Wayward Pines (new M. Night Shyamalan TV series)

Wow, I just caught the promo for the new Fox show Wayward Pines, from executive producer/creator M. Night Shyamalan, and it looks dynamite:



The premise looks very intriguing: a strange, remote rural town where someone (or something) is observing the townspeople and forcing them to do unspeakable, apparently random acts of violence, and nobody can be outwardly unhappy, and nobody gets to leave. Weird, weird show.

There are certainly direct comparisons you can make to David Lynch's 1980s show Twin Peaks, including the apparently northwestern location, but it looks to me like they're going in a drastically different direction with much more of a "conspiracy" attitude... sort of Twin Peaks + X-Files plus maybe a little of The Village. I'm setting up the Tivo to get it.

We'll hope it doesn't suck as bad as the director's last few films...

 

Ah, and just caught a page up on FOX's site with more information:

http://www.fox.com/wayward-pines

 

Hmmm...this could go either way - Under The Dome way or something better. I'm not convinced just yet.

 

Genuine question here about how the whole process works:

The poster says "from Executive Producer M Night Shyamalan". What does that actually mean?

It's based on a book by Blake Crouch. The showrunner is Chad Hodge. Shyamalan is one of seven producers, directs one of ten episodes, and isn't credited as a writer on any. What does he bring to the table?

Is it all just marketing? Even though amongst online communities Shyamalan's recent films are widely panned, amongst the general population his name still has serious clout, and one of the reasons After Earth tanked was because they didn't use his name front and centre in the marketing.

 

Anything with Matt Dillon and the terrific Melissa Leo in it.....count me in!

 

The Fox info says:

The series was developed for television by Chad Hodge (“The Playboy Club,” “Runaway”) and executive-produced by Donald De Line (“Green Lantern,” “The Italian Job”), Ashwin Rajan (“After Earth,” “Devil”), Hodge and Shyamalan. Hodge wrote and Shyamalan directed the premiere episode.

I think it's fair to say Shyamalan helped shape the pilot, which is a critical stage in any TV series. The director of a pilot gets paid big money because of the influence in style the pilot has for the rest of the series.

I think the show looks fantastic, and hope the series lives up to the promos.

 

In the season finale it will be revealed that the trees weren't pines, they were maples.

 

At least he doesn't write it.

 

ahhhhhhhhhhh........so the pines were not what they seemed.

 

The books (trilogy) were very good.

The TV series, I believe, was supposed to be aired last summer, however Fox has kept it under wraps.
Hopefully, they will finally broadcast it.

 

Is this on a Fox cable Chanel or OTA?

 

Will Chris Pine be in it?

 

I hear the acting is very wooden. (Sorry, too easy to let that one go.)

 

I'll wait til some reviews come in, I've been burned too often by Shamma Lamma Ding Dong.

 

Wow. That promo poster immediately brought to mind this still from Jean Cocteau's Orpheus (also used as a Smith's cover)

 

Will give it a look

 

I watched the pilot and will keep watching once it begins. I like quite a bit of the cast - Juliette Lewis, Melissa Leo, Carla Gugino, etc. And it was fun seeing Siobhan Fallon as the requisite odd ball sheriff's station receptionist.

 

I thought it looked interesting until they mentioned M. Night and then I thought maybe not. How many times does he have to bomb before Hollywood moves him off the A list? Anyway, I'm intrigued, I'll watch. A lot of the exteriors were filmed in Agassiz, a gorgeous town not too far away. I may take a drive there this weekend to get in the mood.

 

Great cast. I'll give it a go.

 

Was the twist obvious from the first 10 minutes?

 

looks more like the prisoner

 

"Wayward Pines?" That's a silly title, like a real estate developer's version of a David Lynch film. Or is this about randy trees?

 

After numerous big bombs, including last year's After Earth, how does Shyamalan's name continue to have any kind of cachet at all???

 

There a a lot of people involved in this, not just Shymalan. He's "executive producer" for 3 episodes, which can mean a lot or a little, I imagine. He's not the writer. He directed one episode. He's certainly got some talent, but isn't going to be given free reign to do whatever he wants with a big budget. That doesn't mean he should never work again.