Starz has cancelledAmerican Gods, its fantasy TV show based on a novel by Neil Gaiman, after three seasons, citing declining ratings.
The TV show, based on Gaiman's bestselling 2001 novel, has had a raucous and uncertain behind-the-scenes production. Original writer-showrunner Bryan Fuller drove the first season an astonishing $30 million over budget before clashing with executives over the budget for the second season. He was fired and replaced with Jesse Alexander, with Gaiman himself stepping up for an increased, unofficial role in the second season. Alexander exited the show before Season 2 aired, being replaced by producing director Chris Byrne and line producer Lisa Kussner on an interim basis. Charles Eglee replaced them for the third season.
The show also experienced a high cast turnover, with Gillian Anderson and Kristin Chenoweth departing after Season 1 and Pablo Shreiber and Orlando Jones departing after Season 2 (the former after being cast as the lead in the Halo TV series), although the core cast of Ricky Whittle, Ian McShane, Emily Browning, Crispin Glover, Bruce Langley and Yetide Badaki remained intact.
Although the show was applauded for its performances and rich visual style, it was heavily criticised for stretching a single 500-page novel out across at least four seasons, resulting in a somnambulantly glacial pace. Its critical acclaim significantly dropped after the first season and ratings tumbled, with only around a third of the Season 1 audience sticking around for a third season.
Production company Fremantle are now in talks for a TV movie to wrap up the story (Season 3 ended barely 40 pages from the end of the novel, allowing for a relatively speedy wrap-up), although Starz are reportedly lukewarm on the prospects.
Gaiman is currently producing an adaptation of his Sandman graphic novel series for Netflix.
The job of a good title sequence is to hook you into the story straight away and also keep you watching whilst the contractually-mandated right names are ticked off at the bottom of the screen. For a while it looked like title sequences were going the way of the dodo, with some TV shows preferring very brief title cards (the likes of Lost and Heroes), but the rise to fame of premium cable and streaming shows, with variable episode times, has made this less of an issue. Here then - not in numerical order! - are ten great title sequences from genre TV shows.
American Gods (2017 - present)
The most recent show on this list has an unusual, dreamlike title sequence and musical score. The title sequence mixes traditional religious imagery with modern-day objects, a clear homage to the theme of the old gods versus the new. So we have a Hindu-like statue surrounded by modern drugs, the internal combustion engine and the space shuttle being treated as religious icons and, dominating all, a somewhat threatening version of the American eagle. An impressive work of art in its own right.
Babylon 5 (1993-98)
J. Michael Straczynski's space opera magnum opus was supposed to be the TV equivalent of Lord of the Rings or Dune, a vast epic story set in a thoroughly-realised setting, with each season acting as a separate book in a series of novels. In that sense he was thoroughly successful. This required each of the show's five seasons to have a different title sequence, each setting up an increasingly complex story. Composer Christopher Franke also had to come up with not just one, but five different theme tunes (he did cheat a little and repeat some motifs to great effect). The result is a title sequence and theme tune that sets each of the five seasons apart and adjusts to the changing tone of each season, moving through the worsening situation and outbreak of war in Seasons 2 and 3 to the hopeful, post-conflict tones of Season 5.
Batman: The Animated Series (1992-95)
There have been several Batman TV series, ranging from the 1960s camp-fest starring Adam West to current crime-fighting odyssey Gotham, but the finest remains this animated series from the early 1990s. Drawing on the Tim Burton movies, the animated series is Batman in arguably its purest and most distilled form: the Caped Crusader (with occasional allies) taking down criminals mundane and super-powered. The show's art deco-inspired title sequence may be the greatest summary of what the character and his stories are all about.
Blake's 7 (1978-81)
This cult British space opera show was far, far ahead of its time (and way ahead of its budget). An adult, dark and bleak vision of the future (albeit one with fantastic hairstyles and bizarre fashion tastes), the show was about a band of freedom fighters trying to bring down a despotic government and all too often drifting over the moral border into terrorism and murder. The ground-breaking title sequence mixes live action, animation and electronic elements to depict the mix of Orwellian future dystopia and star-spanning adventures. It was revisited several times as technology improved over the course of the show's four-season run.
Cowboy Bebop (1998)
Generally praised as one of the greatest animated series of all time, Cowboy Bebop ran for just one season and 26 episodes back in 1998, the creators at Sunrise Studios keen not to milk the product by promptly walking away and never looking back. In those 26 episodes the crew of the Bebop got involved in everything from farcical comedies to nail-biting dramas built on suspense and even horror, all to a funky soundtrack from the obscenely-talented Yoko Kanno. Okay, let's jam.
Doctor Who
(1963 - present)
Unsurprisingly - since it has run for 36 seasons across 55 years - Doctor Who has had more title sequences than any other genre show in history. No less than 17 title sequences and variations on the theme tune have introduced the show since it's began. It's more remarkable that these sequences have carried forward the same certain motifs - the chaotic swirl of the Time Vortex - even since the first one. The 1980s version notably becomes a bit more electronic and the 1987-89 version (during the Sylvester McCoy era) introduces a new recurring idea, that of the TARDIS flying past the camera, which remains a key part of the sequence into the new era. Next month we'll see the 18th version of the title sequence and music to usher in the Thirteenth Doctor, and it'll be interesting to see what they do with it.
Firefly (2002)
From the longst-running show on the list to the shortest, Firefly ran for only 14 episodes back in 2002. Fox TV didn't understand Joss Whedon's vision, was confused by the mash-up of SF and Wild West ideas and prematurely canned the series (eventually realising their mistake when the DVD box set sales came in). The title sequence combines spaceships, action, horses and an Old West-style theme song to perfectly nail the show's atmosphere.
Game of Thrones (2011-19)
HBO was understandably nervous before launching Game of Thrones in 2011, their first foray into fantasy fiction. Based on the most critically-acclaimed epic fantasy book series since Tolkien, with a pre-launch hype that has not been matched since, the show was clearly going to do well. But having one of the most striking title sequences of all time certainly helped, along with Ramin Djawadi's incredible theme music (which is definitely going through your head right now).
Star Trek (1966-69)
The original Star Trek title sequence may be the most iconic in television history. Pretty simple and straightforward, with Captain Kirk telling us this is going to be a journey to the final frontier and lots of shots of the USS Enterprise flying quickly past the camera. Star Trek: The Next Generation remixed this title sequence quite effectively before Deep Space Nine brought in a new, more stately approach.
True Blood (2008-14)
True Blood won't be fondly remembered as one of the great genre TV shows, but it did have a pitch-perfect title sequence which combined Southern Americana, religious fundamentalism, blood and sex, setting the tone of the TV show perfectly. The choice of theme song (Jace Everett's "Bad Things") ties in with this very well as well. This intro set up the show (more specifically, its first three seasons before it became a self-parodying soap opera) perfectly and may be the most HBO of all of HBO's title sequences.
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The troubled production of the second season of American Godshas somehow managed to get even more troubled.
To rewind a little, Fremantle Studios bought the rights to Neil Gaiman's 2001 novel American Gods several years ago. After developing the project at HBO with Gaiman involved as head writer, HBO chose not to proceed (surprisingly late in the day). Fremantle took the script to Starz. Starz greenlit the project, managing to win the services of the much-in-demand Bryan Fuller and producing partner Michael Green to work as showrunners and head writers on the project. Gaiman continued to be involved closely as an active producer.
Early tensions apparently emerged when it became clear that Fuller and Green had their own vision for the project, which was not quite in keeping with Gaiman's. Gaiman wanted a close adaptation of his novel, whilst Fuller and Green wanted something slower-paced and more like a magic realist fable, with complex visual dream sequences and flashbacks, some incorporating elements from Gaiman's other stories in the same setting and others completely original. Starz, who were funding the project to the tune of $7 million per episode, sided with Fuller and Green, and Gaiman and Fremantle's preferences were shut out. Executive producer Stefanie Burk, however, was able to keep the two factions talking to each other.
Despite this tension, the production of the first season of American Gods went relatively smoothly until fairly late in the day, when Starz began to get alarmed over the rising costs. They slashed two episodes from the season's length in an effort stop the overruns. Once filming was concluded, they allowed Fuller and Green to complete post-production, at which point it became clear that the season had gone $30 million - the equivalent of over four full episodes - over-budget. This may rank as one of the biggest overspends in television history, but fortunately Amazon swept in and saved the day by spending a huge amount of money on buying the international broadcasting rights to the series, dwarfing the overspend and putting Starz back into profit.
Apparently a meeting was held where Starz agreed to keep Fuller and Green on board, with the firm understanding that such a cost overrun could not happen again. A second season was ordered, this time for 10 episodes, and the budget was increased to $10 million an episode, making American Gods the third-most-expensive show on air (after only Game of Thrones and The Crown). Not long after this agreement, however, Fuller and Green presented the scripts for the first six episodes of the season to Starz and it was clear this budget was going to be insufficient. With Fuller and Green refusing to make needed cuts, they were fired from the show.
Jess Alexander was brought in to replace them as showrunner and head writer. Alexander was a close friend of Neil Gaiman's, but had also worked closely with Fuller on Star Trek: Discovery and Hannibal. Although he wouldn't be on-set (as he was showrunning the Good Omens project in the UK), Gaiman agreed to take a more direct involvement on the second season, making bigger decisions. The general feel was that Gaiman and Alexander would hew the TV show closer to the novel whilst maintaining the spirit and feel of the first season but without breaking the bank. To this end, they also dumped Fuller and Green's scripts for Season 2, preferring to start from scratch.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, trying to wear all these caps simultaneously proved impossible. Actors complained of the quality of scripts compared to the first season, with actor Ian McShane apparently coming up with better dialogue by himself on set (leading to alleged "screaming matches" with Alexander). Starz demanded hefty rewrites to Alexander's scripts. To make things worse, actress Gillian Anderson had quit over Fuller's firing and producer Stefanie Burk had left the company altogether, removing a key moderating influence on set.
To try to salvage things, Starz have slashed the episode count (again) to eight and have reportedly now sidelined Jesse Alexander after being hugely unsatisfied with his script for the season finale, promoting supervising producer Chris Byrne and line producer Lisa Kussner to the showrunning position as an interim measure (to put two junior producers into such a role is extraordinary).
Exactly how Starz will get the show back on track remains to be seen. They have, however, indicated that the media reports are overblown and are promising to drop a trailer for Season 2 in a few weeks to restore some faith in proceedings. Star Ricky Whittle, meanwhile, has also said that reports of chaos on set are in error.
American Gods is expected to return to the screen in early 2019, one way or another.
Shadow Moon is released from prison but finds his life is not what he thought it was: his wife has been killed in a car accident, driving with her lover. Strange things are happening across America and at the centre of it is the old man enigmatically known as “Mr. Wednesday.” When Mr. Wednesday offers Shadow a job, Shadow accepts and finds himself drawn into a struggle older and weirder than he can possibly understand.
Based on Neil Gaiman’s 2001 novel, American Gods is a lush, eight-part drama which adapts roughly a third of the book. Given the book is only about 500 pages long, this is fairly generous and results in the first season have a relaxed, even languid pace. This is one of the show’s strengths but also its Achilles heel.
There is much to enjoy about this series, including the absolutely fantastic cast. Everyone, from seasoned hands like Ian McShane and Gillian Anderson to relative newcomers, are exceptional. The direction is also unusually striking to behold. Visually, American Gods may be the most gorgeous-looking television show ever made. There’s some stirring and powerfully effective imagery, whilst the colour grading, the framing of the shots, the movie-worthy cinematography and the generous and frequent use of CG to enhance the story are all stunning, as is the clever and imaginative opening title sequence. The show’s use of music, both original and licensed, is remarkable and often inventive (also occasionally bombastic and sometimes drowns out the dialogue, most notably during the major climactic moment of the finale).
The writing and pacing is where the show falters. Many modern shows make the mistake of trying to be relentless and constantly in a rush to get anywhere, often falling short (especially if you’re a Marvel show on Netflix trying to stretch 6 episodes’ worth of actual plot across 13 hours) or achieving that at the expense of character development or atmosphere. American Gods goes the other way, devoting an entire hour to the backstory of one of the major characters, visiting major episodes from their life and establishing their backstory in admirable depth. However, later on it dedicates a second episode to the backstory of that character’s great-great-great-great (etc) grandmother, in a well-written and enjoyable segment which doesn’t seem to add much to the overall storyline. It’s nice that the show can take time out to do this sort of thing, but it saps the show of momentum and energy. Compared to most “binge-worthy” shows, I felt no need to consume American Gods quickly and instead watched it over the course of several weeks. Not every show needs to be a sitting-on-the-edge-of-your-seat or nail-biting thriller, but American Gods goes in the opposite direction and is so laidback that it keeps falling asleep.
The narrative structure is also unsatisfying. Adapting one-third of a novel means that the show has a great opening, but it constantly interrupts the story of Wednesday, Shadow and the other protagonists to pursue tangents (most of them interesting, some consequential, others not) and then peters out at the end. There is a major climactic moment, but it’s more of a pause than a cliffhanger. Fortunately, there will be a second season (probably airing in mid-2019) with a major creative and writing reshuffle that will hopefully address some of these problems.
Still, it’s hard to argue with a show that gives an actor as great as Ian McShane such fantastic material to work with and one that confirms Ricky Whittle as one of the rising stars of television (it’s entertaining as a Brit to see how far he’s come since his days on soap opera Hollyoaks). It’s also great to see Crispin Glover, Pablo Schreiber and Emily Browning on such good form as well.
The first season of American Gods (***½) is lush, beautiful to look at, well-acted and atmospheric. It’s also slow, occasionally so slow as to approach inertness, and lacks tension. This is a fine wine to enjoy slowly and surely rather than a relentless sprint to the finish, and a slightly confusing show which inspires many mixed metaphors. The first season of American Gods is available now on DVD (UK, USA) and Blu-Ray (UK, USA), and is also available on Amazon Prime Video in the UK.
Starz's adaptation of American Gods has gotten a new showrunner in the form of Jesse Alexander. Alexander worked alongside outgoing producer-showrunner Bryan Fuller on both Hannibal and Star Trek: Discovery and Starz seem to be hoping he can keep some of Fuller's magic on the show. More encouragingly, Neil Gaiman is taking a more hands-on role on Season 2 of the show, apparently with the plan (backed by Starz) of getting the show to hew closer to the novel.
The Hollywood Reporter also has the skinny on why Fuller left the show between seasons. Season 1 went a mind-boggling $30 million over-budget. American Gods was already one of the most expensive shows on television, with a budget well north of $7 million per episode, so this overrun must have caused massive consternation at Starz. On top of this overrun, Fuller was also demanding a substantial budget increase for Season 2 above the extra $2 million per episode (taking the show to $9 million per episode, potentially making American Gods the third-most-expensive show on-air, behind only Game of Thrones and The Crown) already agreed with Starz. Apparently there was a logjam exacerbated by the possibility that Season 2 might not air until two years or more after Season 1.
Fuller has moved on and is now in talks to helm a TV adaptation of Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles. Gaiman and Alexander's remit now seems to be getting American Gods done within the confines of its already-generous budget and on a much more frequent timescale than had previously been planned. All going well, Starz hope to air the second season of American Gods in January or February 2019, providing there are no further setbacks.
Starz have released a full trailer for the first season of American Gods, based on Neil Gaiman's 2001 novel of the same name.
The eight-part series debuts on Starz on 30 April. The first season will cover approximately one-third of the novel, with the rest (and possible adaptations of the novel Anansi Boys and the short stories "Monarch of the Glen" and "Black Dog", as well as the unwritten American Gods II) to follow in succeeding seasons.
Neil Gaiman has confirmed that he is working on a sequel or successor to his 1997 novel Neverwhere (itself an adaptation of the 1996 BBC mini-series). In an interview with the UK's Channel 4 News, he says he was sparked off by the idea of including refugees in the world he created. Gaiman spent some time last year in a refugee camp in Jordan.
Gaiman did not provide much more information than the following:
“I’m working on a new novel. For the first time in twenty
years I’m going to go back to my novel Neverwhere.
For me it’s taking not only the dispossessed, not only the homeless, not only
those who fall through the cracks, but also the refugees. Also, people who are
fleeing war, fleeing intolerable situations, barely getting out with their
lives and then what happens to them next."
Neverwhere started off as a BBC TV series, developed with comedian Lenny Henry, before transitioning to a novel the following year. In 2013 it was adapted for the radio, starring James McAvoy, Natalie Dormer, Benedict Cumberbatch, Sophie Okenedo, Sir Christopher Le and Anthony Head, In 2014 Gaiman wrote a long-promised spin-off novella, How the Marquis Got His Coat Back, for George R.R. Martin and Gardener Dozois's anthology Rogues. This in turn was adapted for radio last year.
The new novel will be called The Seven Sisters. No date has been set for publication.
Neverwhere was hugely influential on the development of modern urban fantasy. China Mieville cites the novel as a major inspiration for his novels King Rat and Un Lun Dun.
Gaiman was speaking ahead of the launch of his new TV series, American Gods, which will air in the USA on Starz in April.
Gaiman is also writing the script for a TV adaptation of his collaborative novel with Sir Terry Pratchett, Good Omens. After almost twenty-five years in development hell, this has finally been greenlit for production by the BBC and Amazon.
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Nerd World Report have a lengthy interview with Bryan Fuller, the producer/showrunner behind both Starz's American Gods and CBS's Star Trek: Discovery.
Fuller packs in a fair bit of info from both shows, including:
American Gods
The first, nine-episode season will cover roughly a quarter of Neil Gaiman's novel. A major and infamous event involving the goddess Bilquis will be in Episode 1.
Bryan Fuller read the novel of American Gods about a year after it was originally published, so was a fan of the book a long time before the TV show was conceived.
Star Trek: Discovery
The show opens with a two-part episode. Part 1 is co-written by Bryan Fuller and Alex Kurtzman and Part 2 is written by Nicholas Meyer.
The main character is nicknamed "Number One" in honour of Majel Barrett's character from the original Star Trek pilot, The Cage, but isn't exactly the same character.
It's not fully decided yet if the show will have a totally new score or will pay tribute to music from previous series.
Originally the series was conceived as being able to take place in either the original (or "Prime") timeline or the Abramsverse (aka "Kelvin Timeline"). Kurtzman and Fuller settled on the Prime timeline because it meant they didn't have to track what was going on in the movies and vice versa (although I suspect the legal issues played their part as well).
Both shows are being shot in Toronto, with American Gods wrapping up production shortly and Star Trek: Discovery now in pre-production. Both shows are expected to air in early 2017.
Starz have confirmed that Gillian Anderson has joined the cast of American Gods, its TV adaptation of Neil Gaiman's 2001 novel about forgotten deities trying to survive in modern America.
Anderson will be playing the new goddess Media, who takes the form of celebrities and lives off the attention people give to their televisions, computer screens and smartphones.
American Gods recently began filming and will likely air in early 2017 on Starz. The series also stars Ricky Whittle as Shadow and Ian McShane as Mr. Wednesday.
American Gods has formally begun production in Toronto. The cast and crew held a first read-through a couple of days ago with producers Michael Green, David Slade and Bryan Fuller attending. The only confirmed castmembers present were Ian McShane as Mr. Wednesday and Ricky Whittle as Shadow. Prior to the readthrough, one of the production team created an ad hoc logo in the snow on the street outside.
Filming on the show begins imminently, for transmission on Starz later this year.
Ian McShane has landed the role of Mr. Wednesday on Starz's TV version of Neil Gaiman's American Gods.
McShane is - of course - best-known in the UK for playing lovable rogue antiques dealer (yes, this was A Thing) on Lovejoy and in the USA for playing foul-mouthed barkeep/politician/pimp Al Swearengen (a real person) on HBO's Deadwood. We'll see him in action shortly in Season 6 of Game of Thrones, playing Septon Meribald (or a very similar character to the one in the novels).
McShane will star opposite Ricky Whittle, who will be playing the protagonist Shadow. The series starts shooting in a next few weeks, to debut in late 2016 or early 2017.
Meanwhile, McShane has let slip a rather massive spoiler about his role on Game of Thrones (spoiler at the link), as well as confirming that he will be playing the role of Septon Meribald from the books (although HBO's refusal to confirm that makes me wonder if the character will be renamed).
The Starz TV adaptation of American Godshas found its leading man. British actor Ricky Whittle will play the role of Shadow in Neil Gaiman's story about ancient gods existing in the modern United States.
Whittle rose to prominence on British television, most notably a lengthy stint on Hollyoaks and a turn on reality TV show Strictly Come Dancing as well as roles on Dream Team and Holby City. He then moved to Hollywood and for the past three seasons has played the recurring role of Lincoln on the excellent CW adventure series The 100, as well as appearing on Single Ladies, Housewives and NCIS. He has appeared in two films, Losing Sam and Austenland.
American Gods is based on the Neil Gaiman novel of the same name, although it will also incorporate original storylines and elements from Gaiman's other planned stories in the same universe. The Starz series is expected to shoot this year for a possible 2017 debut.
It's been a bit quiet on the American Gods front, but Den of Geek has published an interview with Bryan Fuller on the upcoming Neil Gaiman adaptation.
According to Fuller, pre-production is in full swing, two scripts are in, sets are being designed and casting should begin soon. Starz are hoping to air the series in late 2016. Encouragingly, Fuller has said that the casting team are committed to being faithful to the ethnic diversity of the book and not whitewashing any of the characters.
Starz have picked up the TV rights to Neil Gaiman's novel American Gods. The project was previously in development at HBO for several years, but ultimately they chose to pass on it. Fremantle Media signed up the rights in a development deal and now Starz are on board to produce and air the show in the United States, with Fremantle retaining international distribution rights.
Even more excitingly, Starz have picked Bryan Fuller to produce and run the project. Fuller is the creator of Dead Like Me, Wonderfalls, Pushing Daisies and, most recently and to great acclaim, Hannibal. Fuller was also widely praised for his work on the first (and best) season of Heroes. TV and comic writer Michael Green will co-produce along with Fuller.
Excellent news. The semi-sequel to American Gods, Anansi Boys, is also in development as a mini-series project at the BBC.
Having failed to get the American Gods TV show off the ground at HBO, Neil Gaiman has signed a development deal with Fremantle Media. Fremantle has recently gotten a number of projects off the ground, including the third version of The Tomorrow People, the American version of the French drama The Returned and a new Rob Reiner project, Basket Case. The hope must be that they will guide American Gods to a new home.
The reasons for HBO passing on American Gods have not yet been given, and likely never will be. HBO were being extremely enthusiastic about the project merely weeks before they canned it, and Gaiman had developed three draft scripts for them.
Neil Gaiman has confirmed that the American Gods TV series has moved networks. It was formerly in development at HBO for several years, with Gaiman recently reporting that he'd completed a third draft of the pilot script and excitement was building at HBO over the project.
However, via Reddit, Gaiman has announced that the series is moving ahead elsewhere and a formal announcement will be made soon. Given that the series seemed to moving forwards on all thrusters at HBO, this news is most surprising.
It's been about two years since HBO optioned Neil Gaiman's novel American Gods for a TV adaptation. Gaiman recently provided an update on the status of the project.
Gaiman recently turned in the third draft of the pilot script and said it had been very well-received, with an expectation that the project will move ahead at some point. Gaiman said that for the TV show he has radically expanded on the original novel, with new scenes showing the bank robbery that went wrong and landed Shadow in prison. Apparently HBO were concerned about these deviations from the book, so the new scenes have been moved from the start of the episode to later on and reframed as flashbacks.
When we might get a firm commitment from HBO is unknown. HBO's hour-long drama roster is pretty full at the moment, which some have suggested is the reason why both American Gods and their I, Claudius adaptation (which, it is speculated, will be both an adaptation of the Graves novels and also a long-term sequel to HBO's Rome, possibly using that series' still-standing sets in Italy) have not yet moved forwards.
Neil Gaiman has tweeted that he is now writing the American Gods TV show pilot, indicating that the project is still moving ahead despite a long gap since the last hard news about it.
In addition, the BBC is recording a new radio drama adaptation of Neverwhere, Gaiman's novelisation of his 1996 television series of the same name. This would not normally be big news, except the cast that has been assembled is nothing short of stellar. The list of names currently stands as:
James McAvoy - Richard
Natalie Dormer - Door
Benedict Cumberbatch - Islington
Antony Head - Mr. Croup
David Schofield - Mr. Vandemar
Sophie Okenedo - Hunter
Bernard Cribbins - Old Bailey
Romola Garai - Jessica
Christopher Lee - The Earl
David Harewood - The Marquis
Andrew Sachs - Tooley
Johnny Vegas - Lord Ratspeaker
Impressive. They could make a movie of the story with this cast and it would be awesome.
