robthomas

It's hard to believe that we're a full year removed from the glorious mess that was Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. It seemed that the split between "liked it" and "hated it" was about 50-50, but everyone wanted to comment. One thing I noticed in those comments was that, even among the people who liked it, there was a strong sentiment against the performance of Sarah Paulson as Harriet Hayes. Most people just didn't like the chemistry she had with Matthew Perry, and she didn't manage to make us care enough about the plight of the über-religious comedian to root for her to connect with anyone.

So, for anyone who's looking forward to the revival of Rob Thomas' Cupid, the news that Paulson's been cast as the female lead on the show has to be disheartening. She's playing Dr. Claire Allen, the same role Paula Marshall played in the original series, opposite Bobby Cannavale, who is taking over the Cupid role from Jeremy Piven.

This sounds like a stroke of genius. Make that two geniuses when it comes to comedy. Catherine O'Hara and Rob Thomas working together. O'Hara has been cast as the lead in Good Behavior, one of three Rob Thomas projects in the works for next season (although he has stepped back from Beverly Hills 90210 to concentrate on Good Behavior and Cupid). If the ABC dramedy manages to get picked up and O'Hara is heading up the project, they can count on me to tune in. Yeah, I said it. I'm committed if the SCTV-vet is committed.

Catherine, who might be best known as Kevin's mother in Home Alone and Home Alone 2, is better known to comedy devotees for her brilliant work on SCTV -- Lola "I want to have your baby" Heatherton, and the Christopher Guest mockumentaries like Best in Show (she was Cookie Guggleman Fleck, the trampy wife of Eugene Levy, both of whom adored their terrier).

Good Behavior is based on Outrageous Fortune, a New Zealand series about a criminal family. Catherine is Jackie West, the matriarch of the clan, and when her spouse is caught and thrown in jail for five years, she decides that it's time for the rest of the family to go straight.

Every time I see an image of Rob Thomas I can't help but think, "man, that is one huge neck." Sorry, just had to get that out of the way.

It turns out that the aforementioned tight-tie-wearing director/producer/writer has decided to pass on heading the Beverly Hills, 90210 spinoff series to concentrate more on a couple of other projects, one of which we've already mentioned before: Cupid and Good Behavior. Thomas will still be involved with the spinoff show, but only as an executive producer. In fact, the script for the series is being totally rewritten by Gabe Sachs and Jeff Judah from What About Brian (Update: They also wrote for Freaks & Geeks and Undeclared). In a nutshell, fans of Rob Thomas won't likely be feeling the Rob Thomas-ness in this series.

This isn't the first time in recent history that Thomas has stepped down from a new series. The same thing happened with Miss Guided last year, though it's unclear if that show has suffered at all from his departure.

[via PopCandy]

Jeremy Piven was unavailable this time around, busy as he is playing Ari in Entourage, so writer/producer Rob Thomas went in another direction. Taller, by four inches. Thomas has chosen Bobby Cannavale for the title role in Cupid for ABC.

Cannavale, an Emmy-award winner for his guest turn on Will & Grace as Vince, will be Trevor Hale in Cupid. He's described as manic and charming and firmly believing in the fact that he is the real Roman god of love, Cupid. His mission is to make 100 love matches so he can earn the right to leave Earth and return to Mount Olympus. ABC is behind this new pilot, an updated version of Thomas' 1998 Cupid that didn't make it past season one.

Will it be the magic again? You've gotta hope so... According to Watch with Kristin on E!online, there's a good chance that the Veronica Mars team of Kristen Bell and Rob Thomas will be working together again.

In a recent chat with Kristin, Kristen (that's Ms. Bell -- check the spelling) has been talking with Rob about the possibility of another series. It would be great if they were talking about bringing Veronica back, but that's apparently not meant to be. Only fans like us, we see that that is what we'd want most of all, but it ain't happening.

Is that a throne Rob Thomas is sitting on? Seems like he's quickly becoming King of TV! The prolific scribe is quite literally sitting in the catbird seat. ABC has just greenlit another Rob Thomas pilot, that's his third -- but who's counting? It follows ABC's resurrection of Cupid and a Beverly Hills, 90210 spinoff for the CW. The latest Rob Thomas opus is an import based on the New Zealand TV series Outrageous Fortune.

Outrageous Fortune is a one-hour dramedy is about a family of criminals. When the father is jailed for four years, the matriarch declares that it's time for the family to go straight. Thomas has written the pilot and will act as executive producer, along with John Barnett, Michael Larkin, Michael Goldstein, Bruce Cervi and John Lansing.

Rob Thomas, the creator of Veronica Mars, just got the go-ahead to make a pilot for ABC. His new show is called Cupid, about a guy who believes he's a god sent by Zeus to unite 100 couples.

As many of you probably know, Cupid is actually a throw-back for Thomas-- it's the resurrection of the same series of the same name that lasted 15 episodes on ABC in 1998. The original version starred Jeremy Piven as Cupid (Piven won't be returning to the show). E! network lists the short-lived series as #4 on the list of Top Ten Shows Canceled Before Their Time.

Schools in! For 11 seasons, Beverly Hills 90210, was a ratings hit and trend-setting youth soap opera for Fox. Now, a mere eight years later, the CW will spin-off Beverly Hills 90210, coming up with a contemporary version of the well-loved, if corny, teen drama.

The original, executive produced by the late Aaron Spelling, and created by Darren Star (Cashmere Mafia). The new CW version is not connected to Star. Rob Thomas, who created Veronica Mars, has been approached to take on the project.

I was a fan of the short-lived Jeremy Piven show Cupid, which aired on ABC in the late 90s. But I never would have thought that of all of the shows that have been canceled that it would be the one that would make a comeback, ten years later.

But that's what's happening. Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas, who created Cupid, was looking for a show sort of like Cupid to do for ABC, and ABC just asked if he wanted to do Cupid again. And Sony gave the OK. The setting of the show will move from Chicago to Los Angeles, so they can have more guest stars (let's all say it at once: "ugh"). You can watch most of the original pilot here (part one isn't there for some reason).

Of course, Piven won't star in the remake. He's too busy doing HBO's Entourage and big screen movies. So who should we get for the lead role? How about Matthew Perry?

It seems like Rob Thomas is going through a mid-career crisis. After his series Veronica Mars was not renewed by the CW network back in May, Thomas has been floating around the television world looking for a new venture. Back in early July he was picked to head up the new ABC series Miss/Guided. However, two weeks later he left his position as executive producer and showrunner under the "creative differences" umbrella (I wonder if I could use that line when I leave my IT position).

Now, according to our dear, dear friend Michael Ausiello over at TV Guide, Thomas has joined Big Shots (another ABC show) as a consulting producer. He will be in good company this time around as the executive producers of the show, Danielle Stokdyk and Jennifer Gwartz, were former producers on Veronica Mars.

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of attending a taping of The Sound of Young America at Santa Monica's Westside Eclectic Theater. There was music and merriment and a fart orchestra that I won't bother explaining, but the centerpiece of the show was an interview between host Jesse Thorn and Veronica Mars creator and Miss/Guided showrunner Rob Thomas.

I learned many important things about Rob Thomas that night.

Looks like Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas already has a new job. He told E!'s Kristin Veitch that he has been brought on as executive producer and show-runner for the ABC midseason comedy Miss/Guided.

Miss/Guided is a single-camera sitcom staring Judy Greer (Love Monkey). She plays a former high school nerd that comes back to her alma mater as a guidance counselor and finds that high school is still high school, even for the adults. It was created by Caroline Williams, a writer on The Office; I'm guessing Thomas is being brought on to guide this show with an experienced hand, since Williams has never run a show before.

Those of you who have been diligently sending Mars candy bars to Dawn Ostroff, head of CW programming to save Veronica Mars from permanent cancellation may want to hold off on the next shipment when you hear what creator Rob Thomas has to say. In a recent newspaper interview Thomas pretty much said that VM is over for good as a television series.

Oh, he's not upset with the fans for trying. In fact, according to the interview, he loves that the fans have been making this all-out effort to renew the show. It's just that the CW's Ostroff doesn't get to make the final call if the show stays or not. That call is made by sister company CBS. Thomas believes that head honcho Les Moonves doesn't want to continue the show.

As we all know, Veronica Mars was refused a renewal for the 2007-2008 TV season for The CW. We also have heard of the plans for Rob Thomas possibly trying to retool the show, basically fast-forwarding the series to where Veronica is an FBI agent, no longer residing in familiar Neptune. Would such a show reboot appease rabid fans of the old show? Would it be enough to grab new viewers? And what would this new show look like?

Luckily for all of us, I've got a very reliable anonymous source who has seen a copy of the retooled Veronica Mars, and I have to say I'm in agreement with this person's assessment of the new show. It's only a matter of time before the episode leaks to YouTube, but for those who can't wait for that moment, here's my source's description of the episode with some commentary.

(S03E19/S03E20) Well now I'm pissed. As if I wasn't already pissed before this episode aired, they go and end things with a big ol' fizzle. Unfortunately for all of us, Rob Thomas took a gamble that the series would get picked up for a new season, so we're left what feels very, very much like a season ender, not a series ender. And sorry, but a flash-forward reboot retooling can't possibly clear up the loose ends we're left with after this episode.

With that said, even though we all know this was a series ending episode, this was pretty decent for a season ender.