In Case You Needed A Reminder That Hollywood Ran Out Of Ideas.....

[Mike Powers]

......there are FOUR "Wizard of Oz" TV series in the works right now.

http://tvline.com/2013/09/06/wizard-of-oz-pilot-the-cw-tim-kring-dorothy-must-die/

For fucks sake.

[Crazy Kyd]

I heard the possibility of these shows months ago.

And, without trying to start a debate/argument because I am in no way meaning to do so, it's not necessarily that they have run out of ideas. It is because Wizard of Oz is familiar, and familiar sells. Oz: The Great and Powerful made a lot of money, so it makes sense for others to try and make money off of the same type of idea. Look at the show Once Upon A Time, it has Fairytale characters and while certain things are different, they are all familiar to the mainstream audience. If the show wasn't good quality, the people would have bailed. I do think that if the show didn't include Snow White and Prince Charming but included brand new characters, the target demographic would have cared less about the show. The CBS hit Elementary is popular because of Sherlock Holmes, The Vampire Diaries is a major hit because of the books. The Television market has changed so much where people don't want to invest their time into brand new ideas all that often. There are exceptions obviously. Exceptions I find are shows like Chicago Fire, Scandal, and Revenge. Those shows are geared more towards the adult audience and the adult audience for the most part is a bit more hungry. Also, those shows are of good quality but two out of those three are from successful creators/writers/producers of Law and Order, and Private Practice respectfully. So on paper, the fans of those shows would watch the newer ones and so far it has turned out that way. It is because that brand is familiar.

Looking at the list of Wizard of Oz shows, the only show I could see being successful is the one that is being shopped to The CW. The show is hitting the proper demographic and if picked up, on paper the ratings would be some of the highest the network has seen in years. the show Arrow, based on the comic book character the Green Arrow, is the networks newest big success. The ratings aren't fantastic, yeah, but considering that former shows One Tree Hill, Gossip Girl, and 90210 barely held a 1.0 rating near the end of the shows, a 1.2 is like NCIS getting 21 million viewers. A recent show called The Carrie Diaries, a prequel to the Sex and the City show/books hasn't done well because the young audience doesn't know about them or is too young to read/watch those products. The older audience for the most part doesn't want to watch a preteen/teenage targeted show, so that is summed up to a good, familiar idea, but the execution wasn't done right.

As for movies, nowadays it isn't the actors that sell them, it is the product itself. No one necessarily sees an Iron Man movie for Robert Downey Jr., the audience wants to see action. Not everyone wanted to see Our idiot Brother because of Paul Rudd, they wanted to see it because it looked funny.

And, there are great ideas/great films out there but the biggest issue is those films are independent films and not everyone wants to see those types of movies. I have noticed a jump in appreciation of independent movies over the last few years but it is still nothing compared to the numbers that Comic Book movies get.

This isn't directed towards you Mike, but my biggest problem with people complaining about Hollywood and the way how they run things are a big percentage of the ones who still see the Iron Man 3's, The Avengers, Man of Steel's, the next Pixar movie, etc. Personally, if those people would stop seeing those movies, then Hollywood would obviously restructure their business model.

Television/Film is a business, after all and the way how to make money is to keep doing what works. Hollywood is currently doing that. They are using familiar characters and familiar concepts that are successful, at least on paper. There is an artistic/creative side to this business as well, however these concepts aren't always as successful either due to the audiences lack of interest or it just isn't that good of an idea. Due to the risk of losing a lot of money on brand new/different ideas, studios obviously build their model around the ideas that have worked. And while I am not a huge fan of the blockbusters that are released every year, I completely understand that this is what works.

And this, obviously is my opinion.

[Black Death]

It pilot season ... a lot of show get pitch and shot during this time that never see the light of day .

[Crazy Kyd]

Looking back on my post, I have no idea why the hell I went off like I did. I care about the subject obviously, haha.

I'm sure one of those shows are going to get picked up. It is bound to happen. The CW is trying to find its footing after changes in management, so I'm thinking if the idea is good enough they will do everything that they can and hope that it wouldn't be a dud like Cult was. As for the other shows, it depends the situations that those networks are in.

As for the others, I don't think CBS would pick up their pilot, NBC would need to make sure their popular shows, Revolution, Chicago Fire, and Hannibal stay consistent enough for them to take a chance on the Wizard of Oz show, but with how shaky their luck has been with their products, I think they would be willing to say yes to the show and the worst case would be to put it on a Friday. I could see any of these shows be a successful summer show, while The CW networks pilot could be "direct" competition to Once Upon A Time, assuming that show would be on by the time the Oz series would air.

As for Sci-Fi, I don't know their ratings but I'm sure they'd add another series into their collection. That network seems like the type that will take chances on a lot of ideas.

[Alex Smiley]

As long as they all approach the subject matter from different angles, I could probably watch about a million Wizard of Oz related TV shows.