Masters of Horror came out winning an Emmy but I still thought it ran hot and cold. When it was on target, it was outstanding! When it missed the mark, it was a fucking disaster. Network execs, however, don’t see it that way. Variety is reporting that Masters executive producers, Keith Addis, Andrew Deane and Mick Garris have been contracted by NBC to produce a tamer, more network friendly horror anthology series entitled Fear Itself.
Whether or not you noticed, ABC took a shot on saturday nights last month with a sci-fi anthology series called Masters of Science Fiction that followed the same format as Masters of Horror albeit with a lot less blood and actors snatched out of the ABC drama stable.
While I remain a little suspicious about a TV network taking on the genre, it’s nice to see networks rolling the dice on scripted drama again. The runaway success of Heroes has had a huge impact on prime time and now it looks like every network is setting up some kind of genre oriented drama.
September 25, 2007 3:05 pm
I was wondering what happened to that Masters of SciFi series. They dumped it on Saturday night with no fanfare? Too bad. Speaking of horror directors, did you hear that Eli Roth is rumored to be writing and directing an episode of the HEROES spin-off, HEROES: ORIGINS?
September 25, 2007 7:47 pm
If I had not read that the Masters of SciFi series was going to air on ABC, I would have never even have known it aired. I saw ZERO promotion for it.
September 26, 2007 5:33 am
I had read that Heroes producers were hitting up all these Hollywood geek-culture types to direct. Kevin Smith is slated for the first episode but that’s all I know about confirmed directors. They also tried to get Tarantino who went on record saying something like, “What the fuck is Heroes? I’ve never even heard of the fucking thing. How the fuck can I direct it?” Which I find a little hard to believe since that show was such a prime time monster. But whatever, maybe he doesn’t watch much TV. Eli Roth can stay away, though. I really dig that show and don’t particularly dig Eli Roth/
As for Masters of Science Fiction, they shot 6 episodes and aired only four. I watched a little of the first episode which had Sam Waterston on it and if there’s one thing I can’t get enough of, it’s ADA Jack McCoy. Unfortunately, MoSF wasn’t Law & Order and was quite boring. Still, how can expect a show to fly if you don’t tell people it’s on?