'Epidemic' Greenlighted

[Jan]

This just came over from Variety:

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118058274?refCatId=14

ABC has inked a deal with indie production company Georgeville TV and Overbrook Entertainment for a pandemic thriller project from "Babylon 5" creator J. Michael Straczynski.
Project is designed to secure a straight-to-series order, meaning that if ABC likes the script it will forgo a pilot in favor of a multiple episode order.

Details on the project are sketchy but it's described as a blend of procedural and serialized elements. James Lassiter and Jada Pinkett Smith are exec producing for Overbrook with Straczynski.

Jan

[Biffy Clyro]

Yay for epidemic!

also: first!

[Jonas]

Very curious about this!

[Zoltan]

Very curious about this!

Same, for I have no idea how this can turn out to be even remotely interesting. I'd be rather turned off it's a virus killing people, and we get to see the drama around that (it would be too simple). There's probably an angle I'm missing.
A virus turning people into zombies?

[Jan]

The blurb on IMDb says:

The series follows a group of virus hunters working for the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta as they track epidemics around the world

Jan

[DaveNarn]

Probably the best story I've seen on the big screen is the '95 movie 'Outbreak'.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114069/

Not because it has a stellar cast - the subject is possible, immediate and riveting.

Who hasn't caught a cold before, hence doesn't have a concern for germs?

We saw a glimpse of this with Edgar Industries virus and antidote

[Jonas]

In the end it will turn out the Drakh discovered time travel...

[DaveNarn]

A creepy example, this headline comes from todays Washington Post,

'NIH superbug outbreak highlights lack of new antibiotics'

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/nih-superbug-outbreak-highlights-lack-of-new-antibiotics/2012/08/24/ec33d0c8-ee24-11e1-b0eb-dac6b50187ad_story.html

[Delenn_of_Mir]

Does anyone know if this will be episodic like CSI? Or more virus of the week, that slowly gets more arcy if it lasts long enough to get to them like Fringe?

abc? Oh dear. Shows don't fare well there unless they are drama's that the vast majority of people like. Hopefully this show will be mainstream enough to last. If it's good like B5 then I expect it to end like Crusade.

Could be NBC or FOX though, they are a tiny bit worse. CBS is the best of the american networks. Ghostwhisperer lasted five years on there!

His Dracula show should do well on HBO though. Or was it showtime?

I'm losing tv anyway, so won't be able to check it out until it's on dvd anyway.

[Jan]

His Dracula show should do well on HBO though. Or was it showtime?

According to IMDb, it's going to be on Starz. Don't know much about that one.

Jan

[Delenn_of_Mir]

Ohh Starz. Hmm I didn't know they had tv shows on that channel, so yeah I don't know how they are with pulling and keeping shows on the air. Guess I'll read spoiler about it while it's on and then decide whether or not to try and buy it if it makes it to dvd.

[OmahaStar]

Ohh Starz. Hmm I didn't know they had tv shows on that channel, so yeah I don't know how they are with pulling and keeping shows on the air. Guess I'll read spoiler about it while it's on and then decide whether or not to try and buy it if it makes it to dvd.

It's jms. You know you'll be buying it just like the rest of us

[Delenn_of_Mir]

It's jms. You know you'll be buying it just like the rest of us

Yeah, I'd be sitting there at the keyboard, hand trembling while I "try" to not push the add to cart button. And then again, shaking, gasping, "trying" to not authorize payemnt. "giggles"

[Ubik]

Personally, I'm genuinely happy to see a new JMS TV show in the works. It's been a while, so this is welcome news. Does anyone know at what level JMS will be involved? Scripting? Showrunner?

Crusade was essentially about a virus, so perhaps we'll see similar themes emerge with Epidemic?

[Jan]

Personally, I'm genuinely happy to see a new JMS TV show in the works. It's been a while, so this is welcome news. Does anyone know at what level JMS will be involved? Scripting? Showrunner?

At Comic-Con I asked him what his involvement would be for the two shows he had in development and he said he'd be showrunner.

Crusade was essentially about a virus, so perhaps we'll see similar themes emerge with Epidemic?

Maybe, but Crusade was only starting out to be about finding the cure. JMS had said, and we would have seen in some of the unproduced scripts, that there was a lot more in store and that the virus would have been cured some time in (I believe) the second season.

Jan