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FX Gets ‘Powers’

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Man, it seems like this one’s been in “development hell” for ages. I remember hearing years ago that Powers, an original comic book by Marvel MVP writer Brian Michael Bendis and his frequent art partner, Michael Avon Oeming, was being made into a TV show. At very long last, it looks like that dream is becoming a reality.

Cable network FX has ordered a pilot for Powers, with a script by The Shield and The Walking Dead‘s Charles H. Eglee, and direction by Justified‘s Michael Dinner. The comic book follows the work of two homicide detectives named Christian Walker and Deena Pilgrim, who live in a world where there are countless super-powered humans. Walker and Pilgrim investigate crimes that are committed by super-powered people, while each hiding secrets about their own connections to the super-powered.

Should be interesting to see who gets casted in these roles. While not a title known by non-comic fans, Powers has been running for eleven years now, and boasts intensely loyal fans who will be watching to see if the book’s two lead characters are represented properly on the small screen. Also fascinating to watch will be the tone used by the show; Powers the comic book is profane in the extreme, with plenty of graphic violence and even nudity. Will FX attempt to tone down the content, or will they keep the raunchy elements and schedule it at 10:pm or 11:pm?

Circle of Confusion, the production company behind The Walking Dead, is producing Powers for FX. Erati will be keeping a close eye on this one.

NBC’s ‘Grimm’ New Cop Show

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NBC is signing up for some very unconventional new shows these days. Shows like Ron Moore’s 17th Precinct, Steven Spielberg’s musical Smash, and David E. Kelley’s new take on Wonder Woman. They also have a period piece in the works called Poe, which features literary master Edgar Allan Poe as a detective in the 1840s.

Add to that list Grimm, yet another cop procedural with a twist. The dark fantasy police serial is set in a world where the many characters from Grimm’s Fairy Tales are real. (No word yet on whether they’re the cops or the criminals.) Grimm is the brainchild of Angel co-creator David Greenwalt and one of his Angel writing staff members, Jim Kouf.

NBC has committed to a pilot for Grimm, with more to come if the peacock’s executives like what they see.

ABC Orders 7 Intriguing New Pilots

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ABC has made a bold move in the current pilot season, announcing a whopping seven new dramas that have gone to pilot and could get picked up for full seasons. Most of them are from high-profile writer/creators, and almost all of them feature genre elements of scifi, fantasy, or horror.

First up is Georgetown by Josh Schwartz, who’s known for creating The O.C., Chuck, and Gossip Girl. Written by Will Fetters (Remember Me, The Lucky One), Georgetown is a soap following the young people who operate behind the scenes of Washington, DC’s most powerful players. Real-life journalist Ashley Parker is on staff as a consultant for this, Fetters’ first TV series.

Next is a show with a title that’s sure to raise some eyebrows (and some controversy from the Bible Belt), Good Christian Bitches, from Robert Harling (Steel Magnolias). It’s based on a novel by first-time author Kim Gatlin. Her tale of “Desperate Housewives on steroids” finds a recently divorced mother of two, Amanda Vaughn, moving back to her old stomping grounds in Dallas where she witnesses first hand the dangerous side of gossip.

Hallelujah is a mythical tale of good and evil, where the endless battle between the two is being waged in the small town of Hallelujah, Tennessee. When a stranger comes to town, he bears the power to change the place’s dynamic with his benevolent mixture of peace, justice, and faith. Each episode is said to end with a song sung by the town’s gospel choir. Hallelujah is created and written by Desperate Housewives‘ Marc Cherry, marking his first new show since that ABC hit.

Identity is an action procedural that follows an elite police unit that fights the 21st Century crime of identity theft. It’s written by John Glenn (Eagle Eye).

Next, Once Upon a Time is about a small town in Maine “where the magic and mystery of Fairy Tales” is real. The main character is a woman with a troubled past who’s mysteriously drawn to the town. Once Upon a Time is noteworthy because it was co-developed by Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof, though he’s not expected to have an ongoing presence on the show. Instead his co-creators (and former Lost staff writers) Edtward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, who most recently wrote the feature film Tron: Legacy, are overseeing this high-profile series.

Revenge is a modern retelling of Dumas’ classic The Count of Monte Cristo, wherein a charismatic, mysterious young woman takes on the role who returns to her home to exact revenge on the people who destroyed her family. The twist: her home is the Hamptons. Revenge is written by Mike Kelley (Swingtown).

Finally, The River, which like Good Christian Bitches was won after a bidding war, is about a family who travels deep into the Amazon jungle to locate and rescue their missing father. The River is described as a “horror drama” written by Paranormal Activity‘s Oren Peli and Paranormal Activity 2‘s Michael Perry. But ABC asked for a rewrite of the pilot script to hone the concept, so Michael Green (Heroes, Kings) was brought in, after which ABC gave it the green light.

Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome Concept Art

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Syfy’s Blastr.com has posted the very first concept art from Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome, which is currently in development for the network. The four pieces of art — by illustrator Peter Rubin — show some truly tantalizing scenes that depict just how action-packed this series will be.

There’s a shot of an older-model Raptor tearing through Galactica‘s hangar bay, which itself is being blasted to bits. Love the “teeth” on the Raptor!

Another image depicts a mechanical Cylon that’s taken on the shape of a human female, with just a few hints of skin on its exoskeleton. The female Cylon is standing in a rather Six-like pose, don’t you think?

This particularly intriguing illustration shows a snowy battlescape with a Dune-ish giant snake on the attack, which Blastr says is called a “Cython.”

Finally, there’s an entirely new model of Cylon Centurion.

I haven’t been terribly excited about this Galactica spinoff… until now. If the show can actually be made at this level of production values, while taking us deeper into the history of the Cylon/Human war… then okay, I’m in.

Coast Guard Drama Coming from BSG’s Ron Moore

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Ron Moore, the man primarily responsible for the critically-acclaimed reimagining of Battlestar Galactica for Syfy, has had a very busy pilot season. He’s already sold District 17 to NBC (described as “an adult Harry Potter” world of wizardry), and is working on a reimagined Wild, Wild West for CBS (just announced: Moore is working alongside Deep Space Nine pal and CSI showrunner Naren Shankar on West).

Now comes the news that Moore has pitched an action-adventure series to NBC called The McCulloch, which the peacock network has picked up. The show will follow the crew of a fictional Coast Guard ship of the same name as they traverse the world’s oceans. It’s unknown if the show will attempt to film at sea or use green screen.

The McCulloch sounds pretty different than Moore’s usual genre-heavy fare, with no known elements of science fiction or fantasy. But given Battlestar Galactica‘s military vessel-like setting, it’s not a huge stretch to think of Moore setting a show on a sea vessel.