FOX CRACKS THE CASE
WITH HART HANSON’S NEW CRIME DRAMA
“BACKSTROM”
Emmy Award Nominee Rainn Wilson to Star and Produce; Based on Books by Renowned Criminologist and Novelist Leif G.W. Persson
Fox Broadcasting Company (FOX) has given a 13-episode series order to BACKSTROM, a one-hour drama from 20th Century Fox Television, based on renowned Swedish criminologist and novelist Leif G.W. Persson’s hit series of books of the same name. Created and executive-produced by Hart Hanson (BONES, “The Finder”), the series centers on Detective EVERETT BACKSTROM (three-time Emmy Award nominee Rainn Wilson, “The Office”), an offensive, irascible detective, as he tries, and fails, to change his self-destructive behavior. Throughout the series, Backstrom leads his team, the Serious Crimes Unit, as they navigate Portland’s most sensitive cases.
“Hart Hanson and Rainn Wilson are the perfect combination of creative vision and on-screen talent to bring this one-of-a-kind character and story like BACKSTROM to FOX,” said Kevin Reilly, Chairman of Entertainment, Fox Broadcasting Company. “I’ve been in business with Hart for a long time, and not only does he have a rare gift for infusing darker themes with relatable humor, he’s one of the best showrunners out there today. Together with Rainn – who absolutely nails this role and makes it a classic FOX character – I think we’ve got something really special here.”
“There are so few creators out there with the genuine ability to mix great procedural storytelling with humor, and Hart Hanson is one of those guys. Getting another show on the air with him has been a top priority of this company,” commented Twentieth Century Fox Television Chairmen and CEOs Gary Newman and Dana Walden. “And getting the amazing Rainn Wilson in the title role was quite simply a coup. His ‘Backstrom’ fits perfectly into FOX’s long history of dramas centered around a bigger-than-life iconic character.”
“Naturally, all of us who worked on BACKSTROM thought it was too promising a series to die unseen and Dana and Gary were relentless in their support of the project,” added Hanson. “Imagine our delight to find that Kevin Reilly and his team at FOX agreed enough to pick it up and give us a good home. Thanks FOX!”
“I couldn't be more thrilled to get a chance to dig into Detective Everett Backstrom. For an actor it's rare to get a crack at a role of such intelligence, humor and complexity. He's a delightfully disheveled misanthrope with a twisted, brilliant mind and a heart of barbed wire. Truly the role of a lifetime,” noted Wilson. “Hart Hanson is an incredible writer and showrunner and I couldn't be more excited to collaborate with him. Last but not least, FOX is the PERFECT home for this fun and disturbed piece of entertainment. They are passionate about the show and I'm ecstatic to be working with Kevin Reilly again (he launched “The Office” on NBC and fought tooth-and-nail for us to stay on the air, let's not forget) and to be on the same network as my frenemy, Mindy Kaling.”
Hanson serves as executive producer on the series with Persson and Niclas Salomonsson. Emmy Award-nominated director Mark Mylod (“Entourage,” “Shameless,” “Ali G Indahouse”) served as director and executive producer on the pilot. Production is scheduled to begin in early 2014.
In the pilot episode, after the apparent suicide of a Senator’s son is ruled a homicide, the Portland Police Bureau’s Serious Crime Unit, led by Detective Backstrom (Wilson) must solve the case. Following the team’s arrival on the scene, forensics expert Sergeant PETER NIEDERMAYER (Kristoffer Polaha, “Ringer,” “Life Unexpected”) verifies that the death was indeed a homicide. This starts the trail for Backstrom and his team: Detective NICOLE GRAVELY, Detective Sergeant JOHN ALMOND (Dennis Haysbert, “The Unit,” “24”), uniformed officer FRANK MOTO (Page Kennedy, “Weeds,” S.W.A.T.”) and the tech-savvy NADIA PAQUET (Beatrice Rosen, “The Dark Knight,” “Cuts”). Together, they must follow leads, while trying to maintain a low profile in this highly scrutinized case.
Persson’s book series “Backstrom” is popular in Scandinavia, where his work has sold more than six million copies. The character has appeared in two novels so far, “Linda” and “He Who Kills The Dragon.”
BACKSTROM is produced by 20th Century Fox Television. The series is created, written and executive-produced by Hart Hanson. Leif G.W. Persson and Niclas Salomonsson serve as executive producers. Rainn Wilson and Josh Levy serve as producers. Mark Mylod directed and served as an executive producer on the pilot.
WITH HART HANSON’S NEW CRIME DRAMA
“BACKSTROM”
Emmy Award Nominee Rainn Wilson to Star and Produce; Based on Books by Renowned Criminologist and Novelist Leif G.W. Persson
Fox Broadcasting Company (FOX) has given a 13-episode series order to BACKSTROM, a one-hour drama from 20th Century Fox Television, based on renowned Swedish criminologist and novelist Leif G.W. Persson’s hit series of books of the same name. Created and executive-produced by Hart Hanson (BONES, “The Finder”), the series centers on Detective EVERETT BACKSTROM (three-time Emmy Award nominee Rainn Wilson, “The Office”), an offensive, irascible detective, as he tries, and fails, to change his self-destructive behavior. Throughout the series, Backstrom leads his team, the Serious Crimes Unit, as they navigate Portland’s most sensitive cases.
“Hart Hanson and Rainn Wilson are the perfect combination of creative vision and on-screen talent to bring this one-of-a-kind character and story like BACKSTROM to FOX,” said Kevin Reilly, Chairman of Entertainment, Fox Broadcasting Company. “I’ve been in business with Hart for a long time, and not only does he have a rare gift for infusing darker themes with relatable humor, he’s one of the best showrunners out there today. Together with Rainn – who absolutely nails this role and makes it a classic FOX character – I think we’ve got something really special here.”
“There are so few creators out there with the genuine ability to mix great procedural storytelling with humor, and Hart Hanson is one of those guys. Getting another show on the air with him has been a top priority of this company,” commented Twentieth Century Fox Television Chairmen and CEOs Gary Newman and Dana Walden. “And getting the amazing Rainn Wilson in the title role was quite simply a coup. His ‘Backstrom’ fits perfectly into FOX’s long history of dramas centered around a bigger-than-life iconic character.”
“Naturally, all of us who worked on BACKSTROM thought it was too promising a series to die unseen and Dana and Gary were relentless in their support of the project,” added Hanson. “Imagine our delight to find that Kevin Reilly and his team at FOX agreed enough to pick it up and give us a good home. Thanks FOX!”
“I couldn't be more thrilled to get a chance to dig into Detective Everett Backstrom. For an actor it's rare to get a crack at a role of such intelligence, humor and complexity. He's a delightfully disheveled misanthrope with a twisted, brilliant mind and a heart of barbed wire. Truly the role of a lifetime,” noted Wilson. “Hart Hanson is an incredible writer and showrunner and I couldn't be more excited to collaborate with him. Last but not least, FOX is the PERFECT home for this fun and disturbed piece of entertainment. They are passionate about the show and I'm ecstatic to be working with Kevin Reilly again (he launched “The Office” on NBC and fought tooth-and-nail for us to stay on the air, let's not forget) and to be on the same network as my frenemy, Mindy Kaling.”
Hanson serves as executive producer on the series with Persson and Niclas Salomonsson. Emmy Award-nominated director Mark Mylod (“Entourage,” “Shameless,” “Ali G Indahouse”) served as director and executive producer on the pilot. Production is scheduled to begin in early 2014.
In the pilot episode, after the apparent suicide of a Senator’s son is ruled a homicide, the Portland Police Bureau’s Serious Crime Unit, led by Detective Backstrom (Wilson) must solve the case. Following the team’s arrival on the scene, forensics expert Sergeant PETER NIEDERMAYER (Kristoffer Polaha, “Ringer,” “Life Unexpected”) verifies that the death was indeed a homicide. This starts the trail for Backstrom and his team: Detective NICOLE GRAVELY, Detective Sergeant JOHN ALMOND (Dennis Haysbert, “The Unit,” “24”), uniformed officer FRANK MOTO (Page Kennedy, “Weeds,” S.W.A.T.”) and the tech-savvy NADIA PAQUET (Beatrice Rosen, “The Dark Knight,” “Cuts”). Together, they must follow leads, while trying to maintain a low profile in this highly scrutinized case.
Persson’s book series “Backstrom” is popular in Scandinavia, where his work has sold more than six million copies. The character has appeared in two novels so far, “Linda” and “He Who Kills The Dragon.”
BACKSTROM is produced by 20th Century Fox Television. The series is created, written and executive-produced by Hart Hanson. Leif G.W. Persson and Niclas Salomonsson serve as executive producers. Rainn Wilson and Josh Levy serve as producers. Mark Mylod directed and served as an executive producer on the pilot.
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Wonder if they'll still use the original pilot or will refilm it.
ReplyDeleteGreat news for Office cast members! Three of them have new shows already.
Fox has been taken
ReplyDeleteI think it will get a new pilot.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I read on Deadline, CBS released the pilot on December 15th so seems like they're using the original one. Only one cast member is out, but everyone else is returning.
ReplyDeleteAt least its not another comedy,that's all i read about lately. I wonder if or how this is going to affect Bones? Can Hart focus on both shows? Assuming of course Bones gets renewed,tho i'm sure it will...
ReplyDeleteHe was able to focus on both Bones and The Finder so I'm sure it'll be possible.
ReplyDeleteRight! I forgot about The Finder.
ReplyDeleteI like FOX being so aggressive in ordering shows. This one doesn't sound particularly up my alley but I'm willing to check out most FOX shows.
ReplyDeleteGood to see "Dwight" back, but this show sounds like a copy of Monk.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if that means anything for The X Factor?
ReplyDeleteThey've talked about making it only one night a week, even with the lower ratings I think FOX is gonna try giving it one more go around. And I'd love it to be only ONE hour or MAYBE 90 minutes, just one night a week. If FOX had three hours of primetime a night I wouldn't mind so much but I've always hated how X Factor and American Idol take up to four hours of programming.
ReplyDeleteAs much as I would like to see The X Factor go, I could deal with it only being one night a week. I too would love it to only be one hour a week if it came back, but that's not gonna happen. But even if it does come back for only one night a week, that frees up another hour a week so they don't necessarily have to get rid of a show that they might of had to otherwise.
ReplyDeleteI was mainly interested in this show because of Mamie Gummer. Very disappointed that her character is being recast from the sound of it.
ReplyDeletewasnt this from pilot season? I vaguely remeber the name
ReplyDeleteYeah it was originally a CBS show but they didn't pick it up.
ReplyDeleteNot sure I need to watch yet another crime show but interested to see Rainn Wilson in a drama role.
ReplyDeleteWell I love my Bones but I don't think I really want to add another crime drama to my list. Bones, H50 and Castle are basically it for me and I don't feel like I need more. We'll see. In any case I think it's a decent bet for FOX to try a standard procedural, even though the last one to hit in any network was probably LA, and that was very much propped up by the original NCIS!
ReplyDeleteSometimes it's not a bad sign, it may just fit with a network more. For instance, I would have liked if The Crazy Ones had been sold to FOX or ABC instead of CBS, I think it would fit with their brands of humor better.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I think that as far as decisions for marginal shows go, it's probably irrelevant if X-Factor goes or not at this point. I think that either the X-Factor stays for two hours OR Fox brings Gordon Ramsay to fill the same 2 hours, effectively making the effect the same for the scripted shows in question. I kind of think that FOX should use whatever reality it picks on Thursday as filler and invest on Wednesday instead. It's a much more open night for an attack than Thursday because I don't know what can they put against TBBT that will not bomb.
ReplyDeleteAnother alternative would be to keep the x-factor 3 hours but with the third hour airing Fridays after Bones (with the 2 hours on Thursday, that is)
It really sucks that Mamie Gummer isn't going to continue with the series. She's a main reason I had interest in this show.
ReplyDelete