Cashing In On A New Craze? FOX Orders Howl

After the success of New Moon and the television success of shows like True Blood or The Vampire Diaries, it should come as no surprise that FOX wants a piece of the perceived next fad - werewolves - in a new Dreamworks TV pilot in development for the network.

Variety describes the show, titled Howl, as "an epic family saga about warring families of werewolves in a small Alaskan town."

"Alaska is a place where people disappear and now you know why," writer Joshua Miller told Variety.

Variety also notes that the script reflects the changes that are going on in the country, and "metamorphosis and constant change is the basis of werewolf mythology," Miller added. "Howl" is about "the psychology of living with change."

Miller is writing the project with M.A. Fortin. Justin Falvey and Darryl Frank of DreamWorks TV will executive produce.

What do you think of this idea? Sound off in the comments... me, I'll withhold comment until I hear or see more, but I'm a little skeptical. At least it sounds better than that show that was pitched as "Sex and the City with were-women." And maybe unlike with Twilight, these werewolves will actually wear shirts...

Edited to add: Apparently here and on the KryptonSite Forum some people think this may be a good idea after all... giving the benefit of the doubt, I was skeptical about The Vampire Diaries and that turned out to be good... so, more thoughts, anyone?

DVD Review: Ben 10: Alien Swarm

Today (December 1), less than one week after its television debut, Warner Home Video has released a DVD of the recent Cartoon Network TV-movie, Ben 10: Alien Swarm.

The movie is based on the Ben 10 animated series that have come out over the years, which were created by comic book creators Duncan Rouleau, Joe Casey, Joe Kelly, and Steven T. Seagle, several of whom worked on Superman comics earlier in the decade and a very underrated but good run on X-Men comics bfore that. Directing the film is Alex Winter, better known to movie buffs as "the other guy from Bill & Ted."

Starring as Ben Tennyson, the boy with a watch that makes him turn into aliens, is Ryan Kelley. If you're a Smallville fan and the name sounds familiar, it's with good reason - Ryan played "Ryan" in two popular early episodes of the series, "Stray" and "Ryan." He was much younger then and although he has a young face, it'll make you feel old that he's not the kid he was in those early Smallvilles.

Perhaps I was living under a rock in not knowing Ben 10 had been adapted into live-action before. I don't know how good (or not) that effort was, but I will say that I'm sure any kid who grew up watching Ben 10 would probably think this movie is The Coolest Thing Ever. There are details like Kevin's green car that look pretty nice on screen, and the effects - especially considering they're for TV - are of a great quality. I know it would be expensive but I think a live-action Ben 10 series would make for fantastic TV for the younger set. I don't think there are that many live-action adventure series for the pre-teen ages; even something like Smallville might have content that parents might not want their kids to see, whereas Ben 10 is totally safe.

I admit without any experience of Ben 10 I was a little lost and detached. At 31, though, I'm sure I'm out of the target demographic, and I'd probably "get it" more if I'd seen more of the cartoons. Even if I hadn't been sent a DVD to watch, though, the trailers had me pretty curious.

Ben 10: Alien Swarm hits DVD today. If you have a younger nephew or a kid, they'd probably really dig it.

Order a DVD through Amazon.com and support the KryptonSite Network!

A question for the KryptonSite Network Twitter readers...

Just a little curious about which sites you are interested in news from at the KryptonSite Network Twitter feed. I'm assuming that most of you are there primarily for Smallville/KryptonSite updates, though I'm hopeful there's more you're looking for information about :)

Either way, if you could take the time to answer this poll, I'd appreciate it.

Advance Review: V Episode #4 "It's Only The Beginning"

At VisitorSite.net I've posted my review for "It's Only The Beginning," the November 24 "2009 finale" episode of V.

It definitely doesn't look like it'll be the last one. But, for some mostly non-spoilery thoughts, check out the review and spread the word!

More From Roland Emmerich On The 2012 TV Series

The Huffington Post has posted a new interview with producer Roland Emmerich where he talks a bit more about the prospect of a TV spin-off for 2012.

Here are some relevant highlights:

Q: Well, speaking of sequels, the word is that you're interested in making a TV show called 2013.

RE: Well, that's different because that's something like Lost, which has a totally different feel to it. It's more a little bit of District 9. These ships show up in Africa, there are some survivors and they're not happy people because they were left behind. Now how do you start off a new society? That has nearly no visual effects. It's all about characters and what will the future bring, hold for us.

Q: 2013 is going to happen pretty soon after this movie comes out. Do you have any actors or places in mind?

RE: No. We just made a deal with ABC, and we're very happy about that. I'm already discussing with the people who write it, and tried to help them with what this could be.

The original idea is from Harald, me and Mark Worden [this is actually a typo- he means "Mark Gordon"]. Mark is big on TV. Harald and I had an idea that everyone should do a TV show, because there were a lot of things that we couldn't incorporate into 2012 and it was so interesting.

What happens after all of this? We couldn't be riding the script. We had to end it at one point. We left at where they just discovered Africa is still existing and has risen a couple thousand feet, but that's it. And we ended on a really, really small note about a little girl who overcame her fear in a way. It's a very small way, which is very important and ends in something very personal.

I think a sequel is silly. There are certain sequels that work for me. But to make a sequel for a disaster movie, the people would expect a certain kind of visual effects. But [for 2012] there would actually be only what's happening between people, and that you can do a TV show week after week.

You can read the full article here.

Considering the ending of the movie [spoiler warning], would 2013 really be an appropriate title? Of course, Day One is already taken...

The CW Reactivates The Global Frequency

Global Frequency, the fantastic comic book mini-series by Warren Ellis, was first done as a TV series pilot by Leverage showrunner John Rogers back in 2005. It was hoped that it would go to series, but unfortunately, a change in executives at The WB network pushed the project out the door.

The pilot eventually leaked online to almost unanimously positive reviews. In it, Michelle Forbes played the enigmatic Miranda Zero.

Now, The CW has apparently ordered a script for a new Global Frequency TV project, four years after the original project died. It's definitely quite different from the other shows the network has in development - and it could make a good Friday night pairing with Smallville as both shows would probably skew male rather than the usual female-targeted programming on other nights.

You can read more about Global Frequency - and the general concept behind the show - at Frequencysite.com - one of the first sites ever created for the KryptonSite Network, now back in action!

Remaking The Un-remake-able

The recent passing of Equalizer star Edward Woodward got me to thinking about those TV show concepts that were created reviving classic television mainstays for a modern audience with new actors, and how the concept rarely if ever works. It also got me to thinking about some of the projects that are in the pipeline from the major TV networks. Some of this is also inspired by the reaction some had to my recent column where I predicted that some network "genius" will try to bring back The X-Files someday. (Hi, Mariko.)

Anyhow, the trend has become almost predictable: A TV studio finds out they have the rights to a popular concept and feels the urge to "reimagine" it for a new audience. Though unlike ensemble pieces like V or Battlestar Galactica, a series focusing on just one lead rarely flies in re-make land. Here are some examples:

The Bionic Woman - Although Michelle Ryan has since impressed on Merlin or Doctor Who, the top feeling you had when watching this short-lived ABC remake is "she's no Lindsay Wagner." The fact that the show also wasn't very good might've also hurt.

Night Stalker - ABC tried reviving Kolchak: The Night Stalker with Stuart Townsend, but unlike the Bionic reimiagining, this one was actually good. Some of the plots were very X-Files-like, but at the end of the day, audiences are probably more used to their Carl Kolchak being an older, slightly crotchety type. Carl Kolchak should not be "hot." Although cashing in on a known quantity often gets a show a lot of publicity before a program airs, this show might have had a better chance if it had no comparison to something that was so well-loved before.

Kojak - I don't think audience racism (the possibility of not accepting a Black actor as Kojak) hurt the USA Network's revival - the biggest thing getting in the way was that people had something in their mind for what Kojak is, and for a lot of those people, it's Telly Savalas. I never saw this show either way, so I can't say if it was any good or not.

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For Fall 2010, NBC is developing a revival of The Rockford Files and House's David Shore is producing it. While it's great to have someone of such talent behind it, it's also worrisome, as the main character of Jim Rockford owed a lot to the actor that played him, James Garner.

I can't really think of anyone else as Rockford, if they are indeed totally redoing it, no matter how talented the people behind and in front of the camera may be. I'll be watching curiously, and who knows - I may like it! - but like the whole Bionic Woman thing, I don't know who could top the original.

Over on CBS, the producers of Fringe are bringing back Hawaii Five-O as a sequel to the original series rather than a remake. I actually think this one might work, if it's done well. Maybe while they're at it they can find out if the Five-O pilot that was allegedly produced around 1998 or so actually exists.

But then again... will people respond to a new CBS procedural that's not part of a current franchise? A few years back, Dick Wolf did Dragnet for NBC, and audiences yawned, despite having a great cast. Could Five-O meet the same fate?

Your thoughts are welcome. And if it's not clear, for the most part I love TV series revivals when they're done right, perhaps because they resonate with nostalgia for me in some ways.

More On The 2012 TV Series

Producer Roland Emmerich said a bit more about the proposed 2012 sequel television series with MTV News.

Here's a video clip:

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

I may be in the minority here, but I enjoyed 2012 and would be very curious to see what happens next with a new civilization.

In other news, the FX cable channel has bought the rights to air the movie 2012 in 2012. Some media outlets have erroneously said FX has picked up the series, though that doesn't appear to be the case - at least not yet.