AMC picks up 'Low Winter Sun,' LaGravenese-Goldwyn project

 

 

The network of "Mad Men" is feeling criminal.

AMC has given pilot orders for "Low Winter Sun," a crime drama based on a dark British miniseries, as well as a new legally themed show from Hollywood veterans Richard LaGravenese and Tony Goldwyn, according to people familiar with the projects who were not authorized to talk about them publicly.

Though both shows are only pilots at this point, there's a strong likelihood they'll end up on the network: AMC has never produced a pilot that it didn't later pick up to series. The new shows could be on the air by the end of next year.

"Cold Case" veteran Chris Mundy will act as writer, executive producer and show runner for "Sun," which examines corruption and revenge among police forces. Relocated from the U.K. to Detroit, it centers on a detective who kills a fellow cop, and the fallout and drama that ensues from that murder.

Produced by a subsidiary of the Dutch television giant Endemol, the original starred Mark Strong as the murderous detective and hit the airwaves six years ago in the United Kingdom, where it scored a BAFTA TV nomination for best drama. Endemol will co-produce the American version with AMC.

The as-yet-untitled LaGravenese/Goldwyn show is an original concept that will center on a district attorney who, when new edvidence comes to light years after the fact, reopens a high-profile murder case involving white defendants and black victims. The show, which will be produced by AMC, is expected to look at the case’s moral dimensions as much as the criminal ones, with an emphasis on racial themes

Oscar-nominated LaGravenese, known for writing films such as "The Fisher King" and "Water for Elephants," will executive produce and write the show. Goldwyn, who most recently directed a legal thriller when he helmed Hilary Swank’s “Conviction” in 2010, will serve as executive producer and director.

The new shows mark the latest turn for a network that, after years of staying away from established genres, tried a cop drama last year for the first time with "The Killing." (It also recently began airing CSI: Miami in syndication.) Despite their familiar settings, the new projects are expected to hew closer to the serialized "The Killing" in tone and character than to the self-contained procedurals on network television.

Among the projects on AMC's recent development slate that did not get picked up in this round were “Sacred Games,” a period Indian crime drama based on an epic novel, and “Turn,” a story of spies during the Revolutionary War; "Sacred Games" remains in development at the network. This marks the first time in its history that AMC is ordering two scripted pilots at one time.

AMC is coming off its biggest hit to date in "The Walking Dead," whose second-season finale last month drew nine million viewers. The network continues to garner acclaim for "Mad Men," which is currently in its fifth season. But executives have been eager to get new shows into the pipeline: AMC last ordered a new pilot nearly two years ago.

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-- Steven Zeitchik

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Photo: Brian McCardie, left, and Mark Strong star in the British version of "Low Winter Sun." Credit: Channel 4

 

'Walking Dead' finale gets record ratings

A record 9-million viewers tuned in to AMC for Sunday's season finale of "The Walking Dead," making it the highest-rated episode in the series' history, the network announced Monday.

A nice chunk of that — 6-million viewers — were among adults 18 to 49. It's a zombie-like climb from the premiere of the second half of the season last month, which drew 8.1-million total viewers in the 9 p.m. slot, with 5.4 million in the 18-to-49 demo. 

And it was all done without the help of Shane (Jon Bernthal) and Dale (Jeffrey DeMunn) — may they rest in peace. The finale saw the introduction of a mysterious character, Michonne, with some odd fashion accessories — armless and jawless zombies — as well as the hint of a new setting for the third season: a prison. 

The makings of an even bigger premiere come fall?

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Photo: Rick (Andrew Lincoln, front) leads his people in “The Walking Dead.” Credit: AMC

 

'Walking Dead' finale: Who is Michonne?

AMC's "The Walking Dead" closed out its second season in spectacularly bloody and fiery fashion on Sunday night. Several characters met their demise and shocking revelations were made. But the thing that has a lot of people buzzing is the introduction of a mysterious, hooded character wielding a katana and leading two zombies around on chains. Just who is this mystery woman?

Longtime readers of Robert Kirkman's comic know that this woman is Michonne, and when the series returns for its third season, she'll soon have a whole new crowd of admirers.

Actress and playwright Danai Gurira has been cast as the no-nonsense character who will join another major character from the comics, the villainous Governor (played by David Morrissey), for the show's third season.

Anticipation for Michonne's introduction on the TV series has been huge. In fact "Walking Dead" creator Robert Kirkman and artist Charlie Adlard put together a six-page mini-comic for the April issue of Playboy detailing the character's origins.

She first appeared in "The Walking Dead" Issue 19 back in 2005 doing the same thing TV viewers saw her doing on Sunday -- leading armless zombies on chains and dispatching other zombies with her Katana blades.

Those who want to discover Michonne on their own can stop reading now, but for those who can't wait for the next season, here are some essential facts about the character (at least the comic book version of her).

'Walking Dead' recap: Death comes to the farm

Well, we were promised a bloodbath, and that's what we got Sunday night in the season finale of "The Walking Dead" — which saw a herd of walkers descend on Hershel's farm, sending Rick and the others running for their lives. Miraculously, the major players made it out, but what awaits them now is hardly a respite — what with Rick channeling his inner Shane and the appearance of a villain known as the Governor looming on the horizon.

It's a conversation about Shane that those walkers first interrupt, Carl asking his father what transpired between the men that could have culminated in Shane's death (and brief reanimation). Before Rick can give the boy a straight answer, they're fleeing from the zombies into the barn, which they promptly burn down, Rick hoping to incinerate the monsters in the fire. At the farmhouse, Hershel is firing a shotgun at the walkers — his aim is remarkable — determined to protect his property from the invaders. Lori panics when she can't find Carl, and it's up to Carol to try to persuade her to leave without her child, which she eventually does.

Andrea and Glenn do try their best to stop the walkers' advance, firing with considerable accuracy from the passenger sides of separate moving cars. Maggie's driving Glenn, and when they become surrounded, she has to decide to flee for safety, not knowing if her father and Beth are alive or dead. Hershel and Beth each do make it out alive, Hershel with Rick and Carl and Beth with Lori and T-Dog. Daryl rescues Carol when she's surrounded, meaning that only Andrea is left behind. Fortunately, she's resourceful enough to grab a bag of guns and head out into the night, determined to survive.

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The others eventually meet up back at the highway, overjoyed to see one another and grieving for loved ones lost (including Otis' wife). They make a plan to head out in a caravan in hopes of finding a new shelter, but when Rick's truck runs low on gas, they pull over and decide to make camp. It's then that Rick finally tells Lori what happened between Shane and him in the field. She doesn't react well — she stares at her husband in shock and horror and stalks off without saying a word.

Rick makes a similar confession to the others around the campfire, as they squabble over exactly whether they should be staying out in the open. "I killed my best friend for you people," Rick says, before informing them that their little group is no longer a democracy and he is the only one in charge. Nor is that his only pronouncement — he finally reveals that long-held secret Jenner whispered to him back at the CDC. Everyone is infected, they are all carriers of the zombie virus, or whatever it is exactly.

As the Grimes and their larger extended family of survivors grapple with their fate, an exhausted Andrea is just about to fall to the walkers chasing her through the woods when out of nowhere a mysterious hooded figure leading two chained zombies appears. Thanks to the swift use of a well-placed blade, Andrea is safe, though we never see the face of her rescuer — but fans of "The Walking Dead" comic book would recognize Michonne anywhere. Expect her to be a fixture next season (and here's hoping that the show's writers will opt to revise one key element in the character's storyline for her TV incarnation).

For those of you who'd like to go to the source to discuss Sunday's episode and suss out what's ahead for Season 3, "Walking Dead" showrunner Glen Mazzara (@glenmazzara) will host a special 30-minute Q&A on Twitter beginning at 7 p.m. Pacific time Monday. To participate, sign into Twitter and then insert hashtag #walkingdeadchat. When asking a question, make sure to use the hashtag #walkingdeadchat, so Mazarra will be sure to see it.

But don't let that stop you from leaving your thoughts on the episode below. Did you love the finale? How do you think Season 2 measured up?

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Photo: Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), left, Lori Grimes (Sarah Wayne Callies), Hershel Greene (Scott Wilson), Carl Grimes (Chandler Riggs) and T-Dog (Robert 'IronE' Singleton) in Sunday's season finale of "The Walking Dead." Credit: Gene Page / AMC.

'Mad Men' and 'Walking Dead' come together again [Video]

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One wouldn't automatically think that "Mad Men" and "The Walking Dead" would share a huge fan base. One's a show about lethal moves in the business world; the other is simply about the undead.

But "The Walking Dead" will feature a shout-out to Don Draper and the Sterling Cooper crowd when it airs its season finale this Sunday. As Rick & Co try to fend off the walkers, the network will showcase a new teaser spot for "Mad Men" that riffs on the "Dead." (You can watch it above.) The spot follows a promo during last week's "Walking Dead" episode in which a "Dead"-like voiceover jokily alludes to a small group struggling to survive (the ad agency staffers) and one man (Draper) keeping them safe.

Though relatively quick, the new "Men"-centric spot offers a visual ode to the "Dead"--think rising and walking--as well as borrowing its musical theme. "Zombies are back," the ad pronounces, riffing on "Mad Men's" larger campaign about everything else --Draper, envy, adultery--being back when the drama's fifth season kicks off March 25.

There's a reason why AMC is using "Walking Dead" as a "Mad Men" marketing platform." The Jon Hamm series is looking to maintain its strong fourth-season ratings as it ramps back up again after a 17-month layoff. "Walking Dead" offers a good weapon--it's a large audience, and it's a young audience.

Do executives worry that those who follow the genre series aren't necessarily concerned with the exploits of the '60s smoking set? "'Walking Dead' has a passionate audience base and 'Mad Men' has a passionate audience base," AMC senior vice-president of marketing Linda Schupack told Show Tracker. "And both of them care about great character drama."

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'Desperate Housewives' and 'Walking Dead': Fans react to deaths

Spoiler warning: This post contains important plot points from Sunday night's "Desperate Housewives" and "The Walking Dead."

The Grim Reaper was working in prime time on Sunday when two major characters on two different series met their untimely ends. On "Desperate Housewives," the nice guy plumber, Mike Delfino (James Denton) was shot to death; on "The Walking Dead," Shane the unstable deputy (Jon Bernthal) got killed twice (once as a human, once as a zombie).

Neither death was totally unexpected. Word of Mike's death came late last week when executive producer George Perkins was forced to reveal the plot development while on the witness stand during the trial between former "Housewives" star Nicollette Sheridan and series creator Marc Cherry. And fans of "The Walking Dead" comic books have known that Shane has been on borrowed time for quite awhile.

But knowing death is coming does little to blunt the effect when it actually arrives. And fans mourned openly online in the hours after the deeds were done.

Despite the fact that "Housewives" is ending forever in just a few weeks, fans were totally unforgiving of the decision to off Delfino, who has been with the show since the beginning.

"So they killed Delfino on Desperate Housewives.The goodlooking plumber with the heart of gold a 9-yr old kid.I officially hate the show now," Chachi Chatters said.

Seana wrote, "Dear writers of Desperate Housewives: of all the people you could have killed off, you pick Mike Delfino? Not impressed. At all. #badcall."

ChirpTeam wrote, "Cannot believe Mike Delfino was the one to die... honestly, don't the writers KNOW THAT HE IS ONE OF THE MOST LOVED CHARACTERS?"

And fan Bernadette T. Reed seemed to take it all extremely personally when she tweeted, "Mike Delfino dead on his front porch with a huge bullet in his chest ! Terrible! I am in shock all day now! everyone will KNOW this horror!"

Meanwhile, death is a regular occurance on "The Walking Dead" (there was another character death last week) and fans seem to be taking Shane's offing in bloodthirstier stride.

Fan "Dorian Gray" started with a request: "Dear Walking Dead writers: After a successful run taking out Dale and Shane I ask for the hat trick next. Get rid of the bald woman, please."

Brunswick wrote, "So they kill off Dale last week, I get it, but now you kill off Shane? The mom and the wife are still alive? Lame."

But heel though he may be, Shane does have at least one fan. Jocelyn Sandoval tweeted, "Last night was the worst- my baby Shane died... walking dead broke my heart </3"

"Walking Dead" showrunner Glenn Mazzara was on twitter himself last night, adding: "SO many tweets from mind-blown #thewalkingdead fans. Wish I could answer them all but I need to avoid spoilers for our fans worldwide."

In prime time there are only two constants: death and ratings.

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 Photo: James Denton, left, Jon Bernthal. Credits: Associated Press / AMC

'Walking Dead' recap: Last men standing

Remember that final showdown between Rick and Shane that's been brewing for a few episodes now? Well, it finally happened in Sunday night's episode of "The Walking Dead," "Better Angels," and if you haven't watched yet, this would be your cue to stop reading right now.

Faithful fans of Robert Kirkman's comic had a good idea that Shane would end up on the losing side of that fight, of course, but watching the standoff between the one-time partners unfold in a barren field under the light of the moon still made for one of the series' most memorable, most compelling scenes, which is really a testament to the talent of actors Andrew Lincoln and Jon Bernthal.

Both have delivered smartly nuanced performances week in and week out, the simmering tension between their characters erupting in bursts of violence before, but nothing like this: an all-out faceoff that seems to end with Rick stabbing his former friend to save his own life but, in fact, culminates with Carl shooting Shane in the head to save his father after Shane has come back as a walker. Which is really a lot to process.

'The Walking Dead' recap: The end of reason, and...

The end of Dale.

In Sunday's episode of "The Walking Dead," titled "Judge, Jury, Executioner," we said goodbye to another of Rick's band of survivors, and Dale will be missed. Especially since he was evidently the only one in this group with enough compassion to speak out against torturing and murdering a guy just because he might  cause some harm.

That guy, of course, is Randall, who at the opening of the episode, is being tortured by Daryl. This brutality is necessary, Shane and some of the others posit, because the young man has information about the band of 30 or so folks in the area with whom he had been travelling who could possibly turn up at the farm looking for a haven. Should that happen, a war could break out over the property, and Rick and the others could very well lose that battle and end up dead or worse.

All of this just further convinces Shane, who's whispering in Rick's ear, that the man is a threat -- he could easily escape and bring his gang to Hershel's since he knows the location of the farm. One might argue that before being tortured, this person would have no real incentive to rat out the group. After being tortured, however...

Rick spends a great deal of time deliberating over the man's fate, asking Lori about whether she'd support him, figuring out the best way to dispatch Randall, even fashioning a noose. Dale, on the other hand, attempts to convince the others that murdering this man would forever alter them, that the civilized world they had known only a short time ago would be forever lost to them. Hershel abstains from the discussion, choosing instead to pass along a family heirloom to Glenn.

Dale manages to win over Andrea, but it turns out that her vote isn't enough to sway Rick. Even Carl is convinced that his dad needs to kill Randall -- it's the only way to ensure their safety.

During all the various discussions about the morality of murdering an innocent man, Carl sets off on his own, wandering off and finding a zombie in the woods. He pelts the walker with rocks and ponders shooting it with a gun he pilfered, that is, until the creature breaks loose of the muddy ground where it was stuck and comes after him. Carl escapes and heads home -- then turns up in the barn just when his father's about to pull the trigger of his gun and shoot Randall in the head. It's only Carl's presence, and the fact that he wanted to watch the shooting, that convinces Rick to stand down and reconsider his decision.

Dale's already set off, though. He's heading away from the farm when he encounters the walker Carl found and is pretty much disemboweled in short order. It's left to Daryl to shoot the man to end his suffering, which is profoundly too bad. Without Dale to raise all those nagging concerns about doing what's right, zombie apocalypse or no zombie apocalypse, I fear for the future of this walker-infested world.

What did you think? Please leave your comments below.

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Photo: Jeffrey DeMunn as Dale in "The Walking Dead" Credit: AMC

'Walking Dead' recap: Girls, guns and a giant wrench in the plan

Andrea has never been my favorite character in "The Walking Dead," but I'm starting to rethink my opinion of her.

In Sunday's episode, "18 Miles Out," Andrea seems to be the only person in this post-apocalyptic world willing to question the wildly regressive gender roles the survivors on Hershel's farm have adopted. Take Lori:  she's really going to take issue with the fact that Andrea would rather actively defend Hershel's property from walkers than spend her time in the kitchen preparing meals or doing the laundry?

Of course, the larger underlying conflict between the two women is their differing ideas about choice in a world where the dead are trying to eat the living. When the distraught, suicidal Beth, who's still grieving the death of her zombified mother, asks Lori how she could give birth to a child, Lori responds that she has no choice--which is particularly interesting in light of the fact that she so seriously considered trying to terminate her pregnancy and then ultimately decided not to.

When it's Andrea's turn to sit with the girl, she unlocks the door to the adjacent bathroom, giving Beth the opportunity to take her own life -- if that's truly what she wants to do. Andrea's argument? It was wrong for Dale to have forced her to continue on after her sister's death, and it's equally wrong for Maggie and Lori to do the same to Beth now that she's lost her mother. After all, things are not going to get better.

The conflict between Rick and Shane isn't quite so philosophical. Driving away from the farm to find a reasonably safe location to drop off Randall (Michael Zegan) -- the young shooter they rescued during their escape from the bar -- Rick stops the vehicle in the middle of a deserted rural road to explain to Shane how things will need to proceed from here on out. Namely, he tells his former partner that he needs to get his temper under control, and he needs to understand that Lori, Carl and the new baby are not his family. Rick insists that he is perfectly able to protect them, to keep them safe. Shane says little, but he doesn't need to. The determined set of his jaw and the menacing hunch of his shoulders speak volumes: he does not agree.

David Morrissey is 'The Walking Dead's' new villain

British actor David Morrissey will join the cast of AMC's "The Walking Dead" next season, the network announced Friday.

Morrissey will play the Governor, the notorious villain from the comic book on which the drama is based, when the series returns for its third season. Morrissey is probably best known for appearing in the TV version of "State of Play" that aired in the U.K.

The third season, which will consist of 16 episodes, is set to begin production this spring. No word yet on a premiere date.

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Photo: David Morrissey as Danny Brogan in "Meadowlands" in 2007. Credit: Showtime

'Walking Dead' recap: How long until the Rick and Shane showdown?

Rick vs. Shane. It's certainly starting to look like that's what it's all about to come down to this year. In Sunday's episode of "The Walking Dead," "Triggerfinger," the two men are set up for an eventual face-off that easily could turn into a shootout over Lori and her baby, each determined to do whatever's necessary to protect "what's his."

It's Shane who heads out to search for Lori after the others realize she's been missing for hours -- during which time, of course, she's flipped the car she was driving and, we learn, fended off a couple of walkers on her own. To convince her to return to the farm with him, Shane tells Lori that her husband is alive and well and already there, though in fact, Rick is still inside the bar with Hershel and Glenn, grappling with the enormity of Rick's decision to shoot the two strangers who had threatened them.

Things become more fraught for the trio when some folks come looking for Dave and Tony and always-honest Rick announces that they're dead, that he shot them in an act of self-defense. A firefight ensues, and before long, Hershel's vowing to cover Glenn as he runs to get their vehicle -- just because Hershel opposes firearms on his farm doesn't mean he doesn't know how to use one, he points out.

A horde of walkers scares off the others, though they leave behind one of their own, a shooter who jumped down from his rooftop perch and ended up with a wrought iron spike through his leg. Rick and Glenn attempt to fend off the walkers to buy Hershel some time to assess the severity of the injury. The prognosis, however, isn't good. Hershel wants to amputate, but Rick decides to just pull the man's leg free and they all head back to the farm.

Shane and Lori get there first, and Lori's furious that Shane lied to her about Rick's whereabouts. He insists that had he told her the truth, she never would have agreed to come back and his first concern was for her safety, and for the baby. At which point Carl learns he's about to have a brother or sister.

The others do turn up not long thereafter, but Shane sees the presence of a stranger in their midst as a threat. He's convinced that the man could escape and expose their location to the people with whom he'd been travelling, leading to an all-out war for the farm. Andrea agrees, but Rick insists that there is no threat and saving a life was the right thing to do.

Surely, Rick's humanitarianism is about to be put to test (well, it has already, of course, but perhaps not to the same extent) with Lori, doing her best Lady Macbeth, insisting that the only real threat is from Shane, who's convinced that he is the father of the child, that he's in love with Lori, that he's the only one who can keep her safe in a vicious, brutal world.

One imagines it would be Shane who would come out on the losing end of that fight -- Rick is the center of the series after all. But it's disheartening to think about the series without either character. Jon Bernthal's committed portrayal of an unhinged, desperate man has been the best thing about Season 2 of "The Walking Dead" hands down.

What do you think? Please leave your comments below.

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'Walking Dead' returns on AMC with appetite for record ratings

"The Walking Dead" is very much alive.

The midseason premiere of the AMC post-apocalyptic drama about survivors battling flesh-eating zombies scored winning ratings Sunday, shattering its own record and ranking it as the strongest drama telecast in basic cable history among key demographic groups.

The series drew 8.1 million viewers in its 9 p.m. premiere, and delivered a total of 10.1 million viewers for the night. More than 5.4 million adults 18-49 and 4.4 million adults 25-54 tuned in, which improves on the  previous record held by the Season 2 premiere of the series by 12% and 6%, respectively.

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Photo: Andrew Lincoln in scene from "The Walking Dead." Credit: Scott Garfield / AMC