FANTASY is the new reality this fall.
Two new shows this season feature lead characters – a cop and private eye – who can’t be killed.
Perhaps this year’s two most-talked about new series are about, respectively, a florist who can raise the dead with a touch and a young man who finds out at age 21 that his parents way back sold his soul to the devil.
They are not, strictly speaking, science fiction – but rather fantasy, “what if . . .” plot ideas that stick the uncommon with the every day to see what happens. The reason, say many of the people behind these shows, for the sudden fashion in shows like “Heroes” and “Lost” is probably the state of the real world – uncertain and downright scary.
David Eick, the executive producer of new version of “The Bionic Woman,” believes that viewers gravitate to fantasy programming during times of real-world strife.
“It does seem that during troubled times, our storytelling turns to the allegorical,” he says. “I would characterize these times as troubling, to put it mildly. And I don’t think it’s any coincidence that you’re seeing a lot more escapist fantasy and storytelling.”
The new shows range from a new, darker twist on the classic 1970s series “The Bionic Woman” to a time-traveling cop, “Journeyman.”
“Pushing Daisies” is a fantasy about a death-defying florist and “Moonlight” follows the adventures of a private-eye who just also happens to be a vampire.
In “Reaper,” a slacker kid is forced by the devil to re capture bad souls who have escaped from hell.
Then there’s the comedy/ drama called “Chuck,” about a com puter geek who acci dentally downloads all of the government’s darkest secrets directly into his brain.
This winter, Fox will debut “New Amsterdam,” a show about an immortal New York City cop and “The Sarah Conner Chronicles,” based on the “Terminator” movies.
Since the TV networks will frequently copy each other’s hits, it may seem as if much of the new season lineup is a result of “Heroes,” last year’s breakout superhero drama on NBC. But its creator, Tim Kring, says that he cannot take credit since all of the new shows were already in development before “Heroes” became a hit.
“I think it would be nice for ‘Heroes’ to be able to take credit for this, but knowing how ideas are sold in the TV industry, I really can’t.”
Kring agrees that the reason network execs are going to “unreality” shows this year is because they believe viewers are searching for a way to escape everyday life.
“I really think it stems from living in a world as complicated and scary as the one we live in right now and the desire to turn on the TV at night and escape into a fantasy world ,” he says.
Chip Johannessen, the executive producer of “Moonlight,” believes that the shift is simply because these types of shows were the best ones the networks had.
“I don’t think there was a big philosophical thought about what the world needs today,” he says. “I just think [the networks] were drawn to these elements – and here we are.”
Mel Caylo, the editorial director of scifi/ fantasy oriented Wizard magazine has his own take on the matter. “I’m a geek, and I think geeks are the new taste-makers,” he says.”Besides people are tired of reality TV. It’s time to return to good, scripted escapism.”