Saturday, March 5, 2011

Great 17th Precinct Info Post. (James Callis-heavy)

Monday, April 11th


I just have to post this, because it's a VERY GOOD OMEN INDEED.

theaarondouglas: BTW. Spoke to James Callis, said 17th precinct was a great shoot & everything he hoped it would be. Check it out when it airs, gonna be gold


I know James must have had high hopes for the show, after BSG. So hearing it's what HE hoped it would be, I have extremely high hopes myself now. Eeee!


Sunday, March 27th


Tricia Helfer just tweeted a photo from the wrap party!! Handsome alert! Chest hair alert! HELP! They are too pretty together!! Also, James' ears never cease to amuse and endear me. Very cute.

So that's a wrap then. I dunno how I can wait until September. I hope we get some teasers and stuff before it...


Oh, and I almost forgot to add this, the most adorable James/Jamie photo yet! They're trying to figure out a word in a crossword puzzle. Look at James' thinky brow!!!! Thanks to Craig A. for the photo.

Thursday, March 24th


And we have news on the name! Jeff was turned into John, so the final name is John Bosson. Awesome! It's a bit rhymey, but then so is James Callis. I don't know why I feel so strongly about this, but I just simply cannot see James as a Jeff, and I'm very happy they switched it to John. It's a slightly dull name, but it has no strong connotation with "American guy", and this helps me believe in the character. I like the last name Bosson a lot, too.


The shoots in Vancouver will end this week. After that, there are some screenings, and the shoots continue in May if NBC people like what they saw. Let's keep our fingers crossed!

A big article on the pilot script. This one is more positive-sounding than the taragel one. There are many spoilers, so I won't reveal everything. But it sounds very cool, and James has some powers of his own! Also this:


Caolon (pronounced ‘Kay-Lawn’) Longstreet, played by Bamber, is a blonde thirty-something copper who project a seriousness and deep focus. His partner Jeff Bosson, played by Callis, is a Brit; unlike Caolon he’s a bit more down-to-earth and not exactly fit.
Not exactly fit?! O.o Does that mean they will REFER TO THIS on the show? Because if they will, I have a feeling I will forgive many, many plot holes and suspend lots of belief. 

An article from YVR shoots, by Susan Gittins: 


I arrived to see detective partners Jamie Bamber and James Callis filming a scene exiting from their strange police car to investigate a crime scene in the alley. Between takes, the two ex-BSG castmates proved inseparable, giving each other playful shoves and taking breaks at the craft tent together. 


Playful shoves!!! Sounds so "dude" and amusing. Obviously they're great friends, and I'm sure this chemistry will show on their scenes too. Excellent.

Lots and lots of photos at zimbio! James and Jamie, James alone. Craig Anderl from the set has also been tweeting many photos. But how to link to them all at once? Oh I know, browse through my Tumblr. (The link is to the "17th Precinct" tag, so it should find all posts with that tag, no matter when you read this post.)

Oddly enough, James has SHORT hair. So much for that squee. But hey - he looks like a cute hedgehog! :D So not too shabby. He looks chubby to me, although not everyone agrees. But needless to say, I am happy! You can tell from the photos with James and Jamie that James is meant to be a slightly more down-to-earth character, someone who may be a bit of a maverick. I wonder if the coffee is part of the script, or if he just brought his own. He looks laid back though. This will be interesting. Although I will say that I'm sorry for Jamie if he has to play the straight man again while James gets to goof off/have more variety to his character.

Oh and look at this! I think he's actually picking up a donut!!!! I think, I  mean it could be a bagel or a muffin or something, but... *drools* He looks SO happy. :D My dream is to see him eat a donut some day, but this is really good too.

Meanwhile, James is obviously getting into character by listening to some Dire Straits, and was shocked over Japan. Many new tweets at his twitter. (And yes, it's really him.Craig said so.)


Tuesday, March 8th
The shooting started today!

Tricia has dyed her hair brown for the role, and the result can be seen here. Very classy! I was worried they might give her jet black hair, but this looks much better.

M and I were discussing the pilot scoop - found in taragel's post linked below - that "Jeff" is sleeping with his partner's wife, "Susan". So what will the character be like? Will this be another morally ambiguous character? Will he be remorseful or turned on by the secrecy, or both? Will we get James Callis love scenes again?!

We joked that, since everyone else on the show has more exciting names, Jeff and Susan might be bonding over their dull names.

Jeff: I feel somehow... inferior and dull next to "Caolan" and "Morgana".
Susan: Well, what about me? Susan.
Jeff: We have so much in common.
Susan: Let's make love!

Either way, not looking forward to all the "Oh he's a traitorous manwhore like Gaius!" comments on Twitter.

Saturday, March 5th. 
I'm going to start this now, even if we still know very little. I plan to put all the news on the show here until it airs, so that you don't have to weed through endless newsposts here. 

Facts known as of today: 
-created and produced by Ron D. Moore 
-shot in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
-the pilot will be directed by Michael Rymer 

James Callis' character is, a homicide detective. He's long-haired and British. 

Jamie Bamber plays a crime scene investigator who's very focused. 

Tricia Helfer plays Morgana, a necromancer, acting as a coroner. 

Other cast members include Stockard Channing and Matt Long. 

There's a review of the pilot here (taragel's LiveJournal). It sounds like the show is set in a sort of alternate universe where both the cops and the villains use magic. Ah! That sounds interesting. I thought it'd be more like regular people in our universe fighting evil magic. I love the idea of plants inside houses, and I think this might look really neat. Many of the aspects sound interesting. However, I'm a bit worried about the fact that it sounds so police-procedural and so little character development. Like taragel, I'm worried it's going to be a little cheesier than BSG and not as compelling. (The linked post was written before James and Tricia were announced, so it doesn't discuss how central their roles are. I'm hoping James' will be more central than Jamie's, since Jamie is apparently not very prominent in the pilot.) 

The show could really go either way for me. I could love it, or I could be kind of meh. I like supernatural elements in shows, but I don't love police procedurals. I've never been drawn to shows that operate on "crime of the week". I'd rather see characters and themes building up. That said, those two don't have to be mutually exclusive; I just don't want to see another CSI with magic thrown in. As for the magic being cheesy, I might still like it. I do enjoy Medium and The 4400, because I love the actors on those shows, their chemistry, and the characters they build little by little, even if the plot doesn't always compel me. I have a hard time believing that James, Jamie, and Tricia wouldn't bring something more into the roles than is on the page. 

I'm going to be cautiously optimistic about this. I trust RDM, Michael Rymer, James, Tricia and Jamie. (Not necessarily in that order.) And I promise, if I don't like it, this is not going to turn into "17P Hate Blog" where I rant each week about how much I hated the latest episode. (Note how I'm omitting the possibility that it won't be a series.) I want to support this project because these people are like... (family? No, way too cheesy for ppl you haven't met) (TV friends? Hmm) people I feel warmly about, without ever having met them. (Eh.) I hope I'll also get to squee though. 

2 comments:

Nicole Anell said...

The only thing I have to say is I'm not sure why Tara was surprised at the lack of humor. Humor is NOT a strength of Ron's, lol. Getting into BSG after being a Joss Whedon fan, it was almost distractingly somber and grim. Humor is a strength of James's, though, so hopefully he can inject some. :D

Still hoping for the best and encouraged by some of the comments there from other people who read it.

Deniselle said...

Actually, you may be right. There wasn't all that much humor in the pilot. (I never got the "Nothing but the rain" bit.)

I would be very surprised if James didn't inject some humor into it. It seems inevitable. I hope.

I'm not making a judgement until I see it. I'm excited about some aspects and disappointed in others, but I only know how it SOUNDS from someone who's read it, so it's very by-proxy. I need to see it made, with the JamesTricia factor thrown in, and judge by my emotional react-o-meter how much I like it.

(My cat is a bit confused by my varying expressions of glee/nervousness/surprise/fangush. He is looking at me with great superiority.)