I wish I could find it, but someone wrote a piece a few weeks ago complaining that too many shows are being pitched by too few showrunners and producers. In other words, broadcast, cable, and premium networks are only listening to producers who have already had successful shows, which has resulted in only a handful of people pitching shows, and too many of those shows being too familiar. One of the most egregious examples of that are the producers of 24.
Here’s a few examples, including the most recent one.
— Evan Katz and Manny Coto, producers on 24, are pitching an idea to Fox that’s a cross between The X-Files and (surprise!) 24: “After a devastating supernatural attack, an Iraq war vet takes it as his mission to hunt down the most viscerally terrifying paranormal phenomenon.”
— Meanwhile, Evan Katz has also helped to bring The Event to NBC and Body of Proof to ABC.
— Maybe the worst offender from 24 is Howard Gordon, who has gone on to bring us Tyrant on FX (so much promise, so little satisfaction) and Sean Bean’s Legends on TNT, of which I heard described by TV critic Ryan McGee has “hot garbage.” Gordon, to his credit, also gave us Homeland, which was great for a season and a half.
— There’s also Brian Grazer, often billed in his television development capacity as “a producer of 24,” who has given us Lie to Me (cancelled) and Gang Related (cancelled).
— 24‘s Remi Aubuchon is a producer on Falling Skies and Persons Unknown.
— Brannan Brago went from 24 to FlashForward to TerraNova to Salem. UGH.
— Peter M. Lenkov is now on Hawaii Five-O.
I could go on. There’s several more producers (including Kiefer Sutherland himself). But I think you get the point, which is that 24 producers are basically responsible for half the shows on network television. Maybe let the 24 guys take a break for a year or two and let some other producers pitch shows, because MOST of the post-24 shows from 24 producers have sucked.
Source: EW
