Bryan Singer Developing "Twilight Zone" Series Reboot for CBS

[JamesG]

Bryan Singer To Spearhead "Twilight Zone" Series Reboot for CBS TV Studios
by NELLIE ANDREEVA
Wednesday December 19, 2012


"The Twilight Zone" is eying a return to primetime. X-Men director Bryan Singer has closed a deal to develop, executive produce and possibly direct a reboot of Rod Serling’s classic.

The drama series project, now in early stages, is set up at CBS TV Studios, which owns the rights to the original series. Search is underway for a writer to pen the new "Twilight Zone" pending finalizing the deal with the Serling estate.



The project has not been pitched to networks yet, but CBS is an obvious destination since CBS TV Studios only supplies CBS and the CW on the broadcast side and CBS carried the original series as well as the first revival.

In addition to the TV series project, there has been a feature Twilight Zone remake in the works at Warner Bros. with Matt Reeves attached to direct from a script by Jason Rothenberg.







The original "Twilight Zone" series ran on CBS from 1959-1964. CBS also aired a remake, which ran from 1985-1989.

The most recent series reboot, hosted by Forest Whitaker, premiered on UPN in 2002 and lasted one season.



Singer, who directed the pilot for Fox’s long-running medical drama "House", which he executive produced, recently helmed and exec produced another reboot of a classic series, NBC’s "Munsters"-themed Mockingbird Lane pilot, which aired as a Halloween special.

On the feature side, Singer is back at the helm of the X-Men franchise with the upcoming X-Men: Days of Future Past after directing and producing the first two installments in the superhero movie series.

He is with WME and attorney Dave Feldman.

http://www.deadline.com/2012/12/brya...bs-tv-studios/

[Zoneboy]

This is the most exciting TV development news we’ve heard in awhile.

Link

CBS TV Studios in the very early stages of a new version of the classic series The Twilight Zone.

Bryan Singer (X-Men) is attached as executive producer. There is no writer and or network attached at this time. So this project could fade away. But the development wheels are turning.

Creator-host Rod Serling’s original 1959-64 edition of The Twilight Zone is considered one of the best shows of all time. Attempts to revive the series have largely struggled — there was a 1985 edition that ran for three seasons (two on CBS, one in syndication), and another in 2002 on UPN that lasted only one season. There’s been a second Twilight Zone movie mired in development for several years, too, with Leonardo DiCaprio attached as executive producer. The film is reportedly about a test pilot who returns to Earth after an experimental flight to discover it’s 96 years in the future.

Yet a potential revival of this ground-breaking anthology show for television now makes sense. Sci-fi and horror series are delivering big ratings (AMC’s The Walking Dead, NBC’s Revolution) and there’s several other genre projects coming to the small screen (NBC’s Hannibal and Dracula; CBS’ Under the Dome). Networks have become less squeamish about edgy content, too, which has helped producers more realistically depict dark subject matter. Plus, FX already took a step toward successfully reviving the anthology format by launching American Horror Story, a drama with close-ended seasons.

What’s tough to replicate is Serling’s genius and the freshness of the concept. Twilight Zone episodes were famous for their twist endings. But the show was so skilled at mining the tropes of the genre, any writer tackling horror/sci-fi and attempting a twist can find a famous TZ episode that did it first (The Twilight Zone is to genre programming what The Simpsons is to animated family stories — “Twilight Zone did it!”).

In a way, the best and most popular revival of the spirit of the original Twilight Zone wasn’t an anthology show at all, but ABC’s Lost, whose writers cited the classic series as a strong influence.

[Zoneboy]

What joyful news to come home to. I give it one season if it even makes it onto the CBS schedule.

[PrettyinPink55]

Originally Posted by James Hibberd, Entertainment Weekly

What’s tough to replicate is Serling’s genius and the freshness of the concept. Twilight Zone episodes were famous for their twist endings. But the show was so skilled at mining the tropes of the genre, any writer tackling horror/sci-fi and attempting a twist can find a famous TZ episode that did it first (The Twilight Zone is to genre programming what The Simpsons is to animated family stories — “Twilight Zone did it!”).

Exactly!!
It's doubtful that they can do it better than The Twilight Zone original series did. They can maybe do it bigger with more special effects and whatnot, but definitely not better. I'll never understand why people choose to remake/reboot and mess with a classic. Sometimes it works, I'll give it that, but most times it's just an embarrassment and a disservice to the original.

Either way though, I'll probably watch it if it makes it just for pure curiosity. As long as it doesn't try to take the place of the original or overshadow it. This article certainly acknowledges that whatever the case may be, The original Twilight Zone did it first and will probably always have done it better!!

[robyrob]

special effects and big name guest stars won't make a damn bit of difference and are completely irrelevant - all that matters is the writing, and if it isn't amazing then what's the point?

didn't the original series use a lot of famous Sci-Fi writers for many of their episodes?

[PrettyinPink55]

Originally Posted by robyrob

special effects and big name guest stars won't make a damn bit of difference and are completely irrelevant - all that matters is the writing, and if it isn't amazing then what's the point?

didn't the original series use a lot of famous Sci-Fi writers for many of their episodes?

You are so right. In the end, it is the writing that matters most of all. Bigger doesn't always mean better!!