Watch Fox TV Previews For Abrams ‘Almost Human’ & Orci/Kurtzman’s Sleepy Hollow

In January, after five seasons, FOX ran the series finale of Fringe the genre show from the Star Trek team of JJ Abrams, Bryan Burk, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. And now FOX is getting back in the genre business with the team with two new shows – Almost Human from Bad Robot (starring Karl Urban) and Sleepy Hollow from K/O (featuring John Cho). Watch new previews for both below.
 

 

Almost Human – From Abrams/Burk

Star Trek producer/director J.J. Abrams and his Trek producing partner Bryan Burk and their Bad Robot production company are back in business with FOX, selling them the new sci-fi cop series Almost Human, starring Star Trek’s new Dr. McCoy Karl Urban.

Here is the synopsis:

This action-packed police drama set 35 years in the future centers around the unlikely partnership between a part-machine cop and a part-human robot.

ALMOST HUMAN – Executive-produced by Emmy Award winner J.J. Abrams ("Fringe," "Lost," the "Star Trek" and "Mission: Impossible" franchises) and creator J.H. Wyman ("Fringe," "The Mexican") and starring Karl Urban ("Star Trek"), Michael Ealy ("Sleeper Cell," "Common Law") and Emmy Award nominee Lili Taylor ("Six Feet Under,"), ALMOST HUMAN is a high-tech, high-stakes action drama set 35 years in the future, when police officers are partnered with highly evolved human-like androids. An unlikely partnership is forged when a part-machine cop (Urban) is forced to pair with a part-human robot (Ealy) as they fight crime and investigate a deeper cover-up in a futuristic new world.

And first preview

 

Sleepy Hollow – From Kurtzman/Orci

Star Trek co-writer/producers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman’s K/O Paper Products also sold a new genre show to FOX – Sleepy Hollow, a modern retelling "Ichabod Crane." The pilot also features a guest spot from Star Trek’s new Sulu, John Cho. 

Here is the synopsis:

Ichabod Crane wakes up from the throes of death 250 years in the future to find the world on the brink of destruction and learn he is humanity’s only hope.

From co-creators/executive producers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (the "Star Trek" and "Transformers" franchises, "Fringe") comes the adventure thriller SLEEPY HOLLOW. In this modern-day retelling of Washington Irving’s classic, ICHABOD CRANE (Tom Mison, "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen") is resurrected and pulled two and a half centuries through time to find that the world is on the brink of destruction and that he is humanity’s last hope, forcing him to team up with a contemporary police officer (Nicole Beharie, "Shame," "American Violet") to unravel a mystery that dates back to the founding fathers.

And first preview

 

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BOB ORCI

please share some insider info with us regarding your new show!

Interesting trailers. First impressions, Almost Human, no, Sleepy Hollow, yeah.

Phil, I was thinking the same thing. Should they have made Urban’s robot partner a female? That way their could have sexual tension between the two and maybe even a relationship? However that could have been like that NBC series in the 90’s Mann vs. Machine with Yancey Butler.

Bob Orci – as a native resident of Salisbury where parts of the Sleepy Hollow pilot were filmed, I’m thrilled to see it moving forward! I hope you guys will return here to continue filming – you’ll always be welcome in Salisbury!

…and on another topic, I’m looking forward to seeing Into Darkness this Wednesday – I know it’ll be a blast under your stewardship! ;-)

Both look cool. Go Bones!

can’t decide which one I’m more excited about… :)

I smell reboots

I’ll be watching both of them!!

those look awful. how many cliches can they throw into one [insert generic, overplayed premise here]?? apparently not enough!

Looks like Fox is getting some of the exciting new series this Fall & beyond.
For some reason I was under the imperssion before that Urban was the robot, don’t know why. In any case, will watch Almost Human for sure & give Sleepy Hollow a shot.
Like that is not enough on Fox, 24 is back as well for 2014 :)

Almost Human looks better than this: http://youtu.be/HZdLuz9SKGU

Sleepy Hollow may be worth a look.

And Mannn, do I miss Fringe.

@12. Gary Makin

Actually Almost Human is very similar to Total Recall 2070 TV series

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_3XQyPptWo

They both look interesting to me. If the trailer is any indication, John Cho doesn’t get many lines in Sleepy Hollow. Look forward to Karl Urban on TV again.

HUGE Karl Urban fan, favorite of the cast. Not a favorite of this clip, sorry. I am encouraged to see Urban do episodic television, meaning he could and would do a Trek TV series. Some of the reboot cast doesn’t seem to me they’d be interested in TV work because their film career’s are taking off.

Think about it Urban could even play another Trek character besides Bones, its been done plenty of time in Trek , Tim Russ, Robert Duncan McNeill, David Warner, etc… My personal suggestion would be for a Enterprise-B back story post Captain John Harriman with Urban as the Captain.

It’s always hard to tell much from just a teaser trailer, but I like the feel of “Almost Human.” Yes, we’ve seen this type of pairing before, but Karl and MIchael appear to have good chemistry. “Sleepy Hollow” seems to be the harder sell. Will it be an endless search for the headless horseman? Again, tough to tell a lot from the trailer, though.

i’m looking forward to catching them when i watch tv, which is almost never–could be incentives to watch.

And how could I forget Morgan Woodward who played two Trek roles, one being Captain Ron Tracey of the USS EXETER. ;)

@3. Nah, throwing a reproductive act into the mix just turns it into parody. My son is considering a software engineering major at a local college, and what little I’ve seen of the technology suggests that AI may be here sooner then we think. It also suggests that once machines become self aware, there is little to suggest that they would have reason to assume our form, or be satisfied being useful marionettes. When you can compute possible outcomes to a decision to the nth level, what use would ethics or morality be to a construct who has to deal with biological? This is the problem with these types of show, they presume that a self aware machine will just set limits for itself, when there really is no reason for them to pander to that lowest common denominator known as humanity….

These both look pretty good! Nice to see Orlando Jones is getting work again……

Being Human looks awesome! Seems like it could be the next great sci fi series. Great cast and story. I’m gonna be catching that one for sure :) Karl Urban AND Michael Ealy? Yum!

On the other hand, Sleepy Hollow I’m gonna pass on. LOVE John Cho, but he should be the star of his own show like Karl Urban is in BH. Whoever that pretty black woman was who played the cop didn’t seem like that great of an actress. Saw her in a lifetime movie and wasn’t impressed. Glad to see Orlando Jones again, but I just have a feeling this show isn’t gonna be a huge hit. Or I’m wrong lol we’ll find out soon!

There must not be any new ideas in Hollywood. Really. These have to be the oddest, craziest ideas for a series, especially Sleepy Hollow. And by the way, I think I’ve seen versions of these two already: Almost Human = Robocop, Sleepy Hollow = Grimm.

Like the look od both actually!

OF both….sheesh

Was this shot in the actual town of Sleepy Hollow? It sure looks like it!

Almost Human looks amazing! at 0:27 very Fringe looking, like Massive Dynamic. can’t wait for it =)

Karl Urban gets a lot of action roles – he’s good at ’em, but maybe a bit tired of it because he has said that McCoy is a relief from that sort of casting. Still, a job is a job. I think he could bring something to this part.

The horseman thing is bizarre laid on bizarre. That could be fun. Wait, was that Clancy Brown?

The trailer for Almost Human sounds way too much like the first 2/3 of the Will Smith I Robot movie…same overall character story almost…am I right?

Sleepy Hollow looks kind of fun, but I just can’t see how they could carry an entire week-to-week series on that concept. They should have a made a movie on this concept instead. And that actor looks more like he just got taken from a grunge band than the revolutionary war.

@29. Considering that Fox milked Prison Break for a few seasons, they should be able to get a couple of Sleep Hollow easily. Almost Human just seems lazy…’hey, let’s do a cop buddy show, except lets make them cyborgs’…..

The emergence of AI has the potential for great sci-fi, yet it always seems to drop back into that ‘useful marionette’ typecast. Man, I miss Twilight Zone….

Nothing to get excited about here, both will die well before the third season.

i miss fringe also…even got a letter i wrote to tv guide quoted….

why isnt anyone remembering gr s great pilot the questar tapes…as that pre dates all the android cop like shows movies etc

fyi amazon has been sellin the fringe seasons 1-5 really cheap i got the four seasons i needed plus the first three tngs for under 25 bucks for fringe n about 53 bucks per season of tng bluray–i think the fringe series is either on sale or cheap to get n season 5 just released week or so ago…

FOX ?

= canceled by episode 13 or before

damn it looked like decent shows RIP

Congratulations Orci/Kurtzman on being the top schlock writers of the 21st century. Nearly every sentence or dialogue exchange in this trailer is inane trash.
Good of you to include an ignorant black female character who
ruffles at the slightest reference to the slave trade.
Somebody please get her a buttered waffle.

If the trend of mining decades old material is to continue, I think
your duty as a writer or film maker is to produce something that the original creator could appreciate; seeing as how he or she made the whole thing possible.
This Sleepy Hollow trailer was buffoonery of the worst kind, and I
sincerely hope it fails miserably (and I think Washington Irving would share similar sentiments)

Perhaps Bob and Alex should step out of their bungalow and
get some fresh air…maybe even some ideas. I have to assume that their writing isn’t the only stale thing in that room.

Wasn’t “Almost Human” the name of a Disney XD kids show about a robot kid?

Man we need to at least think up original names when trying to redo Questar…..

What’s next, a show about a Oceanliner that goes off course in the artic and sinks, leaving a handful of survivors to combate not only the elements, but the strange surroundings that are discovered as they struggle to come to grips with their pasts and the need for survival into the future…. and we call it “Frost”?

“I Robot” as tv-show. Hmm, might be interesting.

Sleepy Hollow doesn’t look like a modern adaption of the source material, more like a modern-days-retelling of the Tim Burton movie mixed with all-known dark-prophecy, and Chosen One storyelements of the fantasy/horror-genre. Anyways, it looks like fun, but depends on how many times the headless horseman will seen in action.

Almost Human looks like I Robot and Total Recall 2070 (I like them both).

And Clancy Brown aka the Kurgan loses his head… again!

I am really excited about Almost Human but Sleepy Hollow also looks cool. I’m gonna check them out, I just hope they don’t get canceled after one season only.

23. Hilarious. “These ideas are crazy! And just like everything else!” Pick a lane.

Anyone remember Homes & Yo-Yo?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeJd7j-Rhtg

#39..
yes, it is now being JJized as “Bones and RoboJo”

@39 Holmes and Yo-Yo. John Schuck as the androcop, our favorite Klingon Ambassador. Very similar, but more played for laughs. Thanks for typing that, as I was forgetting the title. :)

@38 It gets so repetitive, it’s like deja vu all over again, but with better visuals, SFX ,and special effects, Skipper. :)

But seriously…. I wish you the best Bob with Sleepy Hollow. I really don’t see how you extend it past a season. Well, unless Starbucks is a clue: perhaps there’s a Franchise for Headless Horsemen? They start turning up in cities all across the country? So, the FBI forms a special team that goes around the U.S. to historical sites and battles, fighting them… and you title it Project HH, for Headless Horsemen? Hmmmm, now I get the HH. Thought it was Horatio Hornblower before, but the truth is out (there)!

@Bad Robot: Almost Human was a lousy choice of a title. Ealy’s a slightly defective android, Urban’s a slightly defective human. As an amputee, I get having a “cybernetic” leg. Frankly, a prosthetic for a leg is more than adequate… a cybernetic… suggests some darker purpose they have in giving him that. Get into an O&P shop and look how advanced legs already are. They have one primary duty: weight bearing through energy storage to improve gait. Surely in the Fall the title can be changed? Something like “‘Forty-Eight”, or “John’s Law”…. not something confused with “Being Human” as one poster just did, or repeating a Disney title.

Congratulations are in order for both productions, though. It’s no small feat to get a concept to the point where a network orders, now it’s in the hands of the audience…

I’ll certainly check them both out! It’s so hard to judge based on a preview, so I hope they both turn out well.

@41 the sinfonian,
“I wish you the best Bob with Sleepy Hollow. I really don’t see how you extend it past a season.”

I have to agree. The hook is not obvious here. It sort of strikes me as a single episode of The Night Stalker. And while an can see it spread out over a season it’s hard to imagine such a specific concept transcending multiple seasons. Then again, both the Hulk and the Fugitive managed to sustain themselves for several years on a similar premise, though that was a different time when people only had three channels to chose from. I suppose it could branch out into Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter territory, or go the Supernatural, Kolchack, X-Files route … will be interesting to see what happens with it.

As for Almost Human, I’m just happy to see a real scifi show get picked up for a change. I can’t recall the last scifi show programmed on a major network. It’s a good thing.

Sweet, Karl Urban gets a gig where he’s allowed some character development. I’m excited for him. I’ll be watching.

Anyone here remember a story by Ben Bova and Harlan Ellison called Brillo? Same idea as Almost Human. If Almost Human get’s picked up as a series, I hope Ellison and Bova get a part of that payday.

@44…
My bad. right. “Almost Human” was Disney XD….

BEING HUMAN is the SyFy/BBC Vampire-Werewolf-Ghost show.

@41 The Sinfonian, maybe in 2048 all prosthetics are cybernetics? It would make sense that artificial limbs are way more developped than nowdays. It will be interesting, though, to see if amputees still feel phantom limbs, pain, etc.

I liked both trailers. Sleepy Hollow is not my thing, but Almost Human looks good enough.

Good to see John Cho and Karl Urban getting decent, steady work.

@48 Arm prosthetics that are cybernetic? Absolutely a good idea. The “Luke Skywalker” arm and hand would restore the function of an arm and hand. Legs, not so necessary. Comfort, sure. But the last thing you want to be is walking when your cybernetic leg shuts down. Prosthetic legs don’t require power.

@41 Well, it’s the future, maybe those issues don’t exist anymore? Or maybe it is like that and if this show stays on air long enough, there will be a scene where the leg shut downs and he fells flat on his face…

After all those years watching sci-fi, I’m not that picky about the science part. I just want plausible plots and good character development. :)