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NBC Snags New JJ Abrams Show with ‘Lost’ Duo

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Man, J.J. Abrams has been busy this pickup season. He’s already got pilot commitments for Alcatraz at Fox and Person of Interest at CBS, and now he’s got yet another new show in the works, this time for NBC.

When Lost, which was co-created by Abrams, ended earlier this year, co-stars Terry O’Quinn and Michael Emerson frequently joked that they’d love to find a new show that they could star in together. Their characters frequently shared screen time on Lost, chewing scenery and playing off one another like the master thespians they are. Both actors even scored multiple Best Supporting Actor nods at the Emmys — winning one each.

At least one person took their jokes seriously, and fortunately for fans, that someone had the power to do something about it. NBC has given a pilot order to Emerson and O’Quinn’s proposed show — although there was reportedly strong interest in the concept from both Fox and ABC (which aired Lost) — and J.J. Abrams is lending it the clout of his Bad Robot Productions. (It should make a good partner for Abrams’ other spy show on NBC, the just-starting Undercovers.) It was originally known as Odd Jobs, but apparently that title has been abandoned. What is known is that the show would feature the two actors as ex-Black-Ops agents (shades of Burn Notice?), which is a brilliant concept for these two actors.

Frequent Abrams collaborators Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec — both of whom worked on Alias — will write and oversee the show.

This has to be some of the coolest news I’ve reported in a long time. But does anybody else find it odd that every major broadcast network is airing Abrams shows, except for ABC, which had his first two major cult hits (Alias and Lost)? ABC literally launched Abrams’ uber-career, yet his new shows keep winding up elsewhere.

JJ Abrams’ ‘Alcatraz’ picked up by Fox

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That new show Alcatraz that I told you about earlier this week, from JJ Abrams? Fox has grabbed it and given it a pilot order. It will join the brilliant Fringe, another Abrams show, on Fox should it be greenlit.

The ever-secretive Abrams has revealed next to nothing about the plot so far — only this cryptic description: “A show about mysteries, secrets and the most infamous prison of all time: Alcatraz.”

BSG Mastermind Develops “Adult Harry Potter” for NBC

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You know, just yesterday I was wondering to myself where Ron Moore — the brilliant storyteller behind Syfy’s modern reimagining of Battlestar Galactica — was going to turn up next. Sure, he’s got Caprica, the prequel to BSG, going strong, but the day-to-day work on that show is being handled by others. And last year, he developed a new pilot for Fox called Virtuality, but it was so high concept that it got canceled before it ever aired. The two-hour pilot was all that was filmed, and Fox aired it as a movie-of-the-week.

So it’s with some excitement that I bring you the news that Moore has signed an exclusive development deal with Sony Television, and that NBC has snatched up his first idea, which is described as a story “set in a world ruled not by science but by magic.” The shorthand going around Hollywood is that it’s an “adult version of Harry Potter,” though knowing Moore, I’m sure there’s way more to it than that. (After all, the same could be said about The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, and the reception that movie got would hardly be the kind of thing NBC would be eager to sign on for.)

Even bigger news is that NBC has shelled out something close to $2 million in a pay-or-play development deal for the series.

As much as I enjoyed Virtuality, it would probably be a smart move for Moore to do something a little more audience-friendly and accessible. Here’s hoping big things will come of this!

NBC has been snatching up genre-friendly shows left and right lately. This season alone they’re debuting The Event, Undercovers, and The Cape, alongside the 4th season of fan-favorite Chuck.

Sandman Series in the Works

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The long-fabled screen version of Sandman is once again in the works, but this time it’s for the small screen, not the big one. DC Comics has been trying to get a live action version of Neil Gaiman’s seminal comic book off the ground for years, and now WBTV has reportedly decided to lend their sister company a hand.

There’s no word yet on what network Sandman would air (though one imagines it would be best suited to the likes of HBO or Showtime), as it hasn’t been pitched to any networks yet. But here’s what is known.

At the moment, creator Gaiman has no involvement with this iteration of his classic work, though that could change. And topping the list of TV creatives WB is seeking to adapt and run the potential series is Eric Kripke, the creator of Supernatural. Reportedly, Kripke is interested, but is weighing the decision very carefully, knowing that this property’s fans are akin to those of Watchmen or Lord of the Rings, meaning they will scrutinize every last detail of the production.

Kripke recently departed Supernatural after completing his five-year plan for the show — even though The CW renewed it for a sixth season. So he’s certainly available. And something like this, if successful, would add tremendously to his cache in Hollywood.

Sandman, for the uninitiated, was a sweeping narrative about the Endless, a group of mythical beings that personified Destiny, Death, Destruction, Despair, Desire, Delirium, and Dream. The story initially follows Dream, ruler of the dream world, who escapes a 70-year imprisonment and sets out to rebuild his kingdom, though later entries in the series broadened the scope to other mythical kingdoms and includes lots of one-off short stories.