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Fresh Ink: Blindspot in the Media


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Coming soon to NBC:

 

"BLINDSPOT"

 

From executive producer Greg Berlanti ("Arrow," "The Flash," "The Mysteries of Laura") comes "Blindspot": A vast international plot explodes when a beautiful Jane Doe is discovered naked in Times Square, completely covered in mysterious, intricate tattoos with no memory of who she is or how she got there. There's one that's very clear, however: the name of FBI agent Kurt Weller, emblazoned across her back. "Jane," Agent Weller and rest of the FBI quickly realize that each mark on her body is a crime to solve, leading them closer to the truth about her identity and the mysteries to be revealed.

 

The cast includes Sullivan Stapleton, Jaimie Alexander, Audrey Esparza, Rob Brown, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Ukweli Roach and Ashley Johnson.

Martin Gero serves as writer and executive producer. Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter and director Mark Pellington (pilot) also executive produce. "Blindspot" is produced by Warner Bros. Television and Berlanti Productions.

 

That link also has the first promo photo. In a week, we should have the trailer from upfronts.

Edited by Trini
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(edited)

I just found this. I see the Strike Back duo both have new series. I like Sullivan Stapleton, but this premise of a tattooed amnesiac seems corny. I will give it a chance for Stapleton though.

Edited by SimoneS
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Blindspot at San Diego Comic Con:

 

WEDNESDAY, JULY 8

6:00–10:00 p.m. The first time is always the best time. Comic-Con and Warner Bros. Television proudly continue our annual Preview Night tradition, with exclusive world premiere screenings of the pilot episodes of four of the most highly anticipated series of the 2015–16 television season — “Supergirl,” “Blindspot,” “Containment” and “Lucifer” — as well as a brand-new episode of “Teen Titans Go!”. Ballroom 20

 

SATURDAY, JULY 11

11:15 a.m.–12:15 p.m. “Blindspot” (Mondays 10/9c on NBC): The new one-hour action-thriller Blindspot makes its Comic-Con debut with a screening of the complete pilot episode, followed by a Q&A with star Jaimie Alexander and executive producers Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter and Martin Gero. Room 6A

 

 

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More info about the Blindspot marketing at Comic Con, including:

 

Fans can discover "Blindspot" at Tin Fish restaurant in Gaslamp Square. They will be able to receive both temporary tattoo sleeves and partake in a photo op where their head will be placed on a tattooed body, similar to the character of Jane Doe in the new NBC drama.

 

Also, throughout the Gaslamp District, fans can go on a scavenger hunt to search for and find the Jane Doe look-alikes. Once found fans can text "Blindspot" to a number tattooed on her body and receive the next step to enter for a chance to win $1,000.

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EW articles:
'What it takes to cover Jaimie Alexander's entire body with tattoos'

And according to the show’s tattoo designer Christien Tinsley, those hundreds of tattoos take six hours, three artists, and an extremely patient Alexander to apply.
 
“It’s an extensive amount of time to get the tattoos applied to Jaimie when we do the full look,” he tells EW. “It essentially works like a three-dimensional puzzle. You have to find your anchor—the hip pieces—and then we work moving south and north from there. You have to go in a very, very specific order to make the puzzle work. If you’re off in any degree, something’s going to overlap, and it just takes that time to connect the pieces correctly.”

 
Interesting. I would have thought that the spine/back would be the "anchor" points

Jaimie Alexander interview:

Let’s run through shooting the nude scene in Times Square. Were you nervous? Freezing?

I would say all of the above. That day where we shot the scene in Times Square, we started putting on the tattoos at 4:00 p.m. and went overnight and started shooting about 3 a.m. ...
I was actually in the bag — as long as you think I was in there, I was definitely in there. ...
It was a little intense, but to be honest, for that amazing of a scene and the fact that they closed down Times Square, it was just something that I probably won’t be able to do again in my life. ... It was freezing. It was about 8 degrees Fahrenheit outside in New York, and then at one point it started to snow. It was cold! So the shaking in that scene wasn’t just out of terror, it was out of the fact that I was so cold that I could barely stand up on my own. But again, it was all worth it, and I have no complaints whatsoever. ...


Wow, she's a trooper. Let's see how long those positive feelings about 7+ hours in Make-up last. :-)

Edited by Trini
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Review of the pilot screening -- there are spoilers for the other pilots at that link.:
 

I do really like the concept (even if it feels like I’ve seen it before), and am grateful that Alexander has found a role worthy of her considerable talents (and that we’re getting more female led shows); I just wish it all wasn’t a vehicle for what feels like a by-the-numbers procedural. Hopefully this will change as the world expands.

Edited by Trini
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Since "by-the-numbers procedural" are one of my staples of viewing, I would be fine with that. The only thing I've seen her in previously was Kyle XY, and she was not a favorite character (she played an interloper of sorts), but reading above about what she went through for that scene has earned my attention for at least the pilot.

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Blindspot First Impression -- spoiler-free review.
 

... With Alexander as its lead, Blindspot will keep my attention for at least another couple episodes. There’s a lot of strong material in this pilot, and this series is certainly much more Blacklist than it is any type of other NBC procedural. However, what’s going to separate it from the pack isn’t its central mystery but its characters....

Edited by Trini
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Blindspot TCA panel reports:
 
Variety:

“It’s a procedural for people who don’t like procedurals, and it’s a character drama for people who don’t like character dramas,” Gero said. “There is an overarching mythology to this show week-to-week.”


 
Hollywood Reporter: Some mildly spoiler-ish info in this one.

Gero stressed that Blindspot is trying to create one of the "most bad-ass female characters out there" and noted that the show would burn through story, with the why behind her mind wiping and tattoos revealed at the end of the season.


IGN:

"It’s important for TV shows not to be all riddles. As a fan, I like seasons of television to feel likes books in a series of novels that I like," he said. "Our backstory is so dense we can turn a lot of cards. In episode two we could learn why Kurt Weller's name is on her back. We don’t play breadcrumbs, we like whole loaves every episode of the story."


Deadline:


... So, going forward we kept the show away from the Die Hard realm, and put it more in a Bourne Identity one, where all action and storytelling felt grounded. The type of cases on the show are prescient; they’re what everyone is experiencing right now and the show has a ripped-from-the-headlines type of feel.”

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Blindspot (and other WBTV productions) will be at NY Comic Con Oct. 8 - 11:
 


Confirmed to attend New York Comic Con 2015 for panel sessions with fans include:
- Blindspot’s Sullivan Stapleton, Jaimie Alexander, Rob Brown, Audrey Esparza, Ashley Johnson, Marianne Jean-Baptiste and executive producer Martin Gero
 
WARNER BROS. TELEVISION AUTOGRAPH SIGNINGS
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 10
12:30–1:00 p.m.         Blindspot

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 11
1:30 p.m. (Empire Stage) Warner Bros. Television Takeover: Join stars and producers from five Warner Bros. Television series — Gotham, Supergirl, Blindspot, Person of Interest and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow — for exclusive footage, a pilot screening and a Q&A on the Empire Stage.    ...
 
Blindspot: Special Video Presentation and Q&A — ...

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Many articles leading up to the premiere:
 
NY Times Jaimie Alexander interview ,

Do you do your own stunts?
I tag in and out with my stunt girl, Kylie Furneaux, because my fights are so intricate and long. And she’ll take the hard hits or if something explodes. I have two broken toes right now, and I broke my back [on “Thor: The Dark World”]. So I have to be somewhat careful with things that are too violent.

 
NY Post Jaimie Alexander interview and fashion spread ,

As a coveted leading lady, she had several offers last pilot season — but chose carefully. “I read a lot of scripts and they would start OK, and then the females were weak,” she says, shifting her lithe legs underneath her black trapeze-style dress. “Not vulnerable — vulnerable is good — but weakly written. It’s hard to put into words the feeling I get when I read scripts that dumb down women. When they start with a great premise, and then she ends up being the trophy or the sexy hot girl with big boobs. I’ve had about enough. This role is what I’ve been waiting for my entire career.”

 
NY Daily News Sullivan Stapleton interview ,

He’s joking. “I wanted something else after ‘Strike Back,’” he admits. “But this script was so fantastic I couldn’t turn it down.”

Weller has some demons of his own, which Sullivan says “we’ll find out slowly as the story goes on. I couldn’t spoil it if I wanted to, because I don’t know, and I really don’t want to know.”


 
Short video interview with Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Ashley Johnson ,
 
Deadline article on Sullivan Stapleton ,

“It has been great to travel the world and being allowed to do what we did on Strike Back in all the countries we did it in, and it’s gratifying to have so many people tell me how much they f*cking loved it,” he said. But it’s nice to just be here, looking for an apartment, finding a favorite restaurant and getting to properly know a place,” Stapleton said. “It’s the first time in years that I can settle down somewhere, because the whole show takes place in New York.”


 
Hollywood Reporter review ,

At least with Blindspot, curiosity likely will lead to watching one more episode. That can’t be said for a lot of other series. ...
 
If you’re thinking, well, this is a variation of an idea based on another variation of an idea — yes. But in 2015 for NBC, this is cause for excitement. Based on the notion there’s a plethora of great television, there’s still room for TV shows that do what they were supposed to do all those years ago, when TV was a sickly cousin to movies instead of vastly superior: simply entertain the tired masses.


 
Deadline review

Obviously there is a lot more going on in Blindspot then one first sees in the tats, and the notion of the bigger picture is already in the frame by the end of the pilot. What is truly intriguing here is how Alexander pushes past her informative physique and successfully creates a character in stages out of almost nothing. What is also smart is the way Blindspot addresses its own issues within its own world, and the clear chemistry between Stapleton and Alexander as actors and characters.

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A couple more reviews:

 

IGN:

There's also the dynamic between Jane and Weller, which contains hints of a potential romance down the line. Luckily, both Alexander and Stapleton play their characters with subtlety and restraint, although their personas are rather dull. But seeing as how this is the first episode -- with a lot of ground to cover at that -- there's obviously room for these characters to grow and develop. That's especially the case for Jane, who's kind of supposed to lack personality at first. However, neither Jane nor Weller have much of a hook beyond the tattoo mystery.

Variety:

... but for a show that prominently features tattoos, “Blindspot” doesn’t leave much of an impression.

Edited by Trini
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I've learned that when a network incessantly flogs a show like they've been doing with this one, it's usually doomed. NBC loves the "all the eggs in one basket" approach. I'm not interested because I've got promo burnout, and I've already seen "Memento," which is a gazillion times better than this will ever be. Rant over, thanks for listening! :-)

Edited by Liz Tudor
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Pilot review that issue with how the women are treated.


The whole series rests on Jane's body being evidence, something other people claim access to; she's objectified in very literal ways throughout the episode. Maybe this is all done consciously, and the show is meant to serve as a commentary on this exact idea, but if that's so, it would be the absolute only moment of subtlety in the entire pilot, which spends the rest of its time in Anvil Town.

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No surprise, a drop in the ratings, but still winning its time-slot with ease.  With that and news above about the script order, I have to it's at least going to air a full season, unless the ratings really crash and burn in the upcoming weeks.

Edited by thuganomics85
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EW article that confirms that the episode titles are puzzles as a poster noticed in the S01.E03 Eight Slim Grins thread. If you're solving them, the article also gives out an alternate title for the Pilot.

 

However, fans are missing one vital title that will help them solve this clue. Though every series premiere is generally titled “Pilot,” the Blindspot debut actually has an alternate title that kicks off the poem: “Woe Has Joined.”

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Francois Arnaud is joining the show. I really liked him on The Borgias so here's hoping he's able to hold on to his charisma and acting chops, unlike SS.
 

The Borgias‘ alum Francois Arnaud has booked a recurring role on NBC’s thriller drama series Blindspot, which just received a full-season order by NBC.  Written by Martin Gero and directed by Mark Pellington, Blindspot centers on a mysterious Jane Doe (Jaime Alexander) who is found in a body bag in NYC’s Times Square with tattoos all over her body, including the address of the FBI agent Kurt Weller (Sullivan Stapleton) who found her. Arnaud will play a mysterious character from Jane’s distant past. Arnaud, who played Cesare Borgia in Showtime’s The Borgias, stars in feature Rabid Dogs opposite Lambert Wilson, and the upcoming The Girl King opposite Sarah Gadon. Other feature credits include Les Grandes Des Chaleur (Heat Waves), Xavier Dolan’s I Killed My Mother, Copperhead, Moroccan Gigolos and Amapola. He is repped by APA and Lasher Group.

 

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That won't be too bad for the straight procedurals (and "Chicago Fire"), but this late in the filming cycle, won't that just result in a filler episode for "Blindspot"?

 

Yes, but it's already mostly a procedural, I think ABC did this last season when they gave their shows extra episodes.

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True enough.  Since they dropped the "one tattoo leads to another", the last episode could have fit before the previous one.

 

Agreed, it's become more procedural than before.

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