Thursday, March 01, 2012

Three pirate TV series in development



Painting by Chris Bourassa.


Earlier this week, Wired updated about mega-producer Gale Ann Hurd's development of a pirate show called Port Royal for FX. The show was announced in May of last year, but Hurd now explains that it'll be "a sprawling show, following the interactions of not only shipboard pirates but also merchants, servants, slaves, prostitutes, and other unsavory inhabitants of the British outpost." In other words, the most awesome thing on television.

Unless, that is, one of the other two pirate shows currently in development turns out to be better. At the end of the article, Wired also mentions FOX's Pyrates and NBC's Republic of Pirates. FOX's show is produced by Ridley and Tony Scott's company and is "less criminal mischief, more sea battle tactics," as it's focused on the 1628 Danish capture of the Spanish silver fleet. It's basically a heist story, which raises the question of how they're going to stretch that into an ongoing series. Fortunately, they don't have to. As of last May, it was designed to be a 10-13 episode mini-series planned to air this summer.

NBC's show "focuses on the pirate-run nation of New Providence and the golden age of piracy," which - like Port Royal - sounds open-ended enough to make a great, long-running series. Depending on how faithful it is to the book of the same name, the series will feature real-life pirates like Blackbeard, Sam Bellamy, Charles Vane, Calico Jack Rackham, Mary Read, Anne Bonny, and Stede Bonnet.

As much as I like the idea of seeing Blackbeard, Anne Bonny, and Mary Read on a TV series, I think I'm still most fond of the romantic intrigue hinted at in Port Royal. But which one sounds best to you?

3 comments:

M. D. Jackson said...

TV EXECUTIVE: Hmm. People like Game of Thrones. We need a TV series like Game of Thrones, but without all that Fantasy nonsense. Ideas?

FLUNKY/YES MAN: Uhhh. Something historical?

TV EXECUTIVE: Yes, yes! But fun! And without all that fantasy stuff.

FLUNKY/YES MAN: Historical but fun? How about Pirates?

TV EXECUTIVE: Perfect! Pirates it is!

Erik Johnson Illustrator said...

Port Royal gets my vote because of the vast array of character types and different kind of interactions it can offer, not to mention all the potential guest stars, so it could be a great ensemble drama. Also, of the three here, its the one that seems the most developed. Period Pieces are the big thing in both film and television, so I could really see that taking off.

Though personally, I just finished watching the Japanese program "Gokaiger" and am very much looking forward to its American Adaptation as "Power Rangers: Pirates" for 2013-2014.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2ltiwKXLUo&feature=youtu.be

Michael May said...

Oh, that is awesome.

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