Joe M. O'Connell: picked up

Showing posts with label picked up. Show all posts

Friday, May 9, 2014

Will 'Revolution' get a third seasion (a second in Texas)?

Photo by Joe O'Connell

I drove through Bartlett, Texas, the other day and saw the courthouse facade for NBC series Revolution was packed up, the headless statue that usually rests in front of it moved behind a fence. The show's metal gate remained in place. I took these (and word from solid sources) as signs the folks behind the show are ready to come back to the small town not too far from Austin.

The show moved to Texas after a first season shot in North Carolina. I wrote a bit about it for The Austin Chronicle.

Photo by Joe O'Connell

But will the series survive into a third season? The final word is expected in the next couple of days, but Variety hints it's not looking good: "Revolution started out with promise in 2012-13 when it was assisted by a lead-in from The Voice. But its sophomore year has been an uphill climb after it moved last fall to the lead off slot on Wednesday."

The bottom line, as always, is cash, and Revolution may be too expensive. Stay tuned. And while you're at it, here are some more photos from the set and a few more and some folks in costume.

Monday, July 15, 2013

Austin-shot 'The Lying Game' cancelled

This just in: Austin-shot television series The Lying Game has been officially cancelled by ABC Family after a long delay in the decision. The show shot for two years in Austin. These days there's other TV brewing in Austin.

Show star Alexandra Chando broke the news on Twitter, today, then it was confirmed by show officials.

Over on Facebook, fans are upset that the show will end without wrapping up its loose ends.

Saturday, July 9, 2011

TNT picks up 'Dallas'; to give sneak peek Monday

As predicted, TNT has picked up Dallas to series for a 10-episode shoot to premiere in summer 2012. No confirmation yet of a Dallas shoot in Dallas, but after the city of Dallas' grant to upgrade a warehouse for the show, it looks more than probable.

TNT will give viewers a sneak peek of the show Monday during the season premieres of The Closer at 8 p.m. and Rizzoli & Isles at 9 p.m.

Also a web site is up with more info on the show.

Here's what they said in a press release:

TNT has given the greenlight to Dallas, an all-new series based upon one of the most popular television dramas of all time, about the bitter rivalries and family power struggles within a Texas oil and cattle-ranching dynasty. Famous for its ratings-grabbing cliffhangers, the original series was known for its wealth, seduction, scandal and intrigues. Set in the big state of Texas, TNT’s new Dallas — from Warner Horizon Television — also lives life large and in the fast lane and brings a new generation of stars together with cast members from the original drama series.

The new Dallas stars Josh Henderson (90210), Jesse Metcalfe (John Tucker Must Die), Jordana Brewster (Fast & Furious), Julie Gonzalo (Veronica Mars) and Brenda Strong (Desperate Housewives), and they will be joined by iconic stars Patrick Duffy, Linda Gray and Larry Hagman as J.R. Ewing.

TNT has ordered 10 episodes of DALLAS, which is slated to premiere in summer 2012.

Sunday, June 19, 2011

TNT to decide on 'Dallas' pickup this month

That's the word from Patrick Duffy, who says the Dallas series would start shooting in October if picked up. He doesn't say whether the series, like the pilot, would lens in Dallas.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

'Good Christian Bitches,' er 'Belles' picked up by ABC

What I failed to tell you while my internet was down: Good Christian Bitches--now Good Christian Belles--was picked up by ABC to series.

Read more about the show here.

NOTE: We do not have confirmation yet of a Dallas shoot for the series. The pilot was shot in Dallas and the show is set there, so one can hope. Stay tuned.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Austin-shot 'Meet Jane' remains not-so aloof

Little Ricky sez "pick up my show!"

UPDATE: New shoots of the pilot apparently have been taking place of late in Austin! An extras notice dated April 1 (no fooling) sought upscale business and model types ages 40-70 for a shoot this past Sunday. Also sought was a photo double for Schroder, so he's still on board and apparently 5'10" tall and weighing int at 160 lbs.

OK, I'm finally checking back on the status of Meet Jane, and the potential Lifetime series remains moored in the land of perhaps. According to Deadline.com "Meet Jane remains in contention and may be retooled." The pilot shot in Austin and starred Molly Parker and Rick Schroder.

Apparently that retooling is a go...

What they're saying about EVACUATION PLAN

"Tales alternately gentle, dramatic, surrealistic, that collectively affirm the beauty of being alive, even as they acknowledge that all of us face the necessity of making our own 'evacuation plan.' "
-- Brad Buchholz, Austin American-Statesman

" The chapters about Matt and the short stories demonstrate O’Connell’s ability to develop sympathetic, true-to-life characters using intriguing details and compelling dialogue. The stories remind us of those times when a brief encounter with a stranger left us wondering about that person’s past. In Evacuation Plan, O’Connell satisfies that curiosity. "
-- The Texas Observer

"It was very hard for me to put this book down. It carries us through the deepest meaning in life and most painful, most hopeful memories for a wide range of fascinating characters. Based in a hospice, this book could have easily resorted to cheap sensationalism, or whacked us upside the head with stereotypic melodrama, but instead it was respectful, honest, and tender. The characters will stay with you - you may even recognize some of them within your own life. "
-- Award-winning author Carmen Tafolla

"An excellent, thought-provoking diversion from our own inevitable plummet toward the grave, and we highly recommend it to you, the living."
-- Wayne Alan Brenner, The Austin Chronicle

"O’Connell has drawn some colourful and believable characters. The material relating to the hospice and terminal care rings true, all the way to reconciliation and forgiving."
-- Dr. Roger Woodruff, International Association for Hospice & Palliative Care

"The tales are nicely written, and some are quite compelling; “The Male Nurse,” for one, is a dreamlike reverie."
-- Texas Monthly

“Evacuation Plan: A Novel From The Hospice by Joe M. O'Connell is nothing short of remarkable … a novel that walks hand-in-hand with death and yet, somehow, the reader finishes the book feeling inspired to live.”
– The Paisano

"A wonderful blend of lives ordinary but with sometimes extraordinary elements. We all share these stories of life in some way, despite moments of harshness or unforgiving pain. There is always a common thread of humanity and ultimately forgiveness to be found, even if it's in the last moment of life."
-- Elaine Williams, author of A Journey Well Taken

"Reading Evacuation Plan is akin to unwrapping a series of small perfectly-chosen presents. Both human and humane, The book resembles a modern Spoon River Anthology with its vivid, touching glimpses into the lives of those in and around a hospice."
-- Tim McCanlies, screenwriter The Iron Giant, writer/director Secondhand Lions

"In Evacuation Plan Joe O'Connell does for the process of dying what Sherwood Anderson did for middle America in Winesburg, Ohio--he shows us in brief flashes the aching beauty of the grotesque, and shows us how extraordinary small lives and quiet deaths can be."
--John Blair, Drue Heinz Literature Prize winning author of American Standard

"Here's a book so rich with stories of the living, so filled with people's bountiful problems, as well as incidents of wry forgiveness, one realizes over and over the circling forces of life's completeness. It's not a sad tale nor a needless feel-good account but a balanced, sometimes comic, affirmation of what is here and what we all know is waiting."
-- Carolyn Osborn, award-winning short story writer

"The broken, the hopeful, the frustrated, the clueless, and the forgiving touch one another with words, remembrances, and hands. Inevitably, readers will quietly wonder about their own evacuation plan."
-- Will's Texana Monthly

O'Connell's protagonist skillfully navigates under the guise of a writer seeking raw materials for his craft in the stories of the dying, but mines and refines instead the stuff we're all made of. In this finely crafted novel, we come away with much more than the astute observation that many of the best stories begin at the end. But, then again, that notion is also worth a lot.
--Jesse Sublett, cancer survivor, rocker and author of Never the Same Again

"Joe O'Connell's Evacuation Plan--this Decameron of the hospice--encompasses a paradox. Death comes for everyone, but death is the only human universal because everyone dies, and witnesses dying, with private, unspeakable shame. Yet there are a few minutes left to speak. As people die, they tell stories which spawn new stories, which remind us that death is agony, a violent struggle, but so is living."
-- Debra Monroe, Flannery O'Connor Award winning author of Newfangled and Shambles

Joe M. O'Connell