Not surprisingly, the box-office success of Twilight has led the CW to stake out some territory in the teens-and-vampires genre by picking up a pilot for Vampire Diaries, a Kevin Williamson-penned adaptation of a 15-year-old series of novels.
Also coming down the pike at the CW: a look at D.C. politics, through the eyes of some undoubtedly young and pretty folk. Get the details, after the jump.
read more
Hot, rich kids with equally attractive parents, a sexy California setting, and a new guy who doesn't quite fit in. Sound familiar? "Of course we're getting all The O.C. comparisons," says Kevin Williamson, the creator of the CW's brand-new Hidden Palms (Wednesdays at 8 pm/ET), who was also the brains behind Dawson's Creek. "But we were just trying to make something fun and juicy, a guilty pleasure." There's Johnny, who moves to Palm Springs with his mom and her new husband after his dad's suicide and his own brief stint in rehab. He's befriended by slick Cliff and falls for gorgeous Greta, whose former boyfriend supposedly killed himself in what is now Johnny's bedroom. But if you ask science geek Liza, it was more like murder. Hooked yet?
Johnny, "
read more
Hello, again! I thought that since the show was premiering this week, it might be time to share some stories about shooting it. We all arrived at a fabulous hotel in Palm Springs called The Parker and started in on the various activities one does before starting to shoot something. You know, this one has to get his/her hair cut (that is always me), this one needs to consult with wardrobe and that one needs to talk to the director about their "character." That’s something that usually sends most directors running for the hills, by the way. As is very often the case with most projects, there was not really a lot of time to get to know everybody. There was a very nice meet and greet dinner, but a lot of us were still very much strangers during the first few days of shooting which can lead to some strange interchanges. For example, on the very first day of shooting, Gail O’Grady and I were scheduled to shoot a scene in which her son (my step-son), Johnny, catches us making ...
read more
Hello there, good people, and thanks for checking out the blog! I have gotten a few comments and I just want to say that I appreciate the compliments both on the blog and on my previous work. It means a lot to me that people out there have followed my career. But more than that, I want to say your budding enthusiasm for Hidden Palms is fully justified. I think you guys are gonna love it! My first blog was a little indulgent insofar as it chronicled my personal experiences associated with getting to work on Hidden Palms. So now I’m going to be a little more generous and talk about the basic premise of the show, the experience of shooting the pilot and, of course, my fellow cast-mates. So let the dirt-slinging begin! So some of you have asked about the premise of Hidden Palms. It’s a classic coming-of-age story, unique to our times and distinctive in that it comes wrapped in the particularly arch intelligence of a Kevin Williamson project. Those of you who have never seen o...
read more
It doesn't take long before Palm Springs' newest teen hunk on the block realizes, "This place has a severe tonal problem." That's what happens when you try to combine Hitchcockian mystery, O.C.-style rich-kid melodrama and Dynasty-era satirical soap.
Hidden Palms, a slick but derivative vessel of campy intrigue from Dawson's Creek creator Kevin Williamson, is being dumped unceremoniously into network TV's early off-season (premiering Wednesday, May 30, at 8 pm/ET). Overwritten and underacted (by the kids anyway), it strings out its weekly climactic shockers — some of them truly unnerving — with artery-hardening blobs of moldy adolescent whining.
If angst were sunblock, the kids on this show would never have to worry about getting burned by the hot desert sun. That's especially true of the show's hero, Johnny (Taylor Handley), fresh from rehab at 16 (as if), a con
read more
