Media Murder for Monday

It's that time of year when U.S. television networks decide which of your favorite shows will stay and which will get the axe. In today's Media Murder for Monday, that, plus crime drama news on the big screen, and more.

MOVIES

Reese Witherspoon optioned SJ Watson's mystery thriller Second Life, following on the recent film adaptation of Watson's debut novel Before I Go to Sleep. The story centers on a woman named Julia Plummer who dives into an online world of vice as she vies to uncover the truth about her sister’s murder, but finds herself dangerously wrapped up in the alternate online persona she has created.

Jon Hamm has been cast in the political action thriller High Wire Act, scripted by The Bourne Identity's Tony Gilroy and directed by Brad Anderson (who tackled The Machinist with Christian Bale). The story takes place in 1980s Beirut and follows Hamm as a former U.S. diplomat called back into service to save a former colleague from the group possibly responsible for his own family’s death. Director Anderson compares it to Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by author John le Carre

Charlize Theron is set to star in The Coldest City, with production scheduled to begin this October in Germany. Based on the Antony Johnston graphic novel of the same name, the thriller revolves around a super spy (Theron) who is spurred into action when an underground MI6 officer is killed right before the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Christoph Waltz will both star in and direct the true-crime drama Worst Marriage in Georgetown, which is based on a New York Times Magazine article written by Franklin Foer. The story follows Albrect Muth (Waltz), an eccentric social climber who seduced and married a much-older wealthy widow, Viola Drath, to gain fame and fortune for himself. But his violent nature and trail of lies came crashing down when Drath was murdered, with Muth eventually convicted of the crime.

X-Files star Mitch Pileggi has been added to the cast of The Girl in the Photographs. The project stars Claudia Lee as a bored small-town girl trying to distance herself from an abusive boyfriend when two serial killers begin leaving her photo at the scene of their brutal crimes.

The popular BBC spy series Spooks is headed to the big screen. Three years after the series ended in 2011, Spooks: The Greater Good is getting its spin-off movie, made by the TV show's original director, Bharat Nalluri, and starring Game of Thrones' Kit Harington. One of the original leads, Peter Firth, who plays agent Harry Pearce, will also return for the project.

Arrow star Katie Cassidy is joining the cast of New Line’s period thriller The Wolves At The Door, set in 1969 when four friends endure a terrifying home invasion in the Hollywood hills.

Louis C.K. is set to to direct and star in the indie film I'm a Cop. He'll play a depressed middle-aged man who's a volunteer police officer living in the shadow of his mother, a highly decorated retired officer. When she dies, her influence forces him to become a real police officer, something he never wanted to be.

Graham King has acquired rights to Brighton, a crime thriller by novelist, documentarian and Emmy-winning producer Michael Harvey. The project revolves around a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist drawn back into his crime-ridden Boston neighborhood to investigate a series of murders that appear to be the work of his childhood friend, who once saved him from a life of crime.

Courtney Love has been cast in The Long Home, the 1940s Tennessee-set drama based on William Gay’s debut 1999 novel, with James Franco both directing and producing. The story centers on a young carpenter (played by Josh Hutcherson) forced to work for the man responsible for his father’s murder years ago and who falls for a woman the murderer is trying to groom as a prostitute.

CBS Films acquired U.S. rights to Comancheria, an action-thriller about two brothers (Chris Pine and Ben Foster) who go on a bank robbery spree in order to save their family's West Texas farm but are pursued by a West Texas Ranger (Jeff Bridges).

TELEVISION

The British Academy's BAFTA awards were handed out this past weekend. Among the winners were True Detective for the Best International Program and Sherlock as the Radio Times Audience Award winner. The winner for Best Drama was Happy Valley, a BBC six-episode crime series that followed a police sergeant, played by Sarah Lancashire, as she came face to face with the man who destroyed her family.

Dare Me author Megan Abbott will develop a series based on that novel for HBO and is also writing the pilot episode for the series. The producer, Karen Rosenfelt (The Devil Wears Prada), is also serving as a producer on another Abbott project, the author’s forthcoming series on MTV, based on her novel Fever. 

NBC cancelled Freshman series Constantine, although the network is trying to find the show a new home. The network also said "no" to another season of Katherine Heigl's political drama State of Affairs, but it did renew The Mysteries of Laura for a second season. New programs will include The Player, starring Wesley Snipes (billed as an action-packed Las Vegas thriller about a former military operative turned security expert) and the revenge thriller Game of Silence from CSI executive producer Carol Mendelsohn.

Fox cancelled the House-like crime procedural Backstrom, as well as giving the heave-ho to Kevin Bacon's show The Following after three seasons. But Bones fans will be relieved to hear that the show was renewed for an 11th season. Fox also picked up The Frankenstein Code to series, which stars Rob Kazinsky as a back-from-the-dead cop, and Rosewood, which follows Dr. Beaumont Rosewood (played by Morris Chestnut), Miami's top private pathologist who butts heads with the cynical detective (Jaina Lee Ortiz).

CBS cancelled the freshman cop drama Battle Creek from Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan and House boss David Shore and also gave a pass on the pilot Sneaky Pete, about a con man who, upon leaving prison, takes cover from his past by assuming the identity of a cellmate (although other networks have expressed an interest). The network gave the greenlight to three crime dramas: the Criminal Minds spinoff Beyond Borders, about a expert criminologists getting out of Quantico and helping Americans who find themselves in trouble abroad; Rush Hour about an Asian police officer and a black detective trying to solve crimes; and Limitless, based on the Bradley Cooper movie about a man who discovers the power of the mysterious drug MZT, only in the TV version, he's coerced into using his new drug-enhanced abilities to solve weekly cases for the FBI.

Although it appears CBS is finally axing the long-running CSI drama from its schedule, plans for the show may include a two-hour movie, which would wrap the stories for the characters and give the show a proper send-off, or a short 16th and final season, with as few as six episodes.

ABC used a lighter touch on its program lineup, renewing almost all its current shows, with the exception of one or two, including Forever, starring Ioan Gruffud as immortal New York City medical examiner Dr. Henry Morgan. The returning dramas include How To Get Away With Murder, American Crime, and Secrets & Lies. Castle has also been renewed, although Stana Katic's return is still up in the air as she is yet to agree to a new contract. ABC also announced the pickup of new shows including crime dramas The Catch, The Family, Quantico, and Wicked City.

For a full wrap-up of which series on which networks are gone or coming back, check out this listing from CinemaBlend.

HBO landed David E. Kelley's limited series Big Little Lies, based on the book by Liane Moriarty. The project will star Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman as part of a trio of mothers of kindergartners whose seemingly perfect lives unravel to to the point of murder.

In a seven-way bidding war, Alcon Television Group and Atlas Entertainment acquired the rights to Joe Ide’s upcoming debut novel IQ to develop as a TV series. The project centers around Isaiah “IQ” Quintabe, a young black man who has been on his own in the tough area of East Long Beach, CA, since he was teenager. A self-taught genius and gifted in the art of problem-solving, he becomes a local private investigator, taking on cases that the police can’t or won’t touch.

Australian crime journalist and reporter Matt Doran has been named host of Crime Watch Daily, which will cover the world of crime, mystery and drama. Joining Doran as members of the team of correspondents are Emmy Award-winning reporters Michelle Sigona and Andrea Isom, as well as New York Times bestselling author Jason Mattera. Doran said, "We will shine a national spotlight on crimes in towns and cities where victims might otherwise have struggled to be heard."

FYI, Turner Classic Movies is running a mini-marathon today of movies featuring Margaret Rutherford as Miss Marple of the Agatha Christie novels. The evening's lineup takes a darker turn with a trio of crime-based dramas that feature motorcycle gangs.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO

Fresh Air remembered crime fiction author Ruth Rendell, who died last Saturday

Greg Iles, author of The Bone Tree: A Novel, stopped by the Tavis Smiley show.

NPR profiled British author Ted Lewis, whose gritty storytelling between 1965-80 influenced writers on both sides of the Atlantic. 

In the newest Crime & Science Radio podcast, hosts Jan Burke and D.P. Lyle discussed bugs and bodies with forensic entomologist Dr. M. Lee Goff.

If you haven't been able to attend one of the many Noir at the Bar events around the U.S., you're in luck - Book Podcast has a recording from the April 30 event in Chicago, featuring Jedidiah Ayres, Libby Fischer Hellman, Heath Lowrance, and Dan O'Shea.

WUNC's monthly podcast series Criminal, hosed by Phoebe Judge, focuses on stories of true crime and topics such as police profiling, lie detectors, teenage hackers, an 1889 murder and crime writer Raymond Chandler. The latest episode is titled "Criminal: Turning The Crime Narrative On Its Head."

Comments

[Todd Mason]

A few of the cancellations are a pity, but at least Kevin Bacon is freed up to do something worthy of his talent (I'm sure he'd rather have another way of getting to that point).

[BV Lawson]

I know there are going to be some unhappy fans with the cancellation lists. At least some of the shows got a full season - I *really* feel sorry for those shows that get the axe after only a few episodes before they've even had time to grow an audience. Yes, I have a feeling Kevin Bacon will do fine, Todd!