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NBC Orders Magical Pilot From Ron Moore

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Ron Moore, the man behind the critically-acclaimed reimagining of Battlestar Galactica, has landed a pilot order at NBC. Pitched as an “adult Harry Potter,” the series is titled 17th Precinct (not District 17, as previously reported). Moore’s latest brainchild is set in the fictional town of Excelsior, where magic and the supernatural are the norm, instead of science. Sounds like a magic-centric version of Syfy’s Eureka, but with Moore at the helm, I’m sure there’s much more to it than that.

Moore has been a busy man since Battlestar Galactica ended, pitching two other shows in addition to 17th Precinct. Those two shows — a new take on Wild, Wild West for CBS and Coast Guard adventure The McCulloch for NBC — are in various stages of development and production.

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.

Ron Moore Reimagining ‘Wild, Wild West’

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The man who reimagined Battlestar Galactica as a dark, gritty, powerful scifi adventure has set his sights on Wild, Wild West, the old Robert Conrad western about a Secret Service agent who used high-tech (for the time) tools to fight bad guys. Not much is known about Moore’s concept for the series, other than that it’s in the earliest stages of development and will be weeks or months before he’s ready to shop it to networks.

The mind boggles at the thought of what Moore could do with another high concept franchise like this. I’d be very surprised if he didn’t lean toward some wicked cool steampunk with the technology, but more importantly, his characters will probably have a lot more depth and intensity than the lighthearted adventure of the original series.

Whatever he comes up with, it’s guaranteed to be better than that unwatchable hot mess starring Will Smith and Kevin Kline.

BSG Mastermind Develops “Adult Harry Potter” for NBC

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You know, just yesterday I was wondering to myself where Ron Moore — the brilliant storyteller behind Syfy’s modern reimagining of Battlestar Galactica — was going to turn up next. Sure, he’s got Caprica, the prequel to BSG, going strong, but the day-to-day work on that show is being handled by others. And last year, he developed a new pilot for Fox called Virtuality, but it was so high concept that it got canceled before it ever aired. The two-hour pilot was all that was filmed, and Fox aired it as a movie-of-the-week.

So it’s with some excitement that I bring you the news that Moore has signed an exclusive development deal with Sony Television, and that NBC has snatched up his first idea, which is described as a story “set in a world ruled not by science but by magic.” The shorthand going around Hollywood is that it’s an “adult version of Harry Potter,” though knowing Moore, I’m sure there’s way more to it than that. (After all, the same could be said about The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, and the reception that movie got would hardly be the kind of thing NBC would be eager to sign on for.)

Even bigger news is that NBC has shelled out something close to $2 million in a pay-or-play development deal for the series.

As much as I enjoyed Virtuality, it would probably be a smart move for Moore to do something a little more audience-friendly and accessible. Here’s hoping big things will come of this!

NBC has been snatching up genre-friendly shows left and right lately. This season alone they’re debuting The Event, Undercovers, and The Cape, alongside the 4th season of fan-favorite Chuck.