Howard Gordon (24, Homeland) and Josh Friedman (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) are working together on a potential NBC series set in a near-future where human-looking robots exist. The pilot will revolve around a homicide detective investigating the first instance of a robot killing a human being, to the backdrop of a growing robotic rebellion.
That sounds like the plot to the successful movie I, Robot, which was inspired by various short stories by Isaac Asimov. It's also interesting that NBC's chosen to move ahead with this idea, seeing as the concept has some similarities to the unsuccessful pilot Beautiful People they ordered earlier this year. That show was also going to explore a future where robots are an everyday part of life, and begin campaigning for equal rights. The pilot, which also had similarities to Syfy's Caprica, was not given a series order, but it sounds like someone at NBC liked elements of what they saw... and perhaps want a do-over with a more marketable concept--hence the I, Robot flavouring.
Still, for whatever reason this as-yet-untitled project is going ahead, I'm at least happy to see they have Gordon and Friedman attached. Those guys know what they're doing. The latter's work on Sarah Connor Chronicles was particularly underrated, considering how abysmal a "Terminator TV show" could have been in lesser hands.
What do you make of this news? Happy to see these guys making a big sci-fi drama for a major US network? Or just disappointed the concept sounds so overdone?
[source: Deadline]
