It was the pilot process that slayed the Buffy revival
Everyone just kind-of assumed that the Buffy revival series pilot would be moving ahead to become a series. So, when a stake was stabbed through the heart of it on Friday, the result has now been several days of people asking what happened and why.
A lot of the chatter ignores that the reason a pilot episode gets made is to determine whether the network/streamer likes the creative enough to move forward with a series.
Here’s Buffy herself Sarah Michelle Gellar stoking the flames in an interview with People:
Gellar says it was one person who killed the project. “We had an executive on our show who was not only not a fan of the original, but was proud to constantly remind us that he had never seen the entirety of the series and how it wasn’t for him.”
“That’s very hard when you’re taking a property that is as beloved as Buffy, not just to the world, but to me and Chloé. So that tells you the uphill battle that we had been fighting since day one, when your executive is literally proud to tell you that he didn’t watch it,” says Gellar.
She continued:
“But the fans, they were the only reason we were doing this show in the first place,” she says. “We were doing it because everybody loves it. So how do you do a show that’s beloved with someone that doesn’t love it?”
Shows and movies get greenlit all the time by executives who don’t love the projects. The assumption is that Gellar is talking about Disney Television Group President Craig Erwich. It was Erwich who made the phone call to advise that the show wasn’t going ahead and he was the ultimate decision-maker.
A recent reshuffling of portfolios has just seen Erwich also given the added responsibility of 20th Television and 20th Television Animation.
His job is to be a TV executive and not a fan of cult shows from the 1990s. If he didn’t think the pilot had potential as a series, then his job is to not move forward with it. Clearly he rubbed SMG the wrong way.
There is a disconnect between Chloé Zhao as a filmmaker and the OG version of the Buffy TV show. Maybe what she delivered to the team at Hulu was incredible, but I can also see how she might deliver a show which just didn’t feel like the right direction to take the show in. It’s valuable IP and too wild a swing may not be in its best interest.
Deadline has this in its post-mortem:
What is known is that Erwich made the decision not to proceed with the pilot. The reasons for the pass are fuzzy. Some say Hulu suggested that the rewritten version of the project was too expensive to shoot. Others indicate that it still fell short of the high bar set by the original series.
One source close to the project compared the situation to completing a $3 million renovation only to find out that the house has foundation issues.
“Instead of fixing the foundation, you just walk away,” the person said about Hulu’s decision to not proceed with the reboot.
Maybe it’s time to calm down with the finger pointing and sense of injustice around the project. There’s a reason that this was given a pilot order and not a greenlight to go straight to series.
News Desk
Another batch of The White Lotus season 4 stars have been announced. I’m excited to see Max Greenfield is in the cast – he seems like perfect casting for the show. The other big name is Kumail Nanjiani. Agents of SHIELD fans may be enthused to see Chloe Bennet is also in the mix. Read: Variety
The new Mackenzie Crook show Small Prophets is the BBC’s biggest new scripted launch of the year to date, attracting 7.7 million viewers (28-day figure) for episode 1. Read: RadioTimes
Damon Lindelof has apologised for his joke about why new HBO show Lanterns is not named Green Lanterns. Never apologise, Damon. The geeks will never be happy. Read: THR
Worth a read is Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos’ interview ahead of meeting with EU regulators. It is largely Sarandos agenda-setting with the Netflix view to keep the rules simple and consistent across Europe. He also warned not to underestimate YouTube as a leading competitor in the streaming space. Read: Politico
The UK version of Last One Laughing is now getting a companion podcast. It is interesting to me that the companion podcast is having a real moment when the “after show” mini trend of a few years back never really gained much traction. Read: Deadline
Grey’s Anatomy star Jesse Williams is joining the cast of The Morning Show. Read: Deadline
As expected, Hulu has renewed Paradise for a third season, which is likely to be the final season. Read: THR
Warner Archive has released another collection of 50 classic Looney Tunes cartoons remastered for Blu-ray. Read: Indiewire
Following a lengthy legal dispute, Chinese company Wanda Studios has completed its deal to buy-out Sony from its $49m stake in Vampire Squid Productions. VSP is now the sole global operator and rights holder of the hit children’s franchise The Octonauts. Read: Animation Magazine
The TV series based on the Hitman video game franchise has been scrapped by Hulu. Read: Dark Horizons
Hudson Williams from Heated Rivalry joins your Baby and mine Jennifer Grey in new (previously-announced) Netflix drama The Altruists, which is based on the Sam Bankman-Fried story. Read: Deadline
Cobie Smulders has been promoted to a series regular role for Netflix’s The Lincoln Lawyer. Read: Deadline
Trailer Park
Jack Ryan: Ghost War is a movie sequel to the Prime Video series. It debuts on the streamer May 20. It will be the sixth Jack Ryan movie.
The Hannah Montana 20th Anniversary Special debuts on Disney+ March 24.
Crooks returns to Netflix for season 2 April 14.
Outcome debuts on Apple TV April 10. The Jonah Hill-directed film stars Keanu Reeves, Jonah Hill, Cameron Diaz, Matt Bomer, Susan Lucci, Laverne Cox, David Spade, Martin Scorsese, Atsuko Okatsuka, Roy Wood, Jr., Welker White, Kaia Gerber, and Ivy Wolk.
"Outcome" is a dark comedy that centers on Reef Hawk (Reeves), a beloved Hollywood star who must dive into the depths of his hidden demons after he is extorted with a mysterious video that's sure to shatter his image and end his career. With the support of his lifelong besties Kyle (Diaz) and Xander (Bomer), along with his crisis lawyer Ira (Hill), Reef embarks on a soul-searching journey to make amends with anyone he could have possibly wronged in hopes of identifying the blackmailer. Co-writer and director Hill brings a unique lens to Reef's wild but spiritually cleansing, nostalgic and eye-opening trip down memory lane, where confronting his past might be the only way to rescue his future.
Turn of The Tide returns for season 3 on Netflix April 10.
180 debuts on Netflix at a date TBA.
When an unexpected road rage incident puts his son in critical condition, an enraged father spirals down a dark path of emotional turmoil and vengeance.
That’s the newsletter for the today.
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