American Horror Story proved Hollywood can pull off a weekly horror drama on cable. Can ABC do the same with The River, given the much higher ratings bar set for a broadcast network?
The producers have their heads in the right place. At the show’s press tour panel in Pasadena today, executive producer Michael Green promised, “We know all the pitfalls [of a serialized show] and do not want to fall into them. Each episode is a stand-alone horror film. We looked more to X-Files than to shows like Lost. We’re going make each one of them a little jewel.”
The show’s dangers are not all supernatural. The River (set in the Amazon following an expedition to find a missing documentary filmmaker) will feature all manner of threats. “It’s the Amazon, there’s more than ghosts to be scared of,” Green said. “There’s an endless number of things that can hurt you.”
Yet a staple of horror films is that characters die — or there’s no real sense of threat. A trait of successful broadcast shows is to keep characters around as long as possible since viewers become attached to them. Ryan Murphy came up with a crafty solution on AHS by having deceased characters regularly continue as ghosts on the show. But for The River, will there be a lot of actor turnover?Producers assured that, like with the balance between serialized and self-contained episodes, they understand that characters need to die — just not carelessly. “We won’t remove people needlessly just for the gag,” Green said. “My philosophy in TV is to treat every script like it’s your last because chances are it will be.”
Great answers. Still, one issue for some viewers will be The River‘s “found footage” handheld-camera style, which includes characters in the show serving as the camera crew. A critic at the panel had it right when he said the device works better for a 90-minute movie (like The River exec producer Oren Peli’s own Paranormal Activity) than a weekly TV show. And having surveillance cameras set up in a house (like in the Paranormal films) just seems more natural than having characters grabbing cameras to capture every key conversation and moment of peril in the wild jungle terrain.
“We didn’t try to be overly cute about it,” Green said. “In a way it makes it feel more improvisational, a lot scarier.”
The River premieres Feb. 7.
So excited for this show!
ReplyDeleteHmmm cautiously optimistic about this show
ReplyDeleteMaybe if it were more Lost than x-files I'd be interested. But I doubt it!
ReplyDeleteMy interest meter has just dropped considerably!
ReplyDeleteThe first series is only 8 episodes, how can it not be serialized? Eight 1-hour horror films do not interest me.....
The incredibly disturbing trend of going out of their way to prove a show is not serialized irks me! When year after year the best series on TV are serials, why not make a great series (either episodic or serial in nature) and make it a way that enhances the story.
Oh well, there's always cable....
There's always cable is my current mentality with all new shows in development.
ReplyDeleteIt's a wonder The Good Wife still survives on CBS or that would be a whole network taken over by serialisation.
More X-Files than Lost? Yes please God! I'm tired of the serialized-no-real-story-or-ending concept.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand for the life of me why they're not pushing the Paranormal Activity aspects.
ReplyDeleteGiven what footage I saw at Comic-Con last year during the TV Guide Fan Favourites panel in Ballroom 20, it has Peli-like touches everywhere.
I'll still give it at least an episode.
Not serialized shows are easier to watch than serialized shows because they don't require committment. I guess it's easier profit for networks so it's convenient for them to assure people that they can just tune in whenever they want to without having to invest much time or though in the show, which many people appreciate... They sacrifice quality for better ratings, IMO.
ReplyDeleteOH I think they definitely sacrifice quality for ratings you'r right!
ReplyDeleteI think some shows fit a procedural format and can be great, well done series. They're out there for sure but I guess I just do not care for them as much on a personally level.
Other series fit a serialized format better than a case of the week format. I truly think The River is one of those series. Hopefully it strikes a good balance
I hope they mean the first three and half seasons of the X-Files and not the rest of that crap.
ReplyDeleteAs for Lost (it's not overrated, it just made you think, which in today's modern American society is apparently frowned upon. (judging by the popularity of The Jersey Shore (and other reality TV of that same ilk (yeah, I just used ilk in a sentence)) is frowned upon.
The X-Files was awesome (in spite of that whole will they or won't they/shipper kind of thing) because from the beginning there was a mythology behind it. There was a conspiracy that needed to be unraveled. It got kind of messed up and I still haven't forgiven David D. The movies were god awful. I think that's when I started hating FOX, they beat that horse to death and then dragged it through the mud and f---ed it some more. It hold the distinction of being second worse show ending ever, in my opinion(Lost still holds that title for me, I got it, even before Michael Emerson explained it, but that doesn't mean I had to like it).
I still miss The Lone Gunmen and Millennium, some of the best spin-offs ever created.
But I don't think I will bother to watch The River (I mean, only 8 episodes, on a MAJOR (I'm talking the BIG 5) network. Nope something doesn't sit right about that. I'll wait for it's run to be over and then watch it as a whole. Plus, the whole team sounds kind of pompous.
Agreed.
ReplyDeleteI don't think procedurals are necessarily dumb, but they do not make you think nearly as much as serialized shows and they VERY rarely go beneath the surface of a story or of a character.
British crime dramas are often quite smart. They tend to be a kind of hybrid though or more of a mini-series than a procedural I guess. Two or three episodes on one story (usually one author's book) and maybe then another 2 or 3 episodes on another story/book. That's a full season, but those 2 to 6 episodes make for a far more compelling story than most 22 episode US procedural crime dramas IMO.
I respected the X-Files and enjoyed it for the most part. Although any rewatch is without the COTW episodes for the most part.
I'm with you that a horror show on ABC that was pushed back and then cut to 8 episodes and is now referred to 8 self-contained mini-movies sounds quite odd indeed.... Especially since the entire series is based in one story.. a serial. Where is the missing Dr Cole?
You mean non-serialization, right? CBS is the procedural capital of the universe... And The Good Wife is pretty heavily serialized.
ReplyDeleteHuh. I just read it as "proceduralization" despite it saying "serialization". I guess I assumed the same thing since CBS is procedural Mecca.
ReplyDeleteSame here.
ReplyDeleteSad trend that you have to prove that you're having a non-serialised show in order to get people to watch a show.
One of the main reasons I almost exclusively watch cable shows these days.
Yes sorry ahaa, quick typing at midnight before an exam in the morning, never gets you anywhere :P
ReplyDeleteSounds great, I'll check it out
ReplyDeleteIf you think X-Files was crap and Lost made you think you're a fucking imbecile. But what can you expect from a easy to please idiot? Fuck you and fuck your retarded opinions you dumb nigger.
ReplyDeleteI loved both the X-Files and Lost so if it is even half as good as either of them then I'll like it.
ReplyDeleteReally don't know what to make of this.
ReplyDeleteI just wanna quickly go off topic here to defend the first X-Files Movie. I really loved it and make sure to watch it at least once a year. 2nd movie was shite, I'll give you that :-)
ReplyDeleteThe X-Files is my all-time favourite show (Lost went back into 2nd after the finale), so I was pleased to read the headline of this page.
ReplyDeleteBut... I was more into the mythology aspect of the X-files compared to the monster-of-the-week episodes. Serialization is my bag. So now I'm not quite as interested in The River. I'll still watch the pilot though, and see how it goes :-)