Pilots From Shatner, Abrams & Orci/Kurtzman Getting Good Buzz [UPDATED]

In May the broadcast networks will all announce their Fall schedules, including what new pilots they will be picking up. The Hollywood Reporter is now providing a preview of what shows are getting the good buzz, and they include two dramas members of the new Star Trek team, as well William Shatner’s new sitcom. [UPDATED: more buzz]

 

Buzz on pilots from Orci/Kurtzman, Abrams/Burk & Shatner

The Hollywood Reporter Live Feed has the latest buzz on the pilots. Here is what THR has to say on the three pilots tied to Trek luminaries.

UPDATED: Buzz from Deadline Hollywood added

"Bleep My Dad Says" – starring William Shatner (CBS)

The original Kirk, William Shatner, stars in the Sanford and Son like sitcom Bleep My Dad Says, inspired by the popular Twitter account @shitmydadsays. Shatner plays the curmudgeon father of a son who has returned to the nest.

Here is the buzz:

THR: Among comedies, "Bleep My Dad Says" (aka "Shit My Dad Says") is looking very strong, with William Shatner nailing the title role in a recent taping.

DH: The Twitter transplant starring William Shatner also looks very good and had a great testing.

"Undercovers" – created by JJ Abrams & Bryan Burk (NBC)

Star Trek producer/director JJ Abrams has returned to the spy genre he mined for five seasons in Alias. The new show, Undercovers focuses on two married spies, and includes an but this time there is a romantic comedy angle with a show about two married spies (not unlike the film Mr. & Mrs. Smith). Abrams co-created the show with Josh Reims. The pair co-wrote the pilot, which Abrams directed. Also executive producing is Bryan Burk (an executive producer on Star Trek).

Here is the buzz:

THR: A remake of "Rockford Files" from "House" showrunner David Shore is considered a near-lock. Same with J.J. Abrams’ spy drama "Undercovers," whose completed pilot is getting rave reviews ("looks great, with gorgeous leads").

DH: The adjective people use who’ve seen J.J. Abrams’ pilot is “fantastic”. A go.

"Hawaii Five-0" – produced by Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman (CBS)

Star Trek scribes Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci have put together a remake of the classic cop show Hawaii Five-0. The pair also wrote the pilot episode for the show, which is shot on location in Hawaii, and the main cast includes Lost star (and Star Trek Enterprise and Voyager guest star) Daniel Dae Kim.

Here is the buzz:

THR: Over on CBS, "Hawaii Five-O" sealed the deal with a pilot screening that went great. 

DH: Continues strong

More pilot buzz at hollywoodreporter.com and deadline.com.

 

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OK – Hawaii 5-0. Daniel Dae Kim as Chin Ho kelly sounds OK.

But do they have Wo Fat? That’s what *I* want to know!

“Bleep My Dad Says”?

It’s gotta be “Shit My Dad Says”. Again, I don’t understand what some people have against the word “shit”. It has the same definition as “crap” or “poo”, yet no one complains about those words.

Although “Crap My Dad Says” has a nice sound to it.

Maybe they should call it “Shat my dad says”.

Hawaii 5-0 sounds kind of promising. I’d certainly be willing to give it a shot. The funny thing about Wo Fat is, on a show that featured more Asian/Pacific Islander actors than any other before (or probably since), he was an Asian character protrayed by a non-Asian actor:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khigh_Dheigh

Also, I have to give Shatner props for getting another potentially high-profile show, particularly a sitcom, which can be extremely lucrative. However, I have to say “Bleep My Dad Says” may be one of the dumbest concepts for a TV series I’ve heard in a long time. Basing a sitcom on someone’s Twitter account may be a unique idea, but that doesn’t make it a great one.

The Shatner sitcom is not “about” the Twitter account. The twitter account is about a funny character, and the show is about that character. I doubt the word ‘twitter’ will ever show up on the series. It is just shatner playing a wisecracking curmudgeon

6 – And that’s [much] more than you get on most TV sitcoms!

SHATNERIFIC!

Good to hear that Bleep My Dad Says is getting good previews. IHowever, think it was Entertainment Weekly that panned it weeks ago.

I get the feeling the show will hit the air as literally “(BLEEP) MY DAD SAYS!”, like they’ll just bleep the title in the promos. Should be interesting if they have to promote it on sporting events and stuff like that.

As for Orci/Kurztman, good on them for getting a show off the ground, but having a script for Star Trek: Something Something would be a lot cooler news to me.

Good for them as well. With all these people working on major and ongoing stuff, could we get some dedicated writers and director for Trek instead.

@3 Lt. Bailey:

Ooooh, good one Bailey! I like that. ha ha!

#3

“I think I just Shat myself”

Hmmm, remakes of Rockford Files & Hawaii Five-O. Wonder if they’ll do better than Knight Rider.

3.

haha. Shat shit!!!

I hope they are able to make use of various Hawaiian locations like the original series did. I know it’ll be tougher to do now than it was back then, but I always thought it was cool when I saw a bunch of recognizable locations from the original series. Doing that and using some local talent in the character roles really made the story feel like it was absorbed in the Hawaii feel through and through.

I guess the Shat is a workaholic. I know I wouldn’t want the grind of doing a sitcom at his age.

Hawaii 5-0? Good grief. I can remember being horribly bored by this programme as a kid.
And I still love the Rockford Files. So there are two ‘new’ programmes there that I will never be watching, but for entirely differenr reasons.

I am reminded of something Chakotay said once.

“every old trick is new again”

We saw how well that turned out on Voyager.

I hope “Bleep Shit Shat my Dad says” will be successful. I am certainly looking forward to it. :)

I was supposed to see a showing of Shit My Dad Says and give my opinion on it, but the opportunity passed me by. I was SO EXCITED for it too. Alas. I’ll have to wait until it airs…and it will.

@captain dunsel
The incredible james marsters is playing a ‘reimagined’ wo fat. he’s an arms dealer

First of all, I really want “Bleep My Dad Says” to work. I’ve been a fan of the Facebook version for around 4 months. AND I’m not usually in favor of excessive profanity…. but… in this particular case… how is this going to work without it? Well, that’s what they have writers for…

And as much of a Shatner fan as I am, I never would have guessed him for the role…. Stacy Keach? Most definitely. He can do curmudgeon.

Anyway, despite my own misgivings, I hope it succeeds.

Shat or s#*@ sounds like a lot of fun and its original! Why copy other past shows. The cookie cutter generation that today fears being or thinkig differant I guess. What a shame. I thought. Sho biz needed imagination and individual creative thinking? I guess people fear being differant is “nerdy or geekyor evan dangerous. Sad statement about having to be a drone to live.

Hawaii 5-0. They will NEVER find another Jack Lord. Hollywood just doesn’t attract actual LEADING MEN anymore, just skinny posers and ethnic character actors.

@13,,,Right! And don’t forget about “Bionic Woman”. You can’t redo Lindsay Wagner.

@25…Also right. Nor will they ever be able to find another Jim Garner. I mean…I like these guys as producers. I never miss “Fringe”. They do good TV, but do we really need another attempt to re-do classics?

Would be great to have the Shat back on TV.

Although I’m not impressed with the lead casting of Five-O or Rockford, I’ll probably watch both.

Of the two, Jack Lord is more easily replaced as McGarrett than iconic James Garner can be replaced as Rockford (the original role was specifically created for Garner.) O’Loughlin is too young, in my opinion, to head a State Police agency (Lord brought plenty of gravitas to the role), and Dermot Mulroney is not Jim Rockford by any stretch of the imagination.

As long as Five-O does not become “NCIS: Honolulu”, I’ll watch. I’ll put good money on it getting the 10pm Tuesday slot after NCIS and NCIS:LA.

Strange as it may sound, in a recent episode of “Flash Forward” (I think it was last week), there was a fleeting moment when the wind caught John Cho’s hair and flipped it *just right* that I had the briefest mental flash of – “THAT’S Steve McGarrett!” It looked so much like the classic image of McGarrett from the H5-0 opening credits.

As to the Shat, he can read the phonebook and I’ll be there. Hell, it can’t be any more “challenging” than watching T.J. Hooker or The Barbary Coast.

Seriously though, I’m really looking forward to Five-O and hope they will make the most of the locale as possible. I also hope they will be able to honor the spirit of the original and straddle the fine line between parody and becoming just another modern-day crime show that happens to be set in Hawaii. The original show, much like Star Trek, did have its share of clunkers but it was great how it could alternate from serious to light-hearted episodes. Sure, Wo-Fat was cool but I thought Filer (Five-0’s version of Harry Mudd) was fun too. And you must use the opening shot at the Ilikai Hotel as well! My wife and I were married on the beach last September in Hawaii and stayed at the Ilikai. It was so exhilarating to go out on the balcony and look over the ocean just as Jack Lord had done. Aloha!

Good God! They are “rebooting” (I’m beginning to loathe that term–and, yes, I did Trek 09 was okay, not great, but okay)The Rockford Files. If it ain’t Garner it ain’t Rockford. Not sure about 5-0 as I wasn’t a fan, except for it having one of the coolest theme songs of all time (watch them reboot that and screw it up too).

#31 and others above…
Yes, James Garner is just a brilliant, brilliant actor. He can’t be replaced.
I won’t even give the new show a try. Its just not going to happen for me. I don’t need to look at it to know that i’ll hate it.

I understand Shat. He just wants to be out there, doin’ it. Nothing but good things to say about that. We should all be so prominent when we are 79 years old!

@3 holy shat that is a good title!

Interestingly, Jack Lord turned down the role of James T. Kirk because Roddenberry didn’t want to give him a percentage of the show. Watching the first couple of seasons of Hawaii Five-O you can kind of get a sense of what his Kirk might have been like. It would have been cool, but I still vastly prefer Shatner. The other fun thing about very early Hawaii Five-O, they were using a computer as one of their crime fighting tools. I doubt I’ll watch the remake, this is one case where I think I prefer my memories of the original because it was so firmly a part of the late 1960’s/early 1970’s…..

it’s officail. No ortignal ideas left in hollywood, only remakes.