Prime Suspect US Version [** Spoilers **]

Elmo

Lets hope they do a better job of it than Cracker.

http://www.hitfix.com/articles/nbc-touts-development-slate-beyond-rockford-files-prime-suspect-remakes

JP Liz V1

I dont think Mirren would play the role again someone like Glenn Close or Melissa Leo could be good in the role

Elmo

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

I dont think Mirren would play the role again someone like Glenn Close or Melissa Leo could be good in the role

Glenn Close is doing a wonderful job on Damages. I don't think she would give up that role for a remake.

What about Marcia Gay Harden (I haven't finished Season 3 of Damages yet so no spoilers)?

humanji

Is it really relevent anymore? I mean, wasn't the main draw of the original that it was a woman in power, which was rare enough to see on tv. Now it'll just be the same old thing as every other police drama. They'll have to pull out all the stops for the writing and main actress to pull in the audience.

Elmo

humanji wrote: »

Is it really relevent anymore? I mean, wasn't the main draw of the original that it was a woman in power, which was rare enough to see on tv. Now it'll just be the same old thing as every other police drama. They'll have to pull out all the stops for the writing and main actress to pull in the audience.

True, however even in 1990s much of the script was old fashioned according to the Detective that Mirren's Character is based on. But in fairness the series still has a strong plot, well worth re-watching, bar the few made in the 2000s which were tame in comparison to the originals.

JP Liz V1

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/ustv/news/a302485/nbc-picks-up-prime-suspect-pilot.html

NBC has reportedly ordered a pilot of Prime Suspect.
The project, which is based on the British series of the same name, focuses on a female detective who works in a male-dominated precinct in New York.
The network asked for a pilot of the remake last season, but the producers struggled to find a suitable actress for the lead role.
Deadline says that NBC has now given the green light to another pilot.
Trauma and Friday Night Lights producers Peter Berg and Sarah Aubrey have signed up to work on the show alongside writer Alexandra Cunningham, who has previously penned scripts for Desperate Housewives.

Richard Dower

Connie Britton (Friday Night Lights) is being hotly tipped for the role.

pickarooney

They'd be better off making a series about a woman in her sixties getting an acting gig; it would be much more of a novelty than a lady detective.

JP Liz V1

Richard Dower wrote: »

Connie Britton (Friday Night Lights) is being hotly tipped for the role.

http://www.tvline.com/2011/02/exclusive-connie-britton-developing-fx-drama-with-the-fighters-david-o-russell/

She is developing a drama series for FX with director David O. Russell

Elmo

I don't know when they start bringing in writers for Desperate Housewives :eek:

It's prob just going to end up like Women's Murder Club (which sounded at first like a series about a group of women serial killers).

pickarooney

I thought Desperate Housewives was written by a perl script these days.

Elmo

pickarooney wrote: »

I thought Desperate Housewives was written by a perl script these days.

NERD ALERT!

No! No! No! No! No! No!

Piss off America. Just piss off.

JP Liz V1

http://insidetv.ew.com/2011/02/08/prime-suspect-reboot-maria-bello-nbc/

EW has learned exclusively that Maria Bello has been approached about headlining the Prime Suspect reboot that’s in the works for the fall.
“There may be interest in me doing it, but I haven’t read anything yet or talked to anyone in-depth about it,” Bello told EW exclusively while attending the 10th Annual Movies For Grownups Awards on Monday. “I’m possibly interested. Definitely nervous to even think about taking over for Helen Mirren. C’mon! How could anyone compete with her? Didn’t she do about 10 of them and win an Emmy every time? I’m open to things right now. I’m just trying to go with the flow of my life and I’ve been going back-and-forth to Haiti trying to help out. That has felt good, but I am also wanting to do something spectacular with my life work-wise and that may end up being it.”
Prime Suspect was first dusted off last season as a potential midseason replacement for the 2010-11 season, but the project never made it to pilot for a number of reasons, including NBC’s inability to find someone to play Tennison. Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights) is now shepherding the reboot of the British police procedural drama from the ’90s that starred Mirren. Desperate Housewives producer Alexandra Cunningham will serve as the showrunner.
Bello is one of those veteran actors whose name tops the wish list of every network each development season. There are many film actors who seem ready to follow in the footsteps of Kyra Sedgwick, Glenn Close, Holly Hunter, and Toni Collette and make the transition to the small screen. But it’s difficult for CBS, NBC, ABC, and Fox to recruit such high-profile women because the broadcast network schedule (i.e. the 22-episode commitment that’s required) can be very demanding. Elisabeth Shue, for example, was eyed early on to star in The Good Wife, but she wanted to spend more time with her kids.

Elmo

Give it to Eddie Falco.

pickarooney

Is Edie Falco not busy with her own, successful and not-a-hopeless-rip-off show?

ArtSmart

Re OP.
there exists an interesting phD opportunity into why the US version of UK work is so vastly different.

should anyone care to fund me....

Elmo

ArtSmart wrote: »

Re OP.
there exists an interesting phD opportunity into why the US version of UK work is so vastly different.

should anyone care to fund me....

There is a similar PhD opportunity for research in why English version of US work is so vastly different.

That 70s Show and L&O.

But no I can just watch and understand why.

Cracker was made into a US series rather then a mini series so you got the first episode/series rapped up in 45mins in the US version :rolleyes:

JP Liz V1

http://insidetv.ew.com/2011/02/16/its-official-maria-bello-set-to-star-in-prime-suspect-reboot/

Maria Bello will star as Jane

Elmo

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

http://insidetv.ew.com/2011/02/16/its-official-maria-bello-set-to-star-in-prime-suspect-reboot/

Maria Bello will star as Jane

Wonder if they will let her smoke and drink?

JP Liz V1

http://www.tvline.com/2011/03/pilot-scoop-aidan-quinn-joins-prime-suspect/

Aidan Quinn has inked a deal to join NBC’s Americanized reboot of the smash UK crime procedural Prime Suspect.
Quinn will play Lt. Kenny Rowe opposite Maria Bello’s Det. Jane Tennison in the Peter Berg-produced pilot.

Brian O’Byrne is set to co-star in NBC's drama pilot Prime Suspect. The remake of the British series centers on Jane Timoney (Maria Bello), an iconoclastic female detective who has to make her bones in a tough New York precinct dominated by men. Gersh-repped O'Byrne will play a detective on the squad who cut Jane out of working cases.

Richard Dower

PS a go!. Picked up to series.

JP Liz V1

Promo Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUOUrWxIWbs

Elmo

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

Promo Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUOUrWxIWbs

My Jane Tennison would have asked for a Cigarette. Looks like a good cop drama but it isn't Prime Suspect, why buy the rights to make a US Cop Show? really excited to see it

Also she is talking to Children, My Jane she only talks to Prostitutes and hates children. Over playing the feminist card, its the 2010s, even Lynda La Plante was saying that they over play much of the problems a woman detective had in the 1990s.

JP Liz V1

http://www.digitalspy.ie/ustv/news/a331223/kenny-johnson-signs-up-for-prime-suspect-role.html

Kenny Johnson has signed up to star in NBC's new drama Prime Suspect.
The series, based on a British show, stars Maria Bello as New York detective Jane Timoney.
Johnson has now joined the cast as a series regular, The Hollywood Reporter says. He will play Matt, Jane's boyfriend.
Johnson has previously starred in shows including Cold Case, The Shield, Saving Grace and Sons of Anarchy.
Bello has said that she "[hasn't] been excited like this for a project in a really long time" and claimed that the series is not a straight procedural.

JP Liz V1

Elmo

I don't know! Worried about this one, it is really coming across as another US TV cop show. I hope they copy Prime Suspect and bring it to a new audience rather than chop Prime Suspect 1 down to 45 minutes.

They recreated The Killing why not Prime Suspect. Any news on the plot will Prime Suspect 1 be cut down or will it be allowed to take its time over the course of 6 episodes or even 22 episodes. Some great characters in Prime Suspect which will probably be diluted.

mcmoustache

Elmo wrote: »

Wonder if they will let her smoke and drink?

Like Cracker and other British cop shows, the hard drinking and smoking were quite important aspects of her character. I can't see a US network (non HBO) allowing it, though.

My feeling is that this will end up looking like every other US cop show with a female lead.

Elmo

mcmoustache wrote: »

Like Cracker and other British cop shows, the hard drinking and smoking were quite important aspects of her character. I can't see a US network (non HBO) allowing it, though.

My feeling is that this will end up looking like every other US cop show with a female lead.

In fairness ACM have done well with The Killing and to a lesser extent TNT with The Closer.

Cracker was badly done. I thought it was called Fitz.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsITrI2_u10

ah must be a UK clip

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxXLrALHzw8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRjy-FJEKEI

Just remember it was one of the big shows TV3 got when they started.

The Black Oil

I've the original on DVD and found some of them a bit meandering, so I've not finished them and am not in a huge hurry to go back to it.

As for the remake, I don't know. It looks OK, I guess. Does every trailer require that type music..sigh.

ixoy

That poster makes it look terrible. I'm currently watching the original (Prime Suspect 5 at the moment) and the stories are spaced out generally over 3hr 20 minutes because that works. Wrapping up a case in 40 minutes will be completely against the spirit of the show - Jane doesn't go around using fancy CSI techniques but goes by her gut, her instinct and yet sticking to the rules.

Also the original series has Jane hard to live with. There's a reason she doesn't have a steady relationship - having her with a boyfriend doesn't really seem right since she drifts from relationship to relationship.
And speaking of drifting - she's nearly always with a different burough/district in each "Prime Suspect". Generally it's because she doesn't make friends and/or pushes for promotion. I doubt they'd do that here but it would seem odd to see Jane in one place for ages.

So yeah, big doubts.

Elmo

The Black Oil wrote: »

I've the original on DVD and found some of them a bit meandering, so I've not finished them and am not in a huge hurry to go back to it.

The later ones aren't great particularly those made in the 2000s, I found this to be the case with Cracker also. Felt that bring back her First Case in 4 or 5 was Jumping the shark.

The Black Oil

Yeah, I remember that about Cracker alright.

I did watch 3 hour + episodes of PS in one sitting - one by one, not 2 x 3 hour monsters in one day! Perhaps that's why I found them a little meandering. I presume they were split into two parts when they aired originally, though.

Richard Dower

Not a big fan of Bello or of the UK show, but i expect it'll do fairly well....i won't be watching though.

Elmo

Richard Dower wrote: »

Not a big fan of Bello or of the UK show, but i expect it'll do fairly well....i won't be watching though.

TV3 have the rights here.

Richard Dower

NBC has ordered an additional 6 scipts [not episodes...but it's a positive sign of a back order]: http://insidetv.ew.com/2011/10/12/nbc-shows-confidence-in-prime-suspect-orders-more-scripts/

robjones1981

Have seen the first two episodes of this - its not bad

I never watched much of the original so dont know how it compares etc but this new US version stands up pretty well in its own right i think

DeWitt

Caught up on this, and love it. Big fan of Bello & Timoney is a BAMF!

expectationlost

ep 2 why send one cop to arrest a person, or 'chase' a lead.

squonk

What's a BAMF?

Still playing catchup but ep 3 was great. It seems to be steadilly improving. I haven't seen the UK version yet but this US version seems to be much darker and grittier than you'd normally expect from a stateside show.

JP Liz V1

Production is being shut down, shame it was growing on me I felt Bello was coming into her own as Jane Timoney and love the hat

expectationlost

thought it was pretty good

The Black Oil

I gave the pilot a whirl there an enjoyed it. Granted, it doesn't really bring anything new to the TV landscape, but there was enough there to make me consider giving it another go.

There were no CSI fancypants gadgets on display here, rather Jane using her gut and detective skills to work the case. I was glad the male detectives didn't start speculating as to the cause of the crime in a 'the killer obviously attacked from this angle' BS that a lot of police shows engage in when the investigators have scarcely been on the crime scene for more than 20 seconds. I did find Jane's scene talking to the kid a little...unsure of what to make of it, tbh. It does pull things together within the hour, unfortunately, but I was willing to let that slide. The dialogue's decent enough and the office banter didn't seem as OTT misogynistic as per the trailer, although I was preparing myself in case the men started making rape jokes after looking at the mapped out poster of where the rapes had taken place.

So yeah, decent enough start, it's not PS, for sure, but it's not bad like I feared.

I presume BAMP is Bad Ass Mellon Farmer..

JP Liz V1

squonk wrote: »

What's a BAMF?

Still playing catchup but ep 3 was great. It seems to be steadilly improving. I haven't seen the UK version yet but this US version seems to be much darker and grittier than you'd normally expect from a stateside show.

My guess is BAMF is Bad Ass Mother F*cker

The Black Oil

A few more episodes down now. I like how it's a least willing to have fun with its characters, some of the antics amongst the squad, etc. Jane's written so she wraps up the cases, though not single handedly, it can't be helped with the procedural thing...

The Black Oil

Anyone finish it? I did this evening. Short, but decent write up as to why the show didn't catch on.

I think this is the only one season wonder procedural show I've jumped on board with. Episode 12 featured rape and murder of a 15 year old and when you mix that with the off the cuff humour of the detectives it can seem a little jarring. Mind you, it's not the first police show featuring homicide detectives with 'interesting' sense of humour - I guess it's part of how they cope and it can work. I did laugh a bit and throughout the series, though that was more at their antics and pisstaking of each other rather than the their take on the cases. Such a contrast to the Sunday afternoon pie 'well gee, son, it's better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6' mantra of Blue Bloods.

Episode 13 was a bit better and the final scene kind of functioned as a finale. It featured two Wire alumni - Bubbles and Frank Sobotka - Bubbles even mentions a package, though he's hardly in it. Disappointingly, no 'how my hair look' moment. Overall, I'd say PS was above average...you don't analyse the cases too closely and some of the interrogation scenes are a little lacking (tbf, others are effective enough), but apart from that, I found it entertaining. Jane solving nearly everything did perhaps wear a little thin, yes, but she didn't always. Also, to its credit, not every other scene featured guns being drawn as is often the case in these things.

I can't help but wonder how it would have done elsewhere, maybe given another network, dial back the procedural stuff a bit, a longer running time and it could have been something like the remake of The Killing, only better. Who knows.

squonk

Yeah, I liked the last scene and I'm sad to see it go. Normally when you only get 13 episodes of a show, at the end you know why and are ready to let it go. In this case, I was still looking for more.

In a way I really like Blue Bloods even though it's a bit too goody goody really. I'm delighted to see it go to season 2 but based on this year's cop dramas, I'd have canned Unforgettable before PS really. Unforgettable has picked up since they broadened the scope and have brought in the cute lab girl but it's still not much of a show. PS had a heck of a lot more going for it. I think if they had gone the way of The Wire with it, i.e. 8 episodes per season or whatever, they might have been better off with a more prolonged story arc. Alas, we'll never know.

JP Liz V1

Started on TV3 tonight

acalmenvoy

Black Oil wrote: »

I presume BAMP is Bad Ass Mellon Farmer..

Kermodian;)

Elmo

How did the series work? Did they role up the mini-serials into one simple hour long?

Poochie05

Apart from the fact that it had a female cop called Jane in a 'hostile' male environment and some problems on the home front, there was very little in common with the UK series. I thought the first episode was very cliche and they overdid the sexism bit, but that toned down and it was quite a good procedural after that.