As the TV critics press tour wrapped up, the sense of the coming fall season became pretty clear: There’s plenty of potential if the kinks get worked out, there are no huge “wow” shows, and there are lots of nerds.
The nerds would be the heroes of the new shows, not the TV critics. The point is, there are tons of shows coming this fall with some form of nerd, or a group of nerds, as the core characters.
Is this the societal rise of the geek, maybe because we’re in such a techno-dependent world? Or a national mood swing against the usual macho hero? Or something even larger? Those questions were asked of Josh Schwartz, who produced “The OC” and created “Chuck” for NBC, one of the better new nerd-centric series. He went the other direction, looking inward.
“I think we’re all evidence,” Schwartz said, “that as a writer, you write what you know. Many more writers resemble Chuck than they do Jack Bauer (of the series “24”).”
Another trend that most TV viewers probably won’t notice is the importation to Hollywood of actors from English-speaking countries. About a dozen new shows have stars from Great Britain, Australia or other places where they make the English language sound way cooler than we do.
The imports range from Lena Headey, a Bermuda-born Brit who was Queen Gorgo in the film “300” and who stars in Fox’s mid-season “Terminator” series called “The Sarah Connor Chronicles,” to British soap star Michelle Ryan, playing NBC’s new “Bionic Woman.”
All these actors will be doing their American version of English, and almost all have said they’ve been working with dialect coaches to make their accents unnoticeable. Most said it was work, but not stunningly hard, though Kevin McKidd, the former star of HBO’s “Rome” who’s the lead in NBC’s new “Journeyman,” said that as a rural Scot, he’s already had to learn mainstream British English.
“My indigenous accent,” McKidd said – in his proper British style – “is completely impenetrable. Even I don’t understand it.”
One man who’s taking some of the blame for all this is the brilliant Hugh Laurie, the Emmy-nominated star of Fox’s “House.” He was one of the first big names to cross the pond in this recent migration.
“I can only apologize,” Laurie told TV critics. “I assume that we’re, I don’t know, cheap.” He was only partly joking. Most of the actors are lesser known in America and command a smaller paycheck.
Someone also asked Laurie if people in the U.S. are surprised by his British accent when he speaks to them on the street.
“Well,” Laurie said, “I don’t speak to them. I have a little man who speaks to them for me.”
BET has an animated show coming in the fall produced by two funny guys, Orlando Jones and Ali LeRoi. Jones is a former MADtv star who made good in film. LeRoi is the executive producer of CW’s “Everybody Hates Chris.”
Their new series, “BUFU,” will be sketch comedy in cartoon form, and the two said they intend to poke fun at almost everyone they know, particularly their friends in the African-American Hollywood community. There is one exception.
“We do not have a bit on Oprah,” LeRoi said, “because we are afraid of Oprah.”
Why? he was asked.
“Because,” LeRoi said, “she can make us disappear and …”
“Say nothing,” Jones cut him off.
“We are afraid of Oprah because we are afraid of Oprah,” LeRoi said.
Scripps Howard News Service
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