Monday, November 14, 2011

NBC announces midseason schedule, but ‘Awake’ missing

NBC announced its midseason schedule today, but one show I was looking forward to seeing is nowhere to be found.
“Awake,” starring Jason Isaacs (who played Lucius Malfoy in the “Harry Potter” series), was slated as a midseason replacement series. But NBC either couldn’t find a slot for the show or lost confidence in it, like it did last season’s “Day One.” The network’s website lists the show’s premiere as “TBA.”
The Hollywood Reporter on Oct. 26 said the show shut down production for a month after filming its sixth episode to give writers time to hammer out scripts for new episodes.
“Awake” is a drama about a police detective who finds himself living reality-bending double life. Here’s the official synopsis:

When Detective Michael Britten (Isaacs) regains consciousness following his family’s car accident, he is told that his wife Hannah (Laura Allen, “Terriers”) perished but that his teen son, Rex (Dylan Minnette, “Saving Grace”), has survived. As he tries to put the pieces of his life back together, he awakens again in a parallel reality in which his wife is very much alive – but his son Rex died in the accident. In order to keep both of his loved ones alive at one time, he begins living two dueling realities in parallel worlds, which churns up confusion – in one moment, Michael and his wife debate about having another child to replace their son, while in the other reality, he is attracted to his son’s tennis coach, Tara (Michaela McManus, “The Vampire Diaries”), to fill the void from the loss of his wife. Trying to regain some normalcy, Michael returns to police work and solves crimes in both worlds with the help of two different partners – Detective Isaiah “Bird” Freeman (Steve Harris, “The Practice”) and Detective Efrem Vega (Wilmer Valderrama, “That ’70s Show”). Also starring are Emmy Award winner Cherry Jones (“24”) and BD Wong (NBC’s “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”) as therapists in each respective world.
The series is produced by 20th Century Fox Television. Kyle Killen (“Lone Star”) and Howard Gordon (“24”) are executive producers. David Slade (“Twilight: Eclipse,” “30 Days of Night”) also serves as executive producer and directed the pilot written by Killen.
Hopefully NBC will find a place for this show. It sounds intriguing.

Photo: Jason Isaacs as Det. Michael Britten in a scene from NBC’s “Awake.”

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