ABC's spin-off of the BBC show Life on Mars premiers October 9th. The premise finds modern-day NYPD Detective Sam Tyler suddenly hurtled back to 1973 New York City when he's hit by a car while chasing down a criminal, although Tyler doesn't know if he's dreaming, in a coma, losing his mind, or has somehow magically gone back in time. As Executive Producer said in the New York Times, "You have this great concept of a cop from 2008 who is very attuned to DNA evidence and all sorts of technology, and here he is thrust into a world where there’s a whole other kind of ethos to everything. So those stories, I think, will be sort of endless for us."
Here's another take on the upcoming Sherlock Holmes movie remake directed by Guy Richie and starring Robert Downey Junior. The article points out that Ritchie's heavily action-oriented version is based on a yet-to-be-published Sherlock Holmes comic book by Lionel Wigram, who pretty much wrote the comic so he could get a movie deal out of it ("sadly a common practice among young comic book writers these days"), and worries that by making Holmes "asskicking, sexy, and a little bit hood," it might seem a betrayal of the character.
Quoting from Britain’s Daily Mail, the final episode of Foyle’s War may have ended conclusively with the characters celebrating VE Day, but it seems the much-loved ITV1 drama is set for a post-war revival. In an exclusive interview with The Mail on Sunday, series star Honeysuckle Weeks reveals that Foyle’s War has given way to a new series entitled Foyle’s Peace. Weeks, who plays driver Samantha Stewart to Michael Kitchen’s Detective Chief Superintendent Foyle, said: "I have the contracts so they’ve got quite far with it and, although I haven’t seen scripts, the idea is that it’ll be set after the Second World War."
Reuters and The Boston Herald reviewed Jane Seymour and her new murder mystery movie, Dear Prudence, a cross "Heloise and Jessica Fletcher." Seymour indicated that rumors indicate there may be a couple of sequels (and maybe a series, perhaps?).
For those bummed by the cancellation of the Inspector Lynley series by the BBC, here's an interview with Nathaniel Parker to ease your pain. He seems as bewildered at the sudden demise of the series as the fans are, saying "Well, it’s kind of strange because when we shot it we didn’t know it would be the end. They canceled the series after we finished shooting, so there is no tie-up to it."
The Gemini Awards, recognizing excellence in Canadian television, just announced this year's nominees which include a pair of detective shows, Murdoch Mysteries and Durham County.
ABC has picked up the series Castle, featuring a famous mystery novelist who helps the NYPD homicide department solve crimes. It's directed by Rob Bowman (Day Break, Night Stalker, X-Files).
HBO is set to premiere its series True Blood, based on Charlaine Harris's Louisiana vampires, Sunday, September 7. A comic book version is available online.
Jacob Schroeder, with the Academy Chicago Publishers, announced that his company will be re-releasing all six Charlie Chan novels by Earl Derr Biggers in paperback, starting with The House Without a Key and The Chinese Parrot this fall, and then release the other four over the next two seasons, all with brand new, pulp art covers. The timing coincides with the new Charlie Chan-themed movie allegedly coming out in 2009 penned by Michael Dougherty and starring Lucy Liu as the granddaughter of the renowned detective "who makes a name for herself in the world of crime-busting."
The Wire has been possibly even more popular in Britain than in the U.S. "The Wire Weekend" will be held at the Curzon Soho cinema in London September 20-21, with a showing of season five; an interview with show creator David Simon by journalist and author Misha Glenny; and Q&As between Simon and crime writer Mark Billingham, Guardian columnist and author Charlie Brooker, and several members of the cast including Dominic West. Simon will also appear at the Glasgow Film Theatre on the 18th September and the Irish Film Institute in Dublin on the 19th September.
Hope Life on Mars approximates the quality of the British version, seen here on BBC American.
Posted by: Patti Abbott | August 28, 2008 at 09:06 PM
We'll have to wait and see -- Executive Producer Josh Appelbaum asked the show creators for permission to "change the mythology" of the show...
Posted by: BV Lawson | August 28, 2008 at 09:48 PM