CBS ORDERS “BRAINDEAD,” A COMIC-THRILLER SET IN THE WORLD OF WASHINGTON, D.C. POLITICS, FOR BROADCAST IN SUMMER 2016
Series Comes From Robert and Michelle King,
Acclaimed Creators and Executive Producers of “The Good Wife”
STUDIO CITY, CALIF. – CBS has given a straight-to-series order for 13 episodes of “BrainDead,” a one-hour comic-thriller from Robert and Michelle King, acclaimed creators and executive producers of “The Good Wife.” The series will be broadcast in summer 2016.
“BrainDead” is the first project from Robert and Michelle King as part of their new three-year producing deal with CBS Television Studios. “BrainDead” will be executive produced and written by the Kings. Ridley Scott, David Zucker and Liz Glotzer will serve as executive producers for CBS Television Studios, Scott Free Productions and King Size Productions, all of whom previously collaborated on “The Good Wife.” Judy Smith will serve as co-executive producer.
“BrainDead” follows a young fresh-faced Hill staffer getting her first job in Washington, D.C. and discovering two things: 1. The government has stopped working, and 2. alien spawn have come to earth and eaten the brains of a growing number of Congressmen and Hill staffers.
“We wanted to do a show that was a mix of genre-pulp and high-brow politics – ‘The Strain’ crossed with ‘The West Wing,’” said executive producers Robert and Michelle King. “It seemed like the best way to address the news today – not straight, but as the opening act of a horror movie.”
“Robert and Michelle have developed an intriguingly original concept with layers of humor, suspense and the supernatural,” said Nina Tassler, Chairman, CBS Entertainment. “We look forward to launching it to U.S. viewers and a worldwide audience next summer.”
“BrainDead” is a CBS Television Studios production. The series will be distributed domestically by CBS Television Distribution and worldwide by CBS Studios International.
The Kings will continue to serve as executive producers/showrunners of “The Good Wife,” network television's most critically acclaimed drama, when it returns for its seventh season on Oct. 4.
Series Comes From Robert and Michelle King,
Acclaimed Creators and Executive Producers of “The Good Wife”
STUDIO CITY, CALIF. – CBS has given a straight-to-series order for 13 episodes of “BrainDead,” a one-hour comic-thriller from Robert and Michelle King, acclaimed creators and executive producers of “The Good Wife.” The series will be broadcast in summer 2016.
“BrainDead” is the first project from Robert and Michelle King as part of their new three-year producing deal with CBS Television Studios. “BrainDead” will be executive produced and written by the Kings. Ridley Scott, David Zucker and Liz Glotzer will serve as executive producers for CBS Television Studios, Scott Free Productions and King Size Productions, all of whom previously collaborated on “The Good Wife.” Judy Smith will serve as co-executive producer.
“BrainDead” follows a young fresh-faced Hill staffer getting her first job in Washington, D.C. and discovering two things: 1. The government has stopped working, and 2. alien spawn have come to earth and eaten the brains of a growing number of Congressmen and Hill staffers.
“We wanted to do a show that was a mix of genre-pulp and high-brow politics – ‘The Strain’ crossed with ‘The West Wing,’” said executive producers Robert and Michelle King. “It seemed like the best way to address the news today – not straight, but as the opening act of a horror movie.”
“Robert and Michelle have developed an intriguingly original concept with layers of humor, suspense and the supernatural,” said Nina Tassler, Chairman, CBS Entertainment. “We look forward to launching it to U.S. viewers and a worldwide audience next summer.”
“BrainDead” is a CBS Television Studios production. The series will be distributed domestically by CBS Television Distribution and worldwide by CBS Studios International.
The Kings will continue to serve as executive producers/showrunners of “The Good Wife,” network television's most critically acclaimed drama, when it returns for its seventh season on Oct. 4.
Source:
What is a comic-thriller
ReplyDeleteHow exactly is this gonna work on CBS?
ReplyDeleteThis is one of the most bizarre descriptions I've ever read and I actually googled it before commenting because I thought it could be some prank or something lol. And it gets even weirder from having the Kings doing it.
ReplyDeleteThis is probably bad news for Extant though, CBS probably won't be interested in keeping two allien themed dramas on
When they said BrinDead i though of Dead Alive
ReplyDelete" “We wanted to do a show that was a mix of genre-pulp and high-brow politics – ‘The Strain’ crossed with ‘The West Wing,’”
ReplyDeleteIf done right, it could be kind of cool. It kind of reminds me a bit of Chris Carter's Amazon Pilot "The After", that didn't move forward, which I liked the pilot, because of the way it dances around different horor, crime, thriller, supernatural tropes from scene to scene.
I really enjoy the dialogue on the good wife, just imagine if those characters were talking aliens along side political corruption!!! Can't wait to see the casting announcements!
LOL at the good wife characters talking aliens. Can you imagine Diane and Cary arguing over that? Ahah But I agree with you that this all hinges on the execution. It could be terrible if not done extremely well but could be great if done well. It's a case of wait and see. But the description certainly is very bizarre.
ReplyDeleteHahahaha "intriguingly original concept" It's Aliens and Gov't.. where have we seen that before? LOL
ReplyDeleteIt is difficult to get the tone right between comedy and horror, but several films have done it. Evil Dead 2, Shaun of the Dead , April Fool's Day, Dead Alive.
ReplyDeleteCary: I mean, is Will really dead, Diane? Couldn't of Lazarus Lizard-tail, also known as "Bishop" taken him aboard their star ship and left a identical clone body behind? ;)
ReplyDeletePS: Denis O'Hare played this sensational politically insane vampire on True Blood named Russell Eddington---I hope they retap him for a role!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKn7hhgLPes
LOL, no way this works on CBS
ReplyDeleteI'm LMAO at the last line.
ReplyDeleteAhahah. And yes, Russel's Season 3 character was one of the best things True Blood ever had. I thought his resurrection was very disappointing later on though
ReplyDeleteWith them finding a crazy streaming deal for it lol
ReplyDeleteWell season 5 was more of a bridging season, one that kind of becomes useless, because there is no real build from it in following seasons, as switching show runners surely changed direction! Theycertainly didn't do enough good with him--They even killed Roman so darn early!!
ReplyDeleteI don't think I've recovered from the awfulness of the last season to be able to talk True Blood just yet. I seriously hated it, especially the finale. And it was such a shame because I really did enjoy the previous season a lot, the most I had in years of the show.
ReplyDelete1. The government has stopped working, and 2. alien spawn have come to
ReplyDeleteearth and eaten the brains of a growing number of Congressmen and Hill
staffers.
Strange i thought that we are watching already this around the world?
One of the greatest moments in TB history. Absolutely loved this scene/episode.
ReplyDeleteTrue, true. HAHA
ReplyDeleteHear hear!!! I haven't talked about TB since the series finale, and when its brought up, iI get soooo. The entire last season including the series finale was a just a BIG "F*CK YOU" to the fans. I watched this show loyally for 7 yrs and you gave us this shit??? I've never been so furious with a TV show in my life! That was unforgivable, once the series ended I never looked back. I seriously haven't given it a second thought.
ReplyDeleteVery true. I am usually more accepting of endings than most people, but boy that one really rubbed me wrong LOL!
ReplyDeleteAnyways new drinking game: we should go through Good Wife Scripts and anywhere it reads, "states attorney", we should change it to "Intergalactic terrorists" and take a drink! :p
Yeah I have the same reaction. And I wasn't honestly thaaat much invested in the show as some people were, I watched it mostly out of fun for popcorn. But it still sucked. And the strange thing is that I am usually pretty good at enjoying finales that most people hate (I loveed the How I Met Your Mother finale and I was okay/ didn't hate the Dexter finale), but this one was just atrocious for me.
ReplyDeleteIt's why it will be so relatable! ;)
ReplyDeleteYess, I just made that exact same comment in response to Shannon. I am usually much more accepting of endings than 90% of people, including some very polarizing ones or even straight up hated ones, but this one was just... non redeemable at all in my eyes.
ReplyDeleteAhahah on the good wife drinking game.
I absolutely loved the series, so i was very disappointed!! Extremely! And most of my finales are always great. Whether it ends on a happy note or not, there's always something good i'll love with my finales. But this one, just wow, i've never felt more shitted on. Smh. (Never watched either shows, ccouldn't get into it, but boy did i hear the uproar from...everywhere.)
ReplyDeleteCBS should stop doing scripted summer shows. The three shows CBS is airing at the moment (Zoo, Extant and Under the Dome) can barely reach a 1.0 in the 18-49 demographic. The latest episode of Extant got a 0.6, the latest episode of Zoo got a 1.0 and the latest episode of Under the Dome got a 0.9 (a series low). CBS should stick with crime dramas and stop doing summer shows.
ReplyDeleteI'm all for this!
ReplyDeleteWhether or not this series itself works (which I do have some doubts about) I love the idea of more short-run Summer series and one-offs!
Maybe it's the CBS execs who are brain dead, since this ordered this show.
ReplyDeleteThe whole concept of Dexter really pisses/pissed me off so I could never get into it.
ReplyDeleteWait,I thought this was going to be a comedy show right till the end when I realized it wasn't. That's not a good sign.
ReplyDeleteThat is fair. I personally LOVED the show and I miss it greatly.
ReplyDeleteYep, Dexter was one of the best new concepts/ original concepts to come around in a very long time! Regardless of whether or not a viewer liked the ending, Dexter was groundbreaking and helped change the TV landscape.
ReplyDeleteWe really did not have as many anti-hero focused series prior to Dexter. Sure, we had many series about bad guys, but the focus was almost always on the people trying to stop the bad guys - Not the baddies themselves!
I still have trouble with the notion of Dex being a baddie though, as morally awful as this sounds.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, although a completely different series, the recently introduced and utterly excellent Mr. Robot is the closest things I've found to my Dexter withdraws. There are many thematic aspects that the two shows share, particularly the way both main characters do not fit in the society that surrounds them despite their attempts to do so, as well as the attempts to simulate normalcy. I have a ton of Dex flashbacks when watching Mr. Robot, which is a big compliment. If you haven't watched it yet, I highly recommend it.
I do watch and agree it has a similar feel to Dexter.
ReplyDeleteI think the internal dialog narration helps add that feeling as well as the other aspects you mentioned.
One of the pleasant surprises of this Summer season!
Yes I agree entirely about the internal dialog narration!
ReplyDeleteAgree about Dexter too! I never identified with him being a "bad" character, especially the minute they got to the end of the season one finale. I always felt that he was character who was just lying to himself and extremely introverted and was just reaching out to all the wrong people, but that fact that he didn't want to be alone proved a great deal about the kind of person he really was and the humanity in him. In fact there are times where I felt Deb was way more of sociopath than he was! :D
ReplyDeleteBut that is also one of the reasons why I liked and accepted Dexter's ending too!
There is not a lot of shows that have that voice-over internal dialogue in the narrative, but for Dexter, Felicity, and Mr. Robot (I just started!), it makes things unique. :)
I agree with your analysis. Though I curiously interpreted Dexter's ending differently. To me, he wasn't able to transform at all, that was what was the significance. I always go back to the Season 4 finale to express my thoughts on it:
ReplyDelete"I thought I could change what I am. But it doesn't matter what I do, what I change, I am what's wrong". To me, th entire series was about Dex trying to change and do different things, particularly different human experiences. He tried friendship (S3), he tried family (S4), he tried vigilantism-good doer (S5), he tried religion (S6), he tried love (S7) and he tried family again under a different perspective (S8) but it just wouldn't take. He was what he was, he was what was wrong. But because he kept trying and trying to change it and fit in, the biggest cost of all had to be paid, which was the only constant he had throughout all of these stages, Deb. So the finale was him accepting that he couldn't be transformed. That no matter how hard he tried, he didn't belong and he was too wrong to be part of any society whatsoever.
I admit to not loving the finale right away upon first watch and it probably still isn't the way I would have gone about it but I like two things about this finale: 1) my interpretation of it, as just described and what it symbolizes and 2) the way it allows for such interpretation and the way it was close ended bu open interpretation.
Anyway, Dexter is one of the shows I like to talk about the most, it's just to great!
How are you liking Mr. Robot? I am LOVING the show, seriously ;)
I disagree a bit. He now "honestly" could morn his losses, where before he could not, because he now could really "feel" them or stopped denying what he really felt.That was the whole point of the Vogel arc in juxtaposition to season one, because now he was "a real boy", who knew he really cared about other people. After season 4, it became harder to deny his emotions...
ReplyDeleteHe could no longer escape who was trying to pretend to be, but more over he finally had the capacity to "punish" himself in isolation, not kill, and try to do right by Harrison by not being in his life, where he never could of done those things before. That is how he changed/transformed and why his mother's name was the name of the hurricane having things being both brought full circle, but also transitional with Hannah with Harrison--'a mother and son brought together' and Dexter able to punish himself for his misdirection.
Okay your interpretation is pretty awesome too and I admit that it fits some of the gaps better than mine. But perhaps they aren't so contradictory after all though, if we try to align them (admittedly, a bit forcefully lol).
ReplyDeleteIt's possible to say that he was too broken, "too wrong" in his own words to be able to fit into a society in which he now feels. The biggest contrast between Seasons 1-4 and 5-8 as you put it is that he gradually starts to feel more and more and, as you've said, that got him more and more into trouble. Dex was fine before when he wasn't feeling and, in an odd way, he could fit into society that way. The problem was that, from the moment he allowed himself to feel, he could no longer fit into society. So he really had to conclude that he was too wrong, too broken and resort to isolation. My point being: him realizing he felt and him realizing that he couldn't fit into society are not mutually exclusive and could be, when put together, a reason for the isolation itself.
That's why I said "a bit" because I agree that he ends up alone anyways, bit I still think the difference in why, matters in terms of Dexter's journey, because of the future and because, despite the continual irony of it, Dexter did change...
ReplyDeleteBut in a sense the writers were true to Dexter or rather that ironical universe that Dexter lives in, in which he can never have it all from start to finish. In that it might be mutually exclusive, but that IMO has more to do with "the fate" of said universe than it has to do with whom Dexter actually is.
So I agree, we are not in a big disagreement! :)
That's how I took it as well.
ReplyDeleteIt was him isolating himself as far from humanity as he was capable because he realized he was what he was and finally acquiesced to it.
Yes! I think that is always a good sign!! ;)
ReplyDeleteI was wondering the exact same thing, but apparently Google doesn't even know. The term seems to have never been used before.
ReplyDeleteThis doesn't like my type of show but I can see how it fits with the other summer shows.
ReplyDeleteBtw, does anyone know what a comic thriller is?
At first i thought this was based off the 90s horror film called braindead.
ReplyDeleteI read the description and thought of this other horror film from the 90s, that also has a comedy element to it.
This must be what the Extant writers pitched for Season 3 lol
ReplyDeleteHopefully they don't start in earnest on this until after the upcoming season of "The Good Wife" has wrapped. When showrunners divide their attention between shows, it usually results in diminished quality for all shows involved.
ReplyDelete