Whedonesque : Comments on 13349 : Greenwalt Bites Into Moonlight.

Well that's weird.

theonetruebix | June 01, 10:43 CET

Great stuff.

gossi | June 01, 10:51 CET

Who better? I mean, besides Joss.

cabri | June 01, 11:00 CET

Alongside Joel Silver (as exec producer). Is anyone else seeing a sinister or perhaps just unlucky pattern here?

dreamlogic | June 01, 11:06 CET

Does anybody know David has a development deal with 20th Century Fox?

gossi | June 01, 11:26 CET

After creating one classic vampire, Greenwalt will help run another vampire detctive show? It should be interesting what kind of touches he'll add to the show.

impalergeneral | June 01, 11:41 CET

Second b!x. To me it seems a strange and risky strategy for "Moonlight" to share its executive producer with the show it most desperately needs to avoid being compared with. (Or is that kind of move what they call a sure thing in H'wood?)

I'm thinking I can hear Angel rolling over in its grave.

Wiseblood | June 01, 11:45 CET

This is bizarre, man.

Well, at least the Angel "rip off" talk will cease.

TheZeppo | June 01, 11:55 CET

Well, at least the Angel "rip off" talk will cease.

Especially when the news breaks next week that David Boreanaz has been cast as the lead.

Moonlight will provide endless ~~wank~~ fun for all of us during the next few months.

Simon | June 01, 12:19 CET

HOLY CRAP. I am... unreasonably excited about this news. Wow. How freakin' awesome.

sistakaren | June 01, 12:36 CET

I still miss "Jake 2.0"...
So, what are we talking about?

Numfar PTB | June 01, 13:57 CET

That's really cool, but...does it make anyone else more uneasy about this? I mean, I could pretty much gloss over the similarities with Angel beforehand (after all, as many said, the vamp detective premise wasn't even unique to Angel), but now it's all getting a little suspicious.

Jeez, I feel like an ass. I should be celebrating David's return to genre TV, but here I sit questioning the whole project...

UnpluggedCrazy | June 01, 14:22 CET

LOL Simon. I don't think they will go for David but somehow I get the sneaking feeling that we have found the next part Nathan Fillion will be cast for. Since they are re-tooling.

OMG maybe Greenwalt can convince them to recast the lead with Adrian Passdar (Profit reunion), then I would not miss it.

[ edited by RavenU on 2007-06-01 12:08 ]

RavenU | June 01, 15:07 CET

Now, if CBS had actually rescued "Angel" in 2005, they would have had something. Still, David Greenwalt seems to do good things with any show he works on.

Have they courted other "Angel" writers?

Nebula1400 | June 01, 15:51 CET

Hmm, wonder if a certain law firm was involved in putting this deal together.

toast | June 01, 15:59 CET

Cheeky. Very cheeky indeed.

Sorry, that was my British coming through; we don't do good adjectives. I just see a little too much nerve from CBS on this one, and I'll also bet that the creators had all this in mind when they got the show going.

As some who still believes Angel is the best show of all time, I find this a little painful. It took me two years to get over the cancellation!

Let's see how this turns out.

Samwel Roberts | June 01, 16:16 CET

Traitor!

only kidding:)

Yes it's strange that they are assigning this to Greenwalt - but good luck to him.

And yes Samwel Roberts I am in the same camp as you.

angeliclestat | June 01, 16:30 CET

perhaps this is CBS' way of softening the Whedonites. can't beat'em, join'em sort of thing?? i dunno, the whole thing is sort of strange.

death is my gift | June 01, 16:39 CET

Well, we cannot really have it both ways. We cannot complain that if the network wants genre shows they should be looking to Joss and Company and then be annoyed when they do just that. Well, I guess we can, actually. It just isn't very logical.

"LOL Simon. I don't think they will go for David but somehow I get the sneaking feeling that we have found the next part Nathan Fillion will be cast for. Since they are re-tooling.

Let's see. NF is a Tim Minear favorite. Weren't David Greenwalt and James Marsters looking to do something together? That would be nice to see even on a recurring basis. Doesn't seem like the right show for that to happen, though.

newcj | June 01, 16:39 CET

Well, at least this is a sign that it will potentially be a quality show, rather than just yet another heroic vampire/immortal type thing. I was already planning to give Moonlight a chance but this news does give me hope that I'm not going to be wasting my time.

D-Monik | June 01, 16:53 CET

Well, we cannot really have it both ways. We cannot complain that if the network wants genre shows they should be looking to Joss and Company and then be annoyed when they do just that.

This isn't about genre, this is worry that this show is sounding more and more like Bizzaro "Angel". Like if the studios rejected Tim Minear's idea for "Drive" (starring Nathan Fillion), and asked him to make it "Space Drive" (starring Nathan Fillion) set in another galaxy with the people running the race all wearing blue gloves and a blue circle on their t-shirts.

Hopefully they will *let* Greenwalt put his own stamp on the show (like the changes Minear did with "The Inside"), and these concerns can go away.

[ edited by OneTeV on 2007-06-01 13:56 ]

OneTeV | June 01, 16:55 CET

Cool, it's 'Angel 2.0', who better to run it ?

One reason this could be a good choice is that, professionally and personally, i'm sure David Greenwalt will want to avoid repeating himself which may well mean 'Moonlight' being a very different show to 'Angel' either in tone or mythology or even just visual style (though, vampire, detective, there's probably gonna be a lot of night time right ? Kinda hard to avoid ;).

Saje | June 01, 16:58 CET

AngelBooth is going to come over, billowy FBI badge and all, and have a say in this, I swear...

CaffeinatedSquint | June 01, 17:36 CET

I'm thrilled for David.

And Saje, that's the best part. If he's feeling a bit lazy, he can just pull out one of his old scripes;) Actually, I've the impression this series will be based on a more serious drama. I'm sure David will have a blast with it.

Madhatter | June 01, 17:38 CET

I can just see the first 5 minutes of this show at DG's hands- the fate of the world depends on this new protagonist but *GASP* he's been shot/stabbed/beaten with a stick by a dastardly villain and he's dying. Alas!

Who's that at the door? It's Angel (special guest appearance by DB), who turns him (by chowing on his wrist in a manly way, of course) before he strides off into the moonlight, never to be seen again.

Le sigh. I am slightly appeased at this news, but have a sneaking suspicion that CBS is trying to play us.

Repeat after me- Greenwalt is not a bargaining chip.

Joss? Now THAT's a bargaining chip.

missb | June 01, 18:05 CET

The only thing they need do to 'appease us' is make a quality show and hiring DG is a step in the right direction. Now they need to listen to what he tells them.

zeitgeist | June 01, 18:21 CET

Great news....but...

It kind of feels like knowing an old friend who was married to someone who was fantastic, got divorced, then married someone new who looks REALLY similiar to his first wife.

No matter what, you can't help but compare your friend's 'new' wife to his first wife. Feels weird.

But then again, can anyone imagine how weird it must feel to be David Greenwalt to do a new series with such a similiar premise?

harvey chin | June 01, 18:24 CET

For some reason the words (and I really, really, really hope it's just my imagination and not a flash of intuition) Dusty's Trail just flashed through my mind. (Followed by The Flying Nun )

DaddyCatALSO | June 01, 18:33 CET

Wow, I had had zero interest in this show, but now I'm really excited about it! They couldn't have picked anyone better (assuming that Joss is working hard on Goners and will start filming it soon).

I'm curious if there will be any similarities to Brian Lynch's comic book series Angel season 6, and David Greenwalt's Moonlight?

embers | June 01, 19:04 CET

Well, embers, they will both have vampires, one hopes the similarities mostly end there :)

zeitgeist | June 01, 19:39 CET

I hope that's where the similarities end as well. David, I don't know if you read here but as someone who loves genre series, think it's great you'll be running the show. All art lives or dies on its own merits, and Moonlight will be no different. I also know that Ron Koslow is a smart man who did no less than create a cult classic in Beauty and the Beast. The imagination has no limits; there is only what you do right here, right now, in this moment with as much integrity as possible. I have a pair of dog tags purchased at Comic-Con last Summer from the Christopher Reeve Foundation. Their motto? Go Forward. So Go Forward David, and all good fortune to you and the show. Can't wait to see it.

Tonya J | June 01, 20:26 CET

Sorry but my beef is the whole name thing, everytime I see Moonlight, I picture Bruce Willis's Shatner hair and vampy acting not to mention Cybill Sheppards sharp fangs without the canine effects. I mean hello been there and done that without the actual puncture wounds. PLEASE, help Hollywood come up with a new idea, somebody. Heck I will even take a new spins on old ideas, but really do we need old spins on old ideas.

**Sigh**The entertainment industry is just not entertaining anymore.

Don't get me wrong the creative team looks strong but they better have a good theme song or I will have Moonlighting's theme song forever stuck in my head.

PS - I want Profit back and to give Seth Green a show (like he needs more work) about Oz and dealing with life as a werewolf and controlling it. Heck I would even like to see a show about Groo.

[ edited by RavenU on 2007-06-01 17:48 ]

RavenU | June 01, 20:45 CET

I like that.... Angel 2.0 :) Heretofore and all that.

Hjermsted | June 01, 20:51 CET

Angel 3.11 - 16 characters, told in a multithreaded environment!

Dear lord. Please take my keyboard away. Kthxbye.

gossi | June 01, 20:57 CET

I agree the titles are similar but Moonlighting as i undertsand it started as a tongue-in-cheek but otherwise straight detective drama and (I didn't watch it) ended up as, well, "something." And the basic premise doesn't sound all that similar to Angel. I mean, there's only so many possible starting points.

DaddyCatALSO | June 01, 21:03 CET

Well, I suppose if anyone can stop it being too much like Angel...

Craig Oxbrow | June 01, 21:05 CET

OMG maybe Greenwalt can convince them to recast the lead with Adrian Passdar (Profit reunion), then I would not miss it.

I think Adrian Pasdar is taken for a while.

Nebula1400 | June 01, 21:21 CET

Nebula1400 if you mean his stint on Heroes, who knows if he survived or will be back as a regular next season. So that would open him up for this project and Heroes spill over would not hurt.

Daddy - Moonlighting never made it to typical private eye drama it was always tongue and cheek only, I'm not sure if that was on purpose, it did have a certain vamp asspect to it. Which is why it gives me chills with the new title.

[ edited by RavenU on 2007-06-01 18:38 ]

RavenU | June 01, 21:35 CET

Adrian Pasdar is going to be back on Heroes next year. I don't know how much or how soon, but this fact has been confirmed from a few sources.

marpocky | June 01, 22:57 CET

I wonder if Joseph Fiennes would like to do television ... (heart skips a beat)

Tonya J | June 01, 23:07 CET

Adrian Pasdar will be back on "Heroes."

Anyway, something for Whedonesqueteers.

Nebula1400 | June 01, 23:30 CET

Thanks for linking that, Nebula. I got quoted, woo hoo! :-)

OneTeV | June 02, 00:03 CET

Nebula1400, that was a cool article except for the part where the writer said the show would be rejected if the quality of writing were similar to Angel. That bit doesn't make sense to me.

UnpluggedCrazy | June 02, 00:25 CET

Meaning some people may write it off as a rip-off of "Angel," or trying to imitate "Angel," and even if it is good, they would take that as a negative, because it isn't Angel that gets to be good on television.

Get what I mean?

Nebula1400 | June 02, 02:13 CET

arggg ... Based on the description in the article

In his eternal life, he is joined by his former bride (Amber Valletta), a seductive vampire who bit him 60 years ago, as well as a deceitful ally (Rade Serbedzija) who also is undead. The PI's life is turned upside down when he falls for a beautiful mortal woman.

It already sounds like an Angel ripoff ... come on ..."seductive vampire bride ... Darla, deceitful ally ... Spike, "beautiful mortal woman" ... Buffy. It could only be more like Angel if they give the guy a gypsy curse. I want to give it a chance ... hopefully there's more to it than this.

resa | June 02, 03:12 CET

Have they courted other "Angel" writers?

They flirted with DeKnight, but I think he turned them down.

This seems like an excellent idea, though. Before, this show looked like a CBS procedural with a vampire as the lead. Folks were saying the pilot was funny, but not in the intentional way. It has potential to be watchable now. Hope that Greenwalt can inject some humor, as well as helping to create an interesting mythology for vampires in this shows universe. Alex O'Loughlin did a decent bit on The Shield this season. Not sure if he can carry a weekly series without help, though. First thing Greenwalt needs to do is change the lead characters name. Mick St. John? That is a fanfic and pornstar name jammed together.

Only way this could be better is if Jeff Bell signs on, too. Anyone know what he is doing next season?

The Sandy Llama | June 02, 07:12 CET

Now all we need are vampire lawyers.

OK, that's been done before, too.

Maybe the sexcapades of young vampire doctors in love?

Omgz, my Vampire M.D idea has been totally stoled. I want royalties.

dispatch | June 02, 12:37 CET

What *resa* said. "seductive vampire bride, deceitful ally, beautiful mortal woman". And Ron Silver?? Please, just kill me now. However, the article did say "The project will be retooled before a full length pilot is shot" and "..... other casting changes are being considered".
If they start by recasting the lead, I'd feel a little more hopeful. Don't know the actor but after seeing him in the YouTube vid, the word that came to mind was "hopelessly insiped". (OK, that's two words.) So maybe there's hope, I say while attempting to swallow the huge lump of cynicism stuck in my throat.
Go David. Yay team.

Shey | June 02, 13:58 CET

I adore David personally and professionally, but I'm sorry - even if you're ripping off your own show, it's still a rip-off. I am sure it will be a high quality, entertaining rip-off ~~before CBS cancels it after four episodes~~, and I will probably even watch it, but I'm just disappointed and jaded about the whole thing.

Ooo! But Adrian Pasdar is confirmed to be coming back to "Heroes" next season!?!? WOO and HOO! I know it's OT, but does anyone know the status of Milo Ventimiglia?!?! :-D

OzLady | June 02, 18:08 CET

Ooo! But Adrian Pasdar is confirmed to be coming back to "Heroes" next season!?!? WOO and HOO! I know it's OT, but does anyone know the status of Milo Ventimiglia?!?! :-D

In invisotext:

Milo will be back. It's been confirmed.

Nebula1400 | June 02, 21:09 CET

Thanks Nebula.

I guess I'll give the show one runthrough but I can't hold any big hopes for it.

CaffeinatedSquint | June 02, 21:56 CET

I loved Angel, but he is gone (except he lives on with our DVD collection); I'm ready for a new vampire show.

There really is nothing new. All ideas have been recycled. It's the way each story is presented that makes the difference. I'll hold out hope for the series. Here's wishing the best for everyone involved.

bojojoti | June 03, 22:11 CET

June 01 2007