NBC Orders ‘District 17′ Pilot From Ronald D. Moore

Ronald D. Moore, the showrunner whose work includes science fiction favorites like Star Trek: The Next Generation and Battlestar Galactica, is working on a new pilot for NBC.

District 17 will follow a group of policemen working in a magical town called Excelsior.

Not much is known about District 17 at the moment, though the scuttlebutt describes the show as “Harry Potter for grown-ups.” If the show makes it to air it will probably be quite a bit different from anything currently on network TV, though the fantasy/police procedural premise sounds like a mix between Eureka and The Dresden Files, both from NBC’s sister channel SyFy. If Moore’s recent work is any indication, District 17 would be much darker and more serious than either series.

Rumor has it that the series has already accrued $2 million worth of pilot and series penalties from developer Sony Television, meaning that Sony will pay Moore that amount if the show doesn’t both film a pilot and get picked up as a series. No cast or crew information is currently available.

Moore is a staple of television sci-fi in the 90s and 2000s. He was part of the writing and production staff on several Star Trek properties, cutting his teeth on The Next Generation and its first two movies before working on what many see as the best of the modern Trek series in Deep Space Nine. After producing the later seasons of Roswell, he developed SyFy’s successful Battlestar Galactica reboot for all four of its seasons and various satellite projects.

Though his recent work has had trouble gaining traction (Caprica fizzled after a single season and Fox downgraded the promising Virtuality to a TV movie), Moore seems to be firing on all cylinders. In addition to the pilot order for District 17, he’s currently in pre-production for two other potential series. NBC has ordered a drama about a Coast Guard vessel christened The McCulloch. While a drama without any sci-fi or fantasy elements is relatively uncharted water for Moore, he knows a thing or two about lone, wandering vessels. CBS also has him writing a re-imagined version of the classic Wild Wild West TV show with fellow DS9 alum and CSI showrunner Naren Shankar.

It’s good to see Moore working on so many different projects. The McCulloch is a lock, and while the other two series are up in the air at the moment, there’s a good chance at least one will make it to an initial season order.

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We’ll keep an ear to the ground for more news on District 17.

Source: Entertainment Weekly

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NBC Orders a Round of TV at The ‘Playboy’ Club

After AMC’s success with its uncompromising period piece Mad Men, NBC has been emboldened to purchase a Playboy Club key. The network has ordered a pilot for the Playboy, set in the first Playboy Clubs in Chicago during the 1960s.

Aside from screenwriter Chad Hodge (Tru Calling, Runaway) no cast or crew has been announced. The show synopsis says that it will use the Playboy Club as a starting point to explore the changing nature of sexuality in the 60s – certainly fertile ground for a drama.

Hugh Hefner opened the first of his nightclubs in 1960 in downtown Chicago. At that point Playboy Magazine had already become an integral part of American pop culture, and the club was successful enough to expand to cities around the country quickly. The clubs were nightlife hotspots (as opposed to, well, other kinds of clubs) and in their 58 year history have played host to a wide range of acts – from Mel Torme to Bill Cosby. Playboy Magazine itself has evolved from its salacious beginnings in 1953 to an American icon, and a taste-maker in its own right.

It’s almost certain that the success of Mad Men has inspired NBC to take a gamble on the new pilot. The AMC series has been semi-confirmed for a fifth season, and also takes place in the 1960s. While Mad Men takes place in New York instead of Chicago, you can expect to see plenty of similarity between the two shows. In fact, Don Draper himself visits the Manhattan club in season 4 – the header image for this article is a still from that episode.

While Playboy itself hasn’t made any announcement regarding the series, it’s likely that the media empire will try to leverage the new show to push its brand (assuming the show makes it to the airwaves). Playboy hasn’t fared well in the digital age, losing over 90% of its value since 2000. Playboy is no stranger to varied methods of promotion – in addition to millions of dollars in licensed merchandise sales, they have product placement in movies from Diamonds are Forever in 1971 to Miss March in 2009.

We’ll be keeping an eye on Playboy - strictly for our articles, of course.

Source: /Film

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