Austin360 blogs > TV Blog > Archives > 2010 > July > 28
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
TCA: ‘Hawaii Five-0’
A 35-piece orchestra kicked off the “Hawaii Five-0” panel during the CBS network’s presentation at TCA Wednesday. They weren’t in the ballroom, but there was a video of them re-recording the iconic theme song of the show for this fall’s reboot. Much of the discussion centered on the rebooting concept: how actors approached their characters; how producers handled the legacy, etc.
Scott Caan, who plays Danno in the new version, says he purposely avoided going back and reviewing the original, which ran on CBS for a dozen years, concluding in 1980. “I wanted to start fresh and I didn’t want to have any old ideas.” Alex O’Laughlin, the new Steve McGarrett, says that in the original version, the character was sort of a cipher. But he points out that we learn a lot about his new character in the pilot.
Other highlights:
On tourism: “I’m sure they are happy that it will bring more tourism to Hawaii, but the nice thing about it is that people want to go to Hawaii on vacation anyway.” — Alex Kurtzman, producer
The original was about memorable cases; the new version will focus on characters. The producers felt that they needed someone strong for McGarrett to play off of, so Danno became more of a partner to McGarrett than a subordinate.
The producers are very conscious about paying tribute to what the spirit of the original Five-0 was all about. They call it a family show. Producer Peter Lenkov talked about how he used to watch it with his dad and how that informed the father-son dynamic in the pilot.
On remake vs. reboot: A remake, Kurtzman said, implies that you are doing the exact same thing over again. That’s not what he’s doing. In a reboot, you find the spirit of what that original franchise was about and remain true to it, but you have to expand on it and bring it into the modern time with whatever rules will govern it. He and his cohorts wanted to respect the original but bring something new to the table.
On the iconic theme: It had been suggested that a famous rock star be hired to come in and record a new version of the theme with guitar.” You cannot change the original theme,” kurtzman said. “There are few themes that are as good as the Five-0 theme. This is one of those things that we have to be utterly respectful to, to the point that we found the original musicians who did the original theme and brought them back in to record it. At the end of the day, why mess with something that’s perfect?”
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Entertainment, Fall TV
TCA: “Big Bang Theory,” “Mike & Molly”
Cast members of CBS’ returning “The Big Bang Theory” and the new “Mike & Molly” took the TCA stage along with creator Chuck Lorre Wednesday morning to discuss the half-hour comedies.
“The Big Theory,” which has become a ratings powerhouse on Monday nights, is moving to Thursdays this fall where it will go head to head with NBC’s “Community.”
“Mike & Molly” is an old-school, retro comedy about a pair of overweight lovers and their efforts to improve their lives that Lorre created with writer Mark Roberts.
Regarding the “Big Bang” move, Lorre said that the network did not consult him, but insisted that was okay. “One assumes they’ve given it a lot of thought,” he said. “Our job is to make a good show, not to program.” This will be the comedy’s fourth time slot in three years.
Simon Helberg, who plays Howard Wolowitz on the show, got the session’s biggest laugh, butting into a question posed to Kunal Nayyar, who portrays Raj Koothrappali on the show about nerdy scientists. “Someday,” Helberg said, “Jews will make their mark in comedy.” Nayyar had been asked a question about the increase of Indian characters on television — NBC has a new fall comedy, “Outsourced,” placed in a call-center. Nayyar noted that call centers gave rise to the middle class in India and suggested that we would be seeing more Indian characters on television. “We’re all good looking and talented,” he cracked.
Some time was spent discussing the breakout Sheldon character played by Texan Jim Parsons. Regarding Sheldon and Penny’s increasingly sweet relationship, Lorre said “She’s domesticating him.”
One questioner asked if Lorre felt that the 4th season of “Big Bang” was critical, since it’s the time when a lot of critics and audience members tend to break bad on a show. Lorre called the move to Thursdays a do-over and said that, anyway, people who work on the show only think in terms of one episode at a time.
He repeated that philosophy regarding “Mike & Molly.” Much of the panel time was spent discussing the fact that the two lead characters are overweight and that they meet at (and continue to attend) Overeaters Anonymous. Lorre and Roberts insisted that the show was not about the characters being fat.
“I didn’t set out to write a show about Overeaters Anonymous,” Roberts said. “I wanted to write a show about two people at the beginning of a relationship. It’s just a show about people with problems. The reason I wanted to do a show like this was to get real people back on TV.” People’s problems, he said, were the source of television comedy. Noting that most television characters look nice and dress beautifully, Roberts added, “I don’t buy any of their problems.”
“Hopefully the humor is self-deprecating and with affection,” Lorre replied. “This isn’t a show about weight. It’s a show about people trying to make their lives better and find someone that they can have a committed relationship with. If we’re still talking about this issue come episode six, we’ve got a serious problem, because it would get tired really quickly. That’s not enough to hang a series on; not by any stretch of the imagination.”
“Everybody would like to be better than they are,” said stand-up comic Billy Gardell, who plays Mike. “Everybody’s has a different kick — mine just happens to be pizza.” After a smattering of chuckles, Gardell continued, “It’s okay. You can laugh at that. I’ve caught a mirror. Lighten up.”
“The Gilmore Girls” actress Melissa McCarthy, who plays Molly, toed the company line. “For me, the show is not about weight,” she said. She claimed to be attracted by the sitcom’s “funny and lovely” qualities and its lack of snarky humor.
I got a chance to ask Lorre and Roberts about the retro feel of the show. “Chuck and I very early on talked about ‘Marty’ as a template for this thing,” Roberts said (that film, adapted from a Paddy Chayefsky teleplay, starred Ernest Borgnine as an unmarried, 34-year-old butcher who lived with his mother in the Bronx). “And I think ‘The Honeymooners’ certainly factors into it. I do think it’s incredibly cool that we’re followed by ‘Hawaii Five-0’; that’s something nice and retro, too,” he added.
Finally, Lorre responded to a question regarding common elements in his shows. “I have felt for a long time that all shows, especially comedies, are fundamentally ‘family’ shows,” he said, noting that even co-workers in an office function as a surrogate family. The characters in “Cheers” and “Taxi,” he said, were families. “They supported each other, they knocked each other down. They were inseparable in some ways. They made each other miserable. They function together in all those ways that we experience as families.”
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Entertainment, Fall TV
TCA: CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler speaks
CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler took the stage at the Beverly Hills Hilton Wednesday morning to kick off the presentation portion of the Television Critics Association’s Summer Press Tour.
Tassler fielded questions from reporters about the network’s programming, including questions about the violence and darkness in the pilot for the “Hawaii Five-0” reboot and the network’s failing grade in GLAADS ratings for portrayals of gay and lesbian characters on television (both reality and scripted).
She seemed perplexed by the characterization of “Hawaii Five-0” as dark. I’m with Nina. While the show does open with a violent middle-east war scene, the action soon moves to the familiar island where the relationships between the characters and the island takes center stage. There’s a lot of smirky good humor from that point on, typical of many of the fall’s acton/drama offerings.
Regarding the GLAAD report, Tassler said that the network had gay and lesbian-friendly pilots in the works that did not pan out and that the network is responding by adding gay and lesbian characters to returning shows, including “The Good Wife.”
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Entertainment, Fall TV
It’s CBS day at TCA
So, here I am in the International Ballroom at the Beverly Hills Hilton in Los Angeles, waiting for CBS bigwigs to trot out their new and returning shows and stars for members of the Television Critics Association (TCA).
Just kidding.
CBS is going with a Vegas theme for their presentation, which makes sense as one of their headlining shows is the Vegas-set law dramedy “The Defenders,” starring Jim Belushi (the funniest living Belushi, as Chicago radio legend Steve Dahl calls him) and Jerry O’Connell. There are pretty showgirls, slot machines and bright lights everywhere. The better to glint off of the stars’ pearly whites, I guess.
Today I’ll be reporting on presentations for the following CBS shows:
- “The Big Bang Theory”
- “Mike & Molly”
- “New, Untitled Daytime Talk Show”
- “Hawaii Five-0”
- “The Defenders”
- “Blue Bloods”
- ”$#*! My Dad Says”
Check back here for blog posts throughout the day. I’ll also be tweeting and posting news and photos on Facebook. Follow me on Twitter here and friend me on Facebook by clicking here.
Seriously, friend me. I might need to call you … I’m one slot machine handle pull from cashing in my plane ticket home.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Entertainment, Fall TV
