I forget what thread it was in.. but we were having a discussion about TFers as a non-animated TV series. I brought up the point that doing this would very likely require a lot better 'writing' which is what we were missing. It would have to have the sincerity of a show like BATTLESTAR GALACTICA.. or TERMINATOR: Sarah Chronnicles... without falling into a corporate formula piece of crap like KNIGHT RIDER... Personlly, I'd love to see what the writers of Stargate could do with it. The key would be not being broadcast on SCI-Fi, but on one of the major channels during prime time. I think it could be very successful.

 

Someone else brought up the issue of COST. I countered by suggesting that the CGI would not be nearly as expensive as the movies, you limit the # of characters and develope them better, and it would get cheaper the more you have scenes with them. I brought up the point that an old show like FRIENDS paid their 6 primary actors 1 million dollars PER EPISODE .. EACH!

 

Well, today, it seems that FOX who paid Simon Cowell $36 million for last season... has now offered him between $100-$144 million for "ONE SEASON" if he will stay. :eek I don't mean to get sidetracked on the issue of American Idol -- but just what kinds of budgets TV shows are capable of. It is reported that American Idol rakes in over 900 million a year in revenue. :eek

 

combine with this that there is a trend of 'movie' actors that are heading towards TV. There have been many articles about how movie "blockbusters" are not as profitable to make, and that even writers are heading towards TV instead of movies.

 

Coming off the heels of the popularity of TFers -- I think it would be a great time for a pitch to be made to a tv producer for a non-animated TFers prime time TV show.

I'd watch it! I don't totally agree that Sci-Fi wouldn't be an appropriate outlet for such a broadcast...I think it actually would. If you're making that statement based off shear number of viewers, then perhaps...but you'd have to be careful of which network to go with. I'd say ABC or FOX is your best bet, as LOST & 24, respectively, are still top rated tv series. NBC series seem to cheese out or eventually fall flat...last season of Heroes was terrible. And CBS is not much better, IMO. Although back to Sci-Fi...that channel has some very popular series on it (i.e., Stargate, Battlestar, Eureka, etc.), so if you brought a TF series to Sci-Fi, I think it'd do just fine. Actually, it'd probably be their best series yet, given the cgi was ILM standard, and not their original stock! ;)

That was me mentioning the cost. I dont think a tv show based on the movie would work with less characters. If done then there would be a million crybabies screaming their heads off on this forum about WHY DONT WE SEE MORE OF <insert character name here>.

 

But as far as Simon Cowell goes, he's proven beyond a doubt that American Idol and it's sister shows can rake in millions upon millions of dollars. Part of that is because he owns the property and he is a judge whom, like it or not, without him the show wouldn't be as entertaining. Fox is trying to secure their investment in the show by securing Cowell. I doubt they'd take such a risk on Transformers, though while profitable, you still have to cast actors and find an appropriate time slot so that children and young adults will be awake to watch it (no doubt in Prime Time in Animation Domination, possibly pushing out KOTH or American Dad (better not, fuckers)).

 

Not to mention the bitch fest on TFans about how the actors in the show dont look like or are not as good as Shia LeBeof, Megan Fox, etc. No doubt, it would take a third of the budget to keep them on set for half a season. Especially in Shia's case.

 

Oh wait, what would the Bayverse be without humans? Oh yeah, Transformers. Nope, not gonna happen.

Most shows don't start off with those salaries for the actors.

 

No matter how well it was prepaired, I'd give a live action TF series on primetime 1 season, no more then 2.

 

I'd like to see it, but such shows hardly last

That was me mentioning the cost. I dont think a tv show based on the movie would work with less characters. If done then there would be a million crybabies screaming their heads off on this forum about WHY DONT WE SEE MORE OF <insert character name here>.

 

But as far as Simon Cowell goes, he's proven beyond a doubt that American Idol and it's sister shows can rake in millions upon millions of dollars. Part of that is because he owns the property and he is a judge whom, like it or not, without him the show wouldn't be as entertaining. Fox is trying to secure their investment in the show by securing Cowell. I doubt they'd take such a risk on Transformers, though while profitable, you still have to cast actors and find an appropriate time slot so that children and young adults will be awake to watch it (no doubt in Prime Time in Animation Domination, possibly pushing out KOTH or American Dad (better not, fuckers)).

 

Not to mention the bitch fest on TFans about how the actors in the show dont look like or are not as good as Shia LeBeof, Megan Fox, etc. No doubt, it would take a third of the budget to keep them on set for half a season. Especially in Shia's case.

 

Oh wait, what would the Bayverse be without humans? Oh yeah, Transformers. Nope, not gonna happen.

Oh...I wasn't thinking about Bay, Shia or Megan...I was thinking of something that could maybe use a similar style to the ILM look, but different actors, different stories, perhaps something well beyond ROTF...dare I say reboot, but in series form. Either that OR a total overhaul (scrap the movie universe altogether). :shrug I know...just thinking out loud...

I'd watch it! I don't totally agree that Sci-Fi wouldn't be an appropriate outlet for such a broadcast...I think it actually would. If you're making that statement based off shear number of viewers, then perhaps...but you'd have to be careful of which network to go with. I'd say ABC or FOX is your best bet, as LOST & 24, respectively, are still top rated tv series. NBC series seem to cheese out or eventually fall flat...last season of Heroes was terrible. And CBS is not much better, IMO. Although back to Sci-Fi...that channel has some very popular series on it (i.e., Stargate, Battlestar, Eureka, etc.), so if you brought a TF series to Sci-Fi, I think it'd do just fine. Actually, it'd probably be their best series yet, given the cgi was ILM standard, and not their original stock! ;)

 

While i agree, SCI-FI puts on a few good shows.... it is basically seen as where shows go to die. To be truely successful and have ethe type of budget needed to do it well - it would have to go to one of the networks - and FOX would definately be my first choice. Yes, I meant based of number of viewers, and budgets based on commercial/revenue.

 

 

Oh...I wasn't thinking about Bay, Shia or Megan...I was thinking of something that could maybe use a similar style to the ILM look, but different actors, different stories, perhaps something well beyond ROTF...dare I say reboot, but in series form. Either that OR a total overhaul (scrap the movie universe altogether). :shrug I know...just thinking out loud...

 

saying I agree with you is becoming a habit.

 

If they indeed did something like this, I would love for them to take a bit of a break from the TV movies and actually get AWAY from the alien-esque forms. I'd like to see more smoothed edges, and less daggers. More structure and recognizability to the faces. The CGI cost is being majorly overstated.

. Of course, we would

. :D But seriously - expensive CGI as the reason?

not so (ok, that was a bit cheesy - but fun to watch - lol). I would like to see it done more like the first one- commercial. My entire point was, it's very doable within budgets AND could be profitable. And now is one of the best times to give it a try.

 

And if you want to go political for a moment.... one of your biggest advertisers could be auto manufacturers... Pitch this with some new 'hybrid' and 'electric' cars and GM and Chrysler could be all over it also. They NEED people eto fall in love with these new cars (which is going to be a tough sell imho) - what better way than to give them personality and perona associations?

 

My entire point being - it's very doable, and i'd LOVE eto see a true WRITING TEAM do it and do a better job than Bay did. And let them recreate reasons for the NEED of stealth by autobots and decepticons alike. Going a step further, it could be the renewed line of a series like the ALT's. The key would be not letting the toy aspect control the direction of the show and realizing there will be LIMITED CHARACTERS. Let the video games and comics drive character quantities, not the movies or tv shows.

Bad Idea for a live action tv series. Simply put they dont have the budget to do anything worthwhile. Make a kick ass cartoon instead.

Transformers Resolute!!!!!

 

-with boobs

Well I'm willing to bed that an LA series wont' happen anytime soon. You can also count Fox and Sci-Fi out as Hasbro has their own Cable network starting in 2010 with, as they have already stated, an ALL NEW TF cartoon series exclusively on their own channel.

 

Not saying that an LA series wouldn't be damn cool. I agree with the above posts...if it's going to be on TV it's going to need a much better written story line than ROTF. I think that as we will be seeing a regular on-going story line that that is absolutely vital. A 2 hour movie isn't as bad with a bad script as 13 or more consecutive episodes of a TV series.

Well lets say they did make a live series about the transformers. Who would you want directing most of the episodes and who would your writers be?

 

 

Director

Well I would say the guy from Lost. JJ Abrams knows how to blend drama and science fiction elements naturally.

 

Actually I do not know very much live action tv show directors. I kind of watch more animated shows.

 

 

Writers

Simon Furman: more as guide into the transformers universe then him actually writing the stories

Warren Ellis: He would be so badarse if he was writing for the tv show. Even his bad writing is decent. Look at G.I. Joe: Resolute.

Bruce Timm: DC Animated Universe. Need I say more.

Other mention: Alan Moore, Michael Bendis, Garth Ennis

 

Hmm... It seems I have listed all comic book writers.