2nd production delay

J_A · 2007-08-18 14:02:34

dan posted the article that follows below on the main page talking about a second production delay in season 7. I commented there and am including that post below, but I was just curious as to what the rest of you thinks.

dan's post
Fresh reports surfaced last night about production delays to the new season. At first I thought it was simply a re-reporting of the earlier delay but this morning it has become clear that there has indeed been a second production delay. The first came after the decision was passed down from FOX that ambitious plans to shoot some scenes in Africa would be too expensive, leading to a page one re-write and a production delay of a month (late August instead of late July).

The exact reason for the second delay is as yet unknown, but it will likely see production now start in roughly three weeks. Though several sources go with a slightly vague more scripts need to be finished, possibly suggesting the first four episodes, though wording in another article enough scripts for the new seasonlong plot - (reuters.com) leaves me with the faint hope of the writers going for more forward planning, indeed possibly demanding it before production can start.

One article is brave enough to mention the elephant in the room, the question if these production delays will mean its premiere date of the 13th of January will have to be moved back or change its usual 4 episodes over 2 night premiere format. Though with fans likely to need convincing of the many changes made to the show, the 4in2 format would help draw skeptical fans and so FOX will not make that call unless they have no other choice.

my comment
well, heres something that once again makes me think - at first glance - that theyre running out of ideas and thus need a longer time to come up with stuff.

at second glance, however, it could be what youre suggesting, that they want more episodes written before the production begins, so that they dont find themselves having ended the principal storyline 6 eps before the end of the season and having to tackle on something to it again like in ep 7. indeed I wish the second option were true, so that we would get a more coherent storyline. and I also hope - in general - that the season will not consist of 5 different storylines but one big arc that spans the season and slowly reveals the plot episode by episode.

lets hope they know what theyre doing. especially because of all the changes theyre supposedly making to the show.

hardy24 · 2007-08-18 14:58:23

I think just a little bit more planning can go a long way. I'm sure i'm probably repeating i myself, but for series one they had the first 6 episodes planned beat for beat (with possibly more high points also planned out), which it seems from the end product was enough to then ensure that the plot didn't really dead end until midseason, when they planned a bit more and started to tie both halfs together.

What was originally planned for S7 was to do half a season in Africa, and then break the real time and have a jump forward to get Jack back to the States and then do the second half in the States, and I think that they would tie the two halfs together in the same way as they did in Series 1.

I do have a certain amount of faith in them, I really believe there are some good ideas and some real talent there, and that given the chance, they can really bounce back. In some ways the only thing going against that is the pressure. It's easier to impress in the first season because all the plans are under the radar. But unfortunately there is big pressure, as if this season doesn't cut it, I don't see there being an 8th (or dare I say it, a movie)

J_A · 2007-08-18 16:04:43

hardy24 wrote:

But unfortunately there is big pressure, as if this season doesn't cut it, I don't see there being an 8th (or dare I say it, a movie)

yeah I agree with this. if s7 turns out to be below expectations, the movie will not happen.

hardy24 · 2007-08-19 00:15:17

From a creative stand point i almost wonder if blowing a seventh season off for now and making the movie next might have been the best thing. Suddenly then whatever they where planning in Africa might have been possible.

Though I guess from a commercial point of view a film is easier to promote when the show on top, not when the U.S. press have been inserting the line "disappointing 6th season" into every story for the last 3 months.

J_A · 2007-08-19 10:53:36

yeah, that's true, too. personally, i don't think that the film would be a great success right now, either. so it's better to make a good 7th season - or rather, it is essential for it to be good - if the movie is ever to happen.

on a side note though, i'm not sure just how interested i would even be in the movie at this point. being that it cannot go back in time and bring back any of the interesting characters, and I don't think that 2 hours of jack doing FBI's work in freeing some hostages or something would be interesting enough to make it a 24-worthy 2 hour experience.... but that's just me. if they'd made the movie after season 3 or 4 or something, maybe, but now? I'm not so sure.

unless they take the movie to be the closure to the series and end up killing off everyone they've neglected to get rid off in the past 5 years....

heh, I just saw you'd linked to this thread on the main site. nice idea . hope it draws some ppl in here

smitten · 2007-08-19 17:42:33

hardy24 wrote:

From a creative stand point i almost wonder if blowing a seventh season off for now and making the movie next might have been the best thing. Suddenly then whatever they where planning in Africa might have been possible.

Fingers crossed, I hope it pans out OK, and I really don't care if I have to wait a few extra weeks before the start of the season (remind me that next year). Traditionally they have really winged it a lot, and I think the series is now mature enough they just can't get away with that any more, or they start repeating themselves. The movie won't be bound by quite the same real-time constraints, so (theoretically) they should be able to be more innovative. Could they set a movie after season 3 (Jack escapes rehab to save the world) and involve Tony? Michelle? But I'm sure even if the film was all new characters, if they introduce them right, it would work. Either way, if they need time to come up with new ideas, that's just fine.

J_A · 2007-08-19 19:26:46

oh they've been repeating themselves a lot over the past few years.
they can't go back in time, they said it repeatedly. they can't kill off anyone, they can't make anyone look younger, they can't endanger anyone cause you know they'll survive to be in season 4 and that would take away some of the suspense. that's what tehy say.

frankly, though, knowing that jack will always survive has been taking away lots of suspense for me so I won't really buy that argument. there are a lot of things inbetween, it's not just life or death. so I wouldn't mind. the most interesting being the period btw s1 and 2 or btw s3 and 4. imo, at least.

hardy24 · 2007-08-19 23:37:56

I had a thought about the possibilties right now, and I think that a possible format for the movie could be jumping around to different important parts in Jacks CTU career, and say that between the jumps everything is real time. To show some things that we might have wondered about along the way. How Jack joined CTU, why he and Teri broke up etc.

I think it could have worked.

J_A · 2007-08-20 09:33:40

that sounds like an interesting thing. filling in the blanks. it might work. i think it's unlikely they'd do it, but it sounds like a good idea to me. maybe someone could at least write a fanfic about that

smitten · 2007-08-20 18:08:46

jack_addict wrote:

oh they've been repeating themselves a lot over the past few years.
they can't go back in time, they said it repeatedly. they can't kill off anyone, they can't make anyone look younger, they can't endanger anyone cause you know they'll survive to be in season 4 and that would take away some of the suspense. that's what tehy say.
.

Hmmm. Like you, I'm not convinced. They could make someone *a bit* younger, but I accept they can't make Kiefer into a pre-season 1 Jack, because he has just changed too much. They could (like in the books) bring in new characters and then we wouldn't know if they get killed or transferred to Seattle.

I've been thinking some more about the fix they're in now, and I think I've realised something from some of the comments they sometimes make. That is, that they genuinely don't know whether something is going to work or not. They don't know if a theme comes across as convincing, plausible or just plain absurd. They don't know before they do it, and sometimes they don't even know after they've done it. I know it's a cliche, but they just can't see the wood for the trees.

J_A · 2007-08-20 20:02:23

smitten wrote:

that is, that they genuinely don't know whether something is going to work or not. They don't know if a theme comes across as convincing, plausible or just plain absurd. They don't know before they do it, and sometimes they don't even know after they've done it. I know it's a cliche, but they just can't see the wood for the trees.

not to sound defensive or attacking you but have you ever tried writing? and writing under stress or time crunch? they don't have the luxury of time. they can't finish writing a season before it starts being filmed so they have the perfect storyline done. which means that if they find that tehy've written themselves into a corner 12 eps down the line, they'll already have shot 8 eps or so and there is no way back. you have to deal with things as they come. you can't throw away what you've done and start over. besides, they're always writing 2 eps and filming 2 eps, meaning 4 eps are being worked on at the same time. which is I think faster than most other shows. 24 has one of the longest seasons (24 eps per season) and a pretty short hiatus. so even though they've been repeating themselves, and maybe some of the things haven't been the best, they do deserve some credit.

they should probably bring in fresh writers every now and then but also keep the core of a few writers who will a) remember what has already been done and b) if they don't remember, go back in time and check.

because we - the guys who have been watching and rewatching this - remember lots of elements, storylines and even verbatim quotes that have been used and reused. and to some of us, it becomes boring. others - those of us who don't know the series by heart - won't notice this. but it would be nice if also the writers were aware of it all. and knowing that if they're repeating things, it's consciously.

smitten · 2007-08-20 21:20:58

jack_addict wrote:

not to sound defensive or attacking you but have you ever tried writing?

Believe me, JA, what I wrote was not in criticism. On the contrary, given the task, I think they mostly do very well. It's an observation. When you think of some of the crazy stuff they do, and you can just imagine someone in a committee saying 'they'll never buy that', and then - guess what - we do! But it must be like flying blind - scary.

J_A · 2007-08-20 21:43:27

smitten wrote:

just imagine someone in a committee saying 'they'll never buy that', and then - guess what - we do! But it must be like flying blind - scary.

yeah maybe. just the knowing that you can't go back if you screw up. but i guess that's why the writers team is like 12 people or something. although it can also be a bad thing, imho. too many cooks... you know how it goes.

frankly, I'd rather have just one or two writers handling things. that way it would be secured that all the characters stay true to themselves since those one or two writers would know them inside and out. this way, it's sometimes - or maybe often - something that the actors have to work out. if things are in or out of character. or the story between the seasons. however, with a storyline as complex as this, I suppose it's necessary to have a large team that can come up with lots of ideas quickly.

"Ok, we have 10 minutes to make Jack escape police custody, get across town, from North Hollywood to East LA, dodging the rushour traffic, save Kim from Cougar #2 in a hijacked helicopter and get rid of 5 baddies in the process. How do we do it? Ideas?"

smitten · 2007-08-21 19:53:17

jack_addict wrote:

"Ok, we have 10 minutes to make Jack escape police custody, get across town, from North Hollywood to East LA, dodging the rushour traffic, save Kim from Cougar #2 in a hijacked helicopter and get rid of 5 baddies in the process. How do we do it? Ideas?"

LOL. Uh, let me guess - we're running out of time!!!

J_A · 2007-08-21 20:05:50

smitten wrote:

jack_addict wrote:
"Ok, we have 10 minutes to make Jack escape police custody, get across town, from North Hollywood to East LA, dodging the rushour traffic, save Kim from Cougar #2 in a hijacked helicopter and get rid of 5 baddies in the process. How do we do it? Ideas?"
LOL. Uh, let me guess - we're running out of time!!!

YEP exactly! As usual

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#1 2007-08-18 14:02:34

2nd production delay

#2 2007-08-18 14:58:23

Re: 2nd production delay

#3 2007-08-18 16:04:43

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#4 2007-08-19 00:15:17

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#5 2007-08-19 10:53:36

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#6 2007-08-19 17:42:33

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#7 2007-08-19 19:26:46

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#8 2007-08-19 23:37:56

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#9 2007-08-20 09:33:40

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#10 2007-08-20 18:08:46

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