Last spring, both sides of Derbel McDillet shot formally ambitious hostage dramas set in and around Washington, DC.
Dylan McDermott's “Hostages” premiered in the fall to mixed-to-negative reviews and stable-but-miniscule ratings. It hasn't formally be cancelled, but come on. Get real. CBS is going to cancel it.
That leaves Dermot Mulroney's NBC drama “Crisis.” Now “Crisis” hasn't premiered yet, but like many NBC dramas in recent years, one could assume that it will fail. Or one could assume that given NBC's recent semi-hot streak and the stature of Mulroney and Gillian Anderson, that it could totally succeed. Or one could look at NBC's non-football Sunday programming in recent years and assume it's going to succeed.
“Crisis” has become Schrödinger's Derbel McDillet Hostage Drama.
That's my way of saying that Dylan McDermott has signed on for the lead in CBS' untitled Kevin Williamson drama. Dermot Mulroney, however, could not have signed on for a CBS pilot, because “Crisis” is in a box, it's simultaneously a guaranteed hit and a guaranteed failure. “Hostages,” however, is a dead cat.
This has been a long day and I'm very sleepy. Click through for more details on McDermott's role.
In Wiliamson's untitled drama, McDermott will play Detective Jack Larsen, a recent transfer to the LAPD's Threat Assessment Unit from New York. It sounds like Jack is a bit cocky and he's had some problems in the past, but he's determined to turn over a new leaf. [Apparently the Threat Assessment Unit handles stalking cases, in case you didn't know.]
Given the title, you won't be surprised to discover that Kevin Williamson wrote the Warner Brothers TV pilot, which will be directed by Liz Friedlander, who has done multiple episodes of Williamson's “The Following,” “The Secret Circle” and “The Vampire Diaries.”
McDermott was nominated for an Emmy and won a Golden Globe for his performance on “The Practice.” In addition to “Hostages,” his busy recent TV slate has included TNT's “Dark Blue” and the first and second seasons of FX's “American Horror Story.”
Intrigued?