Veteran TV producer Tom Fontana has exited NBC's new drama series The Philanthropist because his vision was too dark for the network.
The Philanthropist centers on a renegade billionaire who uses his wealth, connections, and power to help people in need no matter what the risks or costs.
Fontana, who won several Emmys for his work on St. Elsewhere and Homicide: Life on the Street, wrote the pilot script, based on an idea by producer Charlie Corwin. NBC ordered the script straight to series in September.
Fontana assembled a writing staff for the show and began breaking stories for additional episodes until the 100-day Hollywood writers strike brought the process to a halt. The writers went back to work in February and handed a number of scripts to the network.
At that point, it became clear that Fontana and network brass had different visions for the series, sources said.
True to his gritty roots, Fontana focused on such social issues as immigration, drug addiction, and the use of children soldiers in parts of world, while the network was looking for more escapist and fantastical approach to fit the rest of its lineup.
Additionally, the project has had difficulty casting the lead for the past seven months.
Still, NBC said earlier this month that Philanthropist will be on its 2008-09 schedule, launching in midseason and airing Mondays at 10 p.m.
The search is under way for a new writer-showrunner. The fate of the show's current writing staff, mostly scribes who have worked with Fontana before, is unclear. Fontana, meanwhile, is developing a new project for AMC.
This is the problem with network tv. They don't want original adult programming they rather retread shows. Thats why cable channels have most of the best shows(fx,USA,hbo and showtime) he should take the show to fx.
NBC is ***ed. They have quality shows that win prestigious awards, such as peabodies, but they haven't pulled real ratings since the exit of Friends in 2004. They need to reinvent themselves, and the best place to start, is with a gritty, sure-to-be-a-critical-darling show, that is socially aware and socially revealing, rather another carbon copy of a crappy "NBC-type" show.On AMC, he could do a lot more. Mad Men already won a peabody and the golden globe, and that was their first real original series. I think his next show could be as gritty, depressing, and revealing on that network as the shield was on FX. Go Fontana.
Sounds interesting - loved it the first time they did and called it "The Equalizer" with Edward Woodward!!
Homicide was based on the idea Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets a book written by Baltimore Sun reporter David Simon - let's give him some credit.
Welcome back, Spice Girls, you were very much missed. I saw Heidi's profile on millionaire&celeb dating site "RichMatchMaking.com" last week. It seems she is single now.
we will have to see
I guess we'll see how this turns out when the show premieres. If it suddenly becomes atrociously bad after the first few episodes, we'll know why.
That's unfortunate. NBC desperately needs to reinvent itself and The Philanthopist would have been the perfect show to give the network a new image. On the other hand, if I was Fontana, I would have taken the show's idea to HBO, Showtime or FX. These channels have some of the best shows currently on TV.
What a blunder. Maybe FX could use it to replace The Shield (another great, gritty show)when it's run is over.
Refusing a Fontana project because it's too gritty (i.e. too exciting and in-your-face? Only in PC America. Sad, really really sad.
hmm this acually sounds like it may have been a good show. The title of this story made it seem like it was about "Homicide" which I haven't seen but would bet i wouldn't have like at all. The second wosrt thing i hate more than reality TV, Is crime TV. There are too many CSI's and Law&Order's, and made me burnt out on cop&lawyer shows. The only cop or Lawyer shows that I like on ATM that is MONK, Psych, Moonlight, The Shield. Three of those ar more of a detective show and only one is realy a cop show. and two fo the four are comedies. OK I think I blabbed enough just that cop&lawyer shows are gettin almost as crappy,boring as reality TV.
NBC's loss could be ours and AMC's gain. Homicide and Oz were two of the greatest shows ever
The next big hit on NBC: The Care Bears: Homicide Investigators. They only want fantasy and no depth.
with a plot like that the show NEEDS to be dark. i really can't see this turning out well if it isn't given a dark tone. Why would it be such a problem to air anyways, just put it on late on sunday night. If fox could show re runs of it's always sunny in Philadelphia NBC can put a dark show on late at night if they're so worried about it being so dark.
Damn. This sounds like a show I would have watched. Without Fontana behind it, I won't bother now. NBC...stands for Nothing But Crap. The trend obviously continues.
Man, that stinks. Fontana is a great writer (<i>Homicide</i> is one of the best TV dramas ever), and the concept sounded great. Sadly, when this rolls around it probably <b>will</b> be more like <i>The A-Team</i>. Way to go, NBC. But why should we be surprised? This is the same network that axed <i>Raines</i> and <i>Journeyman</i>, two of the most promising new shows in years.
I'll keep an eye on this show.
I watched homicide when I was younger, and recently I had to do a project on it on my Advanced Tech Class in Highschool.
that sucks NBC could use something with edge
They wanted the A-Team