NBC’s Crisis may be in a bit of trouble. If you haven’t heard of this one, it’s because the series hasn’t debuted yet. And unlike Fox, which has already begun to promote some of their Midseason series, we haven’t seen much from NBC on Crisis yet, but word is, the series has halted production for a “course correction.” Well, if that needs to happen, better that it happens before the show premieres than after.
Deadline says the series has gone on an unplanned eight-day production break as of last Friday night, after the show wrapped production on Episode 5. The listed reason is “course correction,” and the writers are said to be tweaking story lines and working on scripts. Some reshoots are going to be done on completed episodes of the series, which stars Dermot Mulroney, Gillian Andreson, Lance Gross and Rachael Taylor.
Described as an emotionally charged action thriller, Crisis starts out on “field trip day” for the students of Ballard High School, a school for the kids of some of Washington, D.C.’s elite, including the offspring of top-of-their-industry CEOs, international diplomates, political power players and the President. Their bus gets ambushed on a secluded rural road and the teens and chaperones are taken, which starts an international crisis. I automatically think of the movie Toy Soldiers when I hear this premise, but it sounds like a good portion of the story will focus on the parents and dignitaries put into play as they try to get their kids out of this situation. With all of those people and all of their connections, you might think it’d be a piece of cake, but imagine the chaos that might ensue if they can’t work together.
Maybe I just have Homeland on the brain or perhaps I’m simply jumping to the wrong conclusion, but taking 24 into account, and even Hostages on CBS, shows that involve teens do tend to go off the rails sometimes. Dana Brody’s story in Homeland this season has yet to prove particularly relevant to anything. Maybe it’s going somewhere, or maybe we’re just wallowing in her — albeit justified but not all that entertaining — angst to fill space in absence of the more relevant Brody. Regardless, I could be jumping to the wrong conclusion in assuming that it’s a teen-related arc that’s resulting in rewrites for Crisis. It could very well have to do with the “vengeful mastermind” that’s behind this whole situation, or the parents trying to get their kids back. From what Deadline reports, it sounds like the show was veering away from the direction and promise of the pilot, which is an issue I’d apply to Revolution, a drama that had so much potential out of the gate, but soon drifted. Hopefully whatever changes are being made to the show will get Crisis back on track.
As Deadline reminds us, Crisis isn’t the first NBC show to halt production ahead of its premiere in recent years. The same situation happened with Awake a couple of years ago. Not exactly a success story, of course, but either way, it happens sometimes.
