FOX: U.S. Version of Torchwood Being Developed

[Sylph]

From The Hollywood Reporter:

[DRW50]

I can't see them hiring John Barrowman. He's an openly gay actor and Jack is a bisexual (or everythingsexual -- aliens too) character, neither of which are acceptable on most American shows. I think they will bring in a new actor and Jack will be 100% hetero.

Torchwood has been degayed over the past few years, and turned into a hollow, gimmicky slaughterfest where random characters are killed off in the place of actual drama (those clunky scenes of Jack killing his grandson, as the awful actress who played the boy's mother grinned and grinned through her "sorrow" -- some of the worst on TV last year). So it will be at home on Fox.

[Sylph]

I hope this ends up just being developed, but never developed fully and transformed into a pilot that will actually get shot.

[EricMontreal22]

Oh that's ridiculous! Its first season had the most straight sex of any (if we count the miniseries as a third season) AND was the most gory! It has not been degayed and using the killing off of a boyfriend of a gay character as the emotional top note of the last story should prove that. How silly.

Yeah I'm wondering how much of the pansexual vibe would be transformed--that said surely Fox and others realize that that's been a big part of the appeal for gay AND straight fans of the show stateside? Barrowman was out (but not nearly as vocally) when he was cast on Titans--not sure about Central Park West, so I dunno they pull a Matthew Bomer/White Collar situation and just hope to try to keep it quiet (then again Barrowman, to a degree I even find a bit obnoxious now talks about being gay so much he wouldn't be as easy to muzzle as Bomer). Still, I could see Davies and crew fighting for him. (even if I still feel the best season by far was season 2 which was head written by Chris Chibnell and had next to no Davies connection)

But I'm not sure a Fox Torchwood would do all that well ratings wise anyway--I sorta have a feeling this won't end up as much. And I admit I'm thankful that the producing team would be involved but... (then again Davies did have some, albeit more limited involvement in the US Queer as Folk remake and we all know what utter shite that became)

[DRW50]

I thought the emotional top note of the story was Jack killing his grandson. Ianto's death was more of an afterthought, and written in a way where he and Jack both behaved so stupidly, it was difficult to care. The whole thing seemed like a random stunt, and also a way to get rid of a character they were never all that interested in.

The first season had that lovely episode where Jack fell for the real Jack Harkness, and he had the casual sex relationship with Ianto, while the straight relationships were much messier. By the third season, Rhys and Gwen were happy and content, while Jack hesitated to have an actual relationship with Ianto and Ianto had become clingy and needy, before finally being dead.

The show's become so generic, in my opinion, I don't know if a US version would be very different. I just wonder why FOX would bother. They can have plenty of shows with a similar theme without the Torchwood name.

[EricMontreal22]

Funny to me the grandson was the afterthought though of course they justified it that now that Jack had lost love he had become colder (again lol) and could do something liek that for the greater good, if Ianto had still been with him he wouldn't have been able to. Anyway we're gonna have to agree to disagree--I REALLY respect your opinion and enjoy your posts here and I didn't mean to sound like I was just laughing off what you had to say. I just react that way cuz I was tired of people online complaining (especially when the actor himself wanted to leave) with Ianto being killed off as Davies "this time going too far" when in some ways it merely means he's treating the character the same way he's treated any straight character (I personally was more pissed off by Tosh being killed)

That first season episode was an anomaly--and Jack and Ianto weren't even hinted at till the end of the season--second last episode. it was mainly second season stuff IMHO (though I can't remember what season Tosh had her lesbian fling in)--I just found season 2 the strongest, again largely cuz of Chris' writing. I foudn the miniseries quite gripping though--generic? Compared to what? Again I found much of season 1 (X Files meets Dr Who) more cliched and generic, the pansexual element aside. But maybe this is where we do agree--if that's the main element that makes Torchwood "different" then why shoudl Fox really even bother? They already have Fringe, etc...

[DRW50]

I thought the part about how Ianto's death somehow making him colder felt tacked on, because this was not the first or last person Jack had lost, so it just seemed pointless to me. I thought the death itself also made both men look like morons, they went to confront an alien force, threaten it, and apparently believed waving their guns was all they had to do to have the upper hand. Then when Ianto was dying, Jack barely even reacted. If you're going to kill someone off, then at least have the death with some power and some emotion, like Tosh's death. Ianto's death wasn't even about him, it was about Jack, who looked about as broken up over Ianto as he would have over missing out on Puppetry of the Penis.

Ianto wasn't treated in the same way Owen, Tosh, or even Suzie, were treated, at least not in the hollowness of his death scene. Their deaths were about them and had more buildup. His entire personality was also rewritten in Children of Earth, which made it seem even less like the character was dying, and more like a plot device. Do I think that happened because he was gay/bi? No, but I do think it showed how little interest they actually had in the character.

I think if the death had been more affecting then as much as some fans would have been upset, they would have understood, but instead it was this damp squib which was overshadowed almost immediately. Russell Davies and his bizarre reaction to the fan backlash (my favorite moment was when he said Jack/Ianto fans hate Gwen/Rhys) didn't help.

Generic compared to any sci-fi program out there. You had the relative no one cares about or knows being killed off. You had the random death of a cast member. You had the old foe from the hero's past returning to haunt him. You had the inept, shadowy government figures causing problems. The whole thing seemed very paint-by-numbers to me, and I felt like Russell Davies was trying hard to make up for the messier Torchwood which was so hated by critics. He wanted the big time, which, if the FOX deal happens, I guess he got.

Tosh and the lesbian experience was in the first season.

That's not to dismiss all of Children of Earth. Some of it was really good. I just didn't like the story as a whole, or how it fit into Torchwood.

[JackPeyton]

Whatever happened to the MTV version of Skins?

[All My Shadows]

As far as I know, that's still going on. A few weeks ago, I came across some character descriptions, and they were basically word-for-word remakes of the original characters.

[EricMontreal22]

I hear the pilot of Skins will bascially be a rewritten UK script--but from there it could break off into its own show (I assume the drug use and nudity will be at least toned down though). Which is what Queer as Folk's first few eps in the remake were too--the UK script but with more cliched dialogue--then it went its own (awful) route. At least Skins will have the same writing staff largely--apparently.

Still disagree abotu Ianto's death I thought it was done in almost operatic terms--and was affecting. But like I said, agree to disagree (oh and to your earlier comment, having Jack not want to define his relationship with Ianto and act cold to it till the end was perfectly keeping in character). I do agree it was less messy than Chibnell's great second season as show runner.

[DRW50]

Not gonna happen.

http://livefeed.hollywoodreporter.com/2010/04/torchwood-snuffed-at-fox.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+live_feed+%28The+Hollywood+Reporter+-+Live+Feed%29

[YRBB]

I've never seen TORCHWOOD.

[catsmeouch]

I'm relieved that Fox is no longer involved, but it would be cool to see Torchwood US, maybe on SyFy. But John Barrowman should only guest star every so often as Jack...Jack should be heading up Torchwood UK and occasionally guesting on the spinoff.

[DRW50]

You don't have to put that in small letters, probably most of the US has never seen it.