Brian Damage
04-06-2008, 02:17 PM
Casting; it’s as important an ingredient for success on the small screen as it is on the big one. Case in point: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.
Though the FOX series, per TV Guide’s Michael Ausiello, may well be back for a second season this fall and has just been picked up for broadcast in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong and the Philippines beginning April 8th on Sony’s AXN network, it could have been so much better. At the most recent Television Critics Association Press Tour, Julianna Margulies preceded show star Lena Headey on a separate FOX panel for her legal drama Canterbury’s Law and to me, then and now, seems like someone who would have been much better in the role. (Though Headey, at 34 to Margulies’ 41, is closer to the 28-35 age that Linda Hamilton spanned in the first two Terminator movies, the storyline could have easily been adjusted for the latter and in some senses could well have framed a more organic follow-up.)
Still, there is chemistry between Headey and her son (Thomas Dekker ) and despite some major special effects, that's a core element of the show. "I was hired as a guest star in the pilot [only],” Dekker revealed at the time. “The fact that the character took on such attention was really just a nice gift and a plus.”
The chatter on some fan sites is that FOX will lean towards renewing The Sarah Connor Chronicles if for no other reason than the way it would bask in the glow of the lead-up to Warner Bros. and Sony’s May 2009 theatrical release of McG’s Terminator: Return of the Terminator. In that case, casting has veered towards a very serious attempt to reboot the franchise, with Christian Bale and Anton Yelchin top billed as John Connor and Kyle Reese.
Adding fuel to my Margulies fire is the fact that in its debut, Canterbury’s Law debuted last Friday in 78th place with a miniscule 4.74 million viewers. I can guarantee you that if the ER actress had returned as the 21st century’s version of Linda Hamilton, the numbers would have been much better.
http://www.filmstew.com/showArticle.aspx?ContentID=17121
Though the FOX series, per TV Guide’s Michael Ausiello, may well be back for a second season this fall and has just been picked up for broadcast in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong and the Philippines beginning April 8th on Sony’s AXN network, it could have been so much better. At the most recent Television Critics Association Press Tour, Julianna Margulies preceded show star Lena Headey on a separate FOX panel for her legal drama Canterbury’s Law and to me, then and now, seems like someone who would have been much better in the role. (Though Headey, at 34 to Margulies’ 41, is closer to the 28-35 age that Linda Hamilton spanned in the first two Terminator movies, the storyline could have easily been adjusted for the latter and in some senses could well have framed a more organic follow-up.)
Still, there is chemistry between Headey and her son (Thomas Dekker ) and despite some major special effects, that's a core element of the show. "I was hired as a guest star in the pilot [only],” Dekker revealed at the time. “The fact that the character took on such attention was really just a nice gift and a plus.”
The chatter on some fan sites is that FOX will lean towards renewing The Sarah Connor Chronicles if for no other reason than the way it would bask in the glow of the lead-up to Warner Bros. and Sony’s May 2009 theatrical release of McG’s Terminator: Return of the Terminator. In that case, casting has veered towards a very serious attempt to reboot the franchise, with Christian Bale and Anton Yelchin top billed as John Connor and Kyle Reese.
Adding fuel to my Margulies fire is the fact that in its debut, Canterbury’s Law debuted last Friday in 78th place with a miniscule 4.74 million viewers. I can guarantee you that if the ER actress had returned as the 21st century’s version of Linda Hamilton, the numbers would have been much better.
http://www.filmstew.com/showArticle.aspx?ContentID=17121