crime boss, Bodaway Macawi, she witnessed a murder and his trial depends on her testimony.
So, when Bridget disappears from her motel room the morning of the trial, apparently having beaten up the police officer guarding her, handcuffing him to the shower, and stealing his gun... things aren't looking good and the FBI agent involved with the Macawi case has to track her down. Macawi goes free after the case is declared a mistrial... and he wants to stay a free man, so of course he's going to do everything he can to silence Bridget.
Bridget goes to the Hamptons to be with her identical twin sister, Siobhan Marx, married to a wealthy Manhattanite, Andrew, who is away in London on business. Things are awkward at first, as the twins have been estranged for years to the point that Siobhan hasn't even told her husband that she has a twin sister (this, admittedly, is quite convenient). Siobhan has everything money can buy (including antidepressants)... but wouldn't you know it, she's not happy. No one's life is perfect.
Bridget, for her part, is scared and confused. Especially when she finds a bloody gun in her bags. And again when she falls asleep on Siobhan's speedboat out in the ocean and Siobhan seems to have drowned, leaving only "her signature Hermes scarf" floating on the water.
Bridget returns to shore and is mistaken by several people in Siobhan's life to actually be her twin sister. And, after a couple stumbling blocks... she decides to become Siobhan. Presented with a Hermes scarf and a life of luxury or a bloody gun that appeared in your bag... which would you choose?
But, remember, no one's life is perfect. Bridget is about to find out just how fucked up Siobhan's life is and that her twin sister wasn't exactly the best person in the world, and tries to fix some of these (admittedly "rich person") problems. For instance, Siobhan was cheating on her husband with the husband of her best friend. And that's really only the tip of the iceberg.
So, when she tells the masked man bashing her skull in that he has the wrong girl, "I'm not Bridget, asshole," and he replies, "Who the hell is Bridget?"
It's painstakingly clear that Bridget stepping into the wrong life.
The man was sent to kill Siobhan.
But Bridget can't back out now. The FBI has been tracking her down and even came by the Manhattan apartment to interview "Siobhan." So Bridget knows that the old deal she made to testify against Macawi is now off the table. She'd be headed to prison if she came clean.
There's another twist at the end that I won't spoil (and I've skipped by a heckuva lot of detail in Siobhan's life).
I, personally, really want to know what happens next. But, as I said above... there's not much about this script that screams "typical CBS drama." Here's hoping there's room on the schedule for something a little more outside the box.
Network: CBS
Written By: Eric Charmelo & Nicole Snyder
Draft Date: undated
Pages: 61
This must be the annual "not a typical CBS drama" CBS script.
So... are you shocked that I really liked it? Even though the first thing it made me think of was "I Know Who Killed Me" (the title, anyway, I didn't see the movie, and one wikipedia page later I was assured that Ringer and the Razzie-fied Lindsay Lohan trainwreck had little in common).
Ringer is a combination of things. It's a "be careful what you wish for" story. It's a case of mistaken identities (damn identical twins). It's upstairs/downstairs. It's part crime mystery and part family drama. It's structured as a "how did we get here" piece, with an opening moment to tease you just enough to let the story build a background before the shit starts hitting the fan (and then not getting to that teased opening until almost the final moments). There's even some twisty, intriguing gaslighting going on.
And, for about 8 pages in the first act, it's going to be Sarah Michelle Gellar playing off of herself, which I cannot wait to see. I try to not think about casting when I read these scripts, but when you have 8 pages of identical twins talking with / doing things with each other and no one else... well, you need a capable actor to pull it off.
We meet Bridget Cafferty, an ex-stripper/prostitute turned waitress, in an NA meeting in Wyoming.
Okay, technically we meet her as she's having her head bashed into the wall of a swanky Manhattan penthouse, but that's chronologically later.
While Bridget was stripping in a club owned by a Native American crime boss, Bodaway Macawi, she witnessed a murder and his trial depends on her testimony.
So, when Bridget disappears from her motel room the morning of the trial, apparently having beaten up the police officer guarding her, handcuffing him to the shower, and stealing his gun... things aren't looking good and the FBI agent involved with the Macawi case has to track her down. Macawi goes free after the case is declared a mistrial... and he wants to stay a free man, so of course he's going to do everything he can to silence Bridget.
Bridget goes to the Hamptons to be with her identical twin sister, Siobhan Marx, married to a wealthy Manhattanite, Andrew, who is away in London on business. Things are awkward at first, as the twins have been estranged for years to the point that Siobhan hasn't even told her husband that she has a twin sister (this, admittedly, is quite convenient). Siobhan has everything money can buy (including antidepressants)... but wouldn't you know it, she's not happy. No one's life is perfect.
Bridget, for her part, is scared and confused. Especially when she finds a bloody gun in her bags. And again when she falls asleep on Siobhan's speedboat out in the ocean and Siobhan seems to have drowned, leaving only "her signature Hermes scarf" floating on the water.
Bridget returns to shore and is mistaken by several people in Siobhan's life to actually be her twin sister. And, after a couple stumbling blocks... she decides to become Siobhan. Presented with a Hermes scarf and a life of luxury or a bloody gun that appeared in your bag... which would you choose?
But, remember, no one's life is perfect. Bridget is about to find out just how fucked up Siobhan's life is and that her twin sister wasn't exactly the best person in the world, and tries to fix some of these (admittedly "rich person") problems. For instance, Siobhan was cheating on her husband with the husband of her best friend. And that's really only the tip of the iceberg.
So, when she tells the masked man bashing her skull in that he has the wrong girl, "I'm not Bridget, asshole," and he replies, "Who the hell is Bridget?"
It's painstakingly clear that Bridget stepping into the wrong life.
The man was sent to kill Siobhan.
But Bridget can't back out now. The FBI has been tracking her down and even came by the Manhattan apartment to interview "Siobhan." So Bridget knows that the old deal she made to testify against Macawi is now off the table. She'd be headed to prison if she came clean.
There's another twist at the end that I won't spoil (and I've skipped by a heckuva lot of detail in Siobhan's life).
I, personally, really want to know what happens next. But, as I said above... there's not much about this script that screams "typical CBS drama." Here's hoping there's room on the schedule for something a little more outside the box.
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