Back when I did my Pilot Watch on "Heroes," there was some confusion over whether there was a different version of the pilot other than the one critics were sent. Well, the "Heroes" session is just wrapping up, and Tim Kring explained that the original pilot was two hours -- and featured scenes with Gregg Grunberg and Leonard Roberts, who aren't in the final version -- but that the show is going to premiere as a one hour, and Grunberg and Roberts will be introduced in episodes two and four, I think. (Grunberg made a joke about how he's superstitious about not being in pilots, since he wasn't in the "Felicity" or "Alias" pilots, but was in the one for "Lost" and wound up getting eaten.)
So there. Off to write a review of "Life on Mars," which is cool enough that I'm skipping a few NBC sessions to deal with. I have to say, it's been a very good tour, and a lot of that has to do with the sheer number of good shows we're seeing.
I recently came into posession of the new 1 hour pilot, gave me goosebumps, color me excited for this one.
ReplyDeleteI'm still not sold on the show, in large part because "Crossing Jordan" is the definition of hackish TV in my book, but a couple of things have gotten me interested:
ReplyDelete1. The very effective character promos, especially the one with Hayden Panettiere falling from the football bleachers on video, popping her shoulder back in, and then saying "that was attempt number six."
2. AICN is reporting that Bryan Fuller ("Wonderfalls," "Dead Like Me") will be showrunning after the first few episodes, and that's interesting.
IMHO, CBS has won Monday nights in no small part because it's been unchallenged other than by football for years. Glad to see NBC stepping up and fighting for the night, at least from 9 PM on. (I'll at least watch How I Met Your Mother on CBS in the 8 PM hour--The Class depends on the pilot--great cast, but I've heard that badness is happening, right there.)
I saw a 72-minute version at Comic-con that I thought was strong, and I'm very excited about seeing it again. That being said, I found the Grunberg storylines especially compelling and am kinda sad that his pilot scenes were cut!
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