Jump to content

Type keyword(s) to search

The Player: News and Other Notes


Recommended Posts

I just saw the promo on YT. I am so there. Wesley Snipes and Phillip Winchester will be masterful together. This series must have cost NBC a bucketful full of cash. It better be as good as the trailer.

  • Love 2
Link to comment

I want to like this, but there are only so many gambling puns I can take. I want it to do well for Wesley Snipes, but I probably won't be watching.

Link to comment

Well, hopefully, Snipes actually interacts with his co-stars on set.  The promo didn't really sell me on the Snipes/Winchester interaction, but then again, I've recently watched several episodes of Strike Back, where, despite the crappy writing, Winchester and Sullivan Stapleton had an easy rapport. Though, if Winchester is shirtless a lot in this, it could make up for other flaws.  

  • Love 1
Link to comment

TCA panel reports:
 
Deadline:

Talking about Snipes’ Johnson, Rogers said “He’s a guy who makes life and death. Is he a moral man or an ethical man? And unraveling that — that’s a great guy to explore for six to seven seasons.”  ...

Though the show is based in Las Vegas, Zinman mentioned that it won’t be entirely set there, with the drama extending to Chicago, New York and Los Angeles.

 
Hollywood Reporter:

At one point during their panel, the second to last of the two-and-a-half-week tour, Rogers took issue with one critic’s characterization of The Player's plot-lines as borderline “ridiculous.” The producer would much prefer “pulp,” he told the Beverly Hilton ballroom, using that word as a catch-all for any drama that features “high velocity, big characters making big decisions” as Player does. Rogers added of his goal for this series: “We’re going to knock your socks off every week.”

Edited by Trini
  • Love 1
Link to comment

Thanks for the John Rogers link, Stacey! I loved Leverage a ton, so I feel it has ties to that as well as the mentioned Blacklist. Where Leverage was about a team learning to trust each other and help others, Blacklist , to me, is about how one man makes movers and shakers dance ( or not) for him. This seems to be in the middle. 

 

Alex seems to be like Nate Ford, in that he has an internal code of ethics already in place, lines he seems unwilling to cross. It will be how Alex and Mr. Johnson affect each other, or don't. Not sure how Charity Wakefield's Cassandra ( The House, iirc) will play into the show, but I am curious.

Link to comment

With ratings like that, stick a fork in it, it's done.  I definitely think it's the Wesley Snipes effect.  I tried watching, thought I could get over my dislike for him, and couldn't.  Maybe the producers of "Blindspot" could snatch Philip Winchester up as a recurring villain?  It'd be great to reunite Sullivan Stapleton and Winchester on the same show, but would be interesting to see them as enemies this time instead of best buds.

  • Love 2
Link to comment

Maybe the producers of "Blindspot" could snatch Philip Winchester up as a recurring villain?  It'd be great to reunite Sullivan Stapleton and Winchester on the same show, but would be interesting to see them as enemies this time instead of best buds.

 

Definitely, maybe he could liven things up over there since Sullivan has been relegated to Mr. Serious all the time.

Link to comment

Well, crap: only 4.85 million, 1.2 in the 18-49 demo for the premiere.  Suffice to say that it's going to be tough for any show to compete against both football and How to Get Away with Murder.  This being NBC though, I have no idea if they'll give it a chance or not.

Not everyone watches HTGAWM (I don't).  Plus The Blacklist starts this week.  I think the numbers might pick up.  I hope so because I like the show.

Link to comment

Maybe Netflix can do a Longmire type rescue...

Unfortunately, this show never had the chance to build up the loyal fan base that Longmire has.  But that's a good point.  If they can cancel something as popular as Longmire (or I thought it was) they can cancel anything (I realize that was not NBC). 

It already is a failing time slot, this show is another victim.

Well, then, what loser show can they put in this spot that will fare any better?

Edited by SierraMist
  • Love 1
Link to comment

Well, then, what loser show can they put in this spot that will fare any better?

 

It's a terrible time slot, so I can't think of anything which is my whole point.

Edited by Free
  • Love 1
Link to comment

It's a terrible time slot, so I can't think of anything which is my whole point.

LOL.  I knew what your point was.  My point was, why didn't they just leave it the hell alone, then.  haha. Really, I was agreeing with you.

  • Love 2
Link to comment

LOL.  I knew what your point was.  My point was, why didn't they just leave it the hell alone, then.  haha. Really, I was agreeing with you.

 

They'll either move a veteran show in there to plug it up or dump yet another new show to die there.

Link to comment

 

Well, then, what loser show can they put in this spot that will fare any better?

Heh, if anyone really want to know the answer, it is apparently going to be some show called Shades of Blue, with Jennifer Lopez, Ray Liotta, and Drea de Matteo.  I guess NBC is hoping that J Lo and her name recognition can do what Wesley Snipes couldn't.....

  • Love 2
Link to comment

You know, I'm wondering if NBC thought it was a bit of a turkey all along and intentionally put it in a DEADLY time slot.  Between Thursday night football and ABC's 3-hour Shandaland block AND local news for the old folks - who's left to watch?

 

I'm enjoying the show but knew not to get too attached because was going to get trounced in the ratings predictably.  

Link to comment

You know, I'm wondering if NBC thought it was a bit of a turkey all along and intentionally put it in a DEADLY time slot.  Between Thursday night football and ABC's 3-hour Shandaland block AND local news for the old folks - who's left to watch?

 

I'm enjoying the show but knew not to get too attached because was going to get trounced in the ratings predictably.  

 

Maybe, they're planning on putting a new show there mid season as well.

Link to comment

Heh, if anyone really want to know the answer, it is apparently going to be some show called Shades of Blue, with Jennifer Lopez, Ray Liotta, and Drea de Matteo.  I guess NBC is hoping that J Lo and her name recognition can do what Wesley Snipes couldn't.....

Well, now I think NBC wanted to do this all along.  They never advertised The Player the way they did Blindspot (calling it the breakout hit of the season before it even had it's 2nd airing).  I hope this one is gone after 2 episodes.

  • Love 1
Link to comment

Shades of Blue sounds like a cross between The Shield and Chicago P.D., and Ray Liotta can do no wrong, but hanging the whole thing on Jennifer Lopez?  I don't know about that.  And because of Chicago P.D. I have to wonder how it even got greenlit in the first place.

 

Back to the impending demise of this show, though, which was...unfortunately...probably likely.  NBC doesn't really do action shows (this and Blindspot, though I don't watch the latter, are AIUI the first seriously action-heavy shows it's done in several years), that genre is uncommon to begin with--let alone high-concept variants--and it was indeed up against both the Shonda Rhimes juggernaut and Thursday Night Football.  Too snarky to live, too actiony to die...it was a Cannon movie in the wrong decade, and it never had a chance.

Link to comment

Too snarky to live, too actiony to die...it was a Cannon movie in the wrong decade, and it never had a chance.

Now you mention it, telescope the plot into a couple of hours, resolving issues crucial to the plot (while leaving enough mystery open in the characters and premise itself for sequels or a return to series), give it a budget sufficient for quality action and supporting actors, and it you'd have a pretty decent popcorn movie.

  • Love 2
Link to comment

Now you mention it, telescope the plot into a couple of hours, resolving issues crucial to the plot (while leaving enough mystery open in the characters and premise itself for sequels or a return to series), give it a budget sufficient for quality action and supporting actors, and it you'd have a pretty decent popcorn movie.

 

It would make a better b-action flick.

Link to comment

I was just reading some of the posts on the latest episode and found out this show is cancelled and there are only one or two episodes left.

Were all the episodes filmed before the show aired? If so then I doubt we will find out what happened to Ginny, Cassandra's backstory (and what Wesley is hiding from her about her family), the connection between Cassandra and Ginny, who killed Wesley's friend in the mausoleum and who is targeting Wesley/"the house".

Somehow I doubt they they filled new episodes after the cancellation order so I think the show will end with unanswered questions which is a bummer. I'm sad that the show was cancelled and maybe it could have been on a better night or time slot. Maybe another channel can pick it up or netflix/amazon. Better yet would be Starz or Cinemax. Banshee has a final season and then it is over so maybe Cinemax could pick it up. Hmm, USA and other networks could also pick it up. I doubt they will because it don't have a large built in fan base:-(

  • Love 1
Link to comment

Were all the episodes filmed before the show aired? If so then I doubt we will find out what happened to Ginny, Cassandra's backstory (and what Wesley is hiding from her about her family), the connection between Cassandra and Ginny, who killed Wesley's friend in the mausoleum and who is targeting Wesley/"the house".

 

It seems like production stopped at the episode when it was cut, but it's possible.  We might know about Ginny since the promo seemed to indicate that.  Cassandra?  Idk, but it might be possible.

Link to comment

As far as I can tell, they didn't have any advance notice, so no adjustments to wrap things up in 9 episodes instead of 13.  As much as I'd like to see this picked up by a cable network, it's a harder sell without a complete first season.

 

Kind of an old-fashioned notion, but it would be interesting to have the first season turned into a novel so we can see how it would have turned out.  Or, given the involvement of John Rogers, a graphic novel/comic book.

Link to comment

As far as I can tell, they didn't have any advance notice, so no adjustments to wrap things up in 9 episodes instead of 13.  As much as I'd like to see this picked up by a cable network, it's a harder sell without a complete first season.

 

Agreed and it's not even a guarantee.

Link to comment

Somehow I doubt they they filled new episodes after the cancellation order so I think the show will end with unanswered questions which is a bummer. 

It wasn't just a standard "we're not going to pick up the back nine" cancellation it was a "finish this episode and then we're done". They stopped after episode 9.

Edited by MrWhyt
Link to comment
×
×
  • Create New...