HBO's award-winning adaptations are novelistic in ambition, but TV executives hoping to follow Game of Thrones should look to the starsIt's almost commonplace to suggest that the HBO box set is now television's answer to the novel – witness the wily self-publishers who have started publishing ebooks as a "box set". The television series matches the blockbuster novel point for point – an ensemble cast of larger than life characters, a high stakes plot, an original and detailed location – all wrapped around an instantly recognisable high concept, whether it's a mobster in counselling, a portrait of drug dealers on the street or the fight for the Iron Throne.Which makes it all the more surprising that HBO is no longer developing Neil Gaiman's American Gods. Of course, it's hard to translate the warmth of Gaiman's storytelling voice to the small screen, but the novel is so clearly stuffed with televisual magic that some network or other is certain to pick it up sometime soon. Or maybe the magic is part of the problem. Maybe executives at HBO think that audiences who have gorged on the swords and sorcery in Game of Thrones aren't quite ready for Gaiman's urban fantasy. Perhaps HBO should turn to science fiction for its next hit.There's nothing new about science fiction on screen – shows like Star Trek and Doctor Who have made it a televisual staple. But these are television shows in the old style, with paper-thin plots and puddle-deep characters stretched over dodgy special... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2013-12-13 00:00:00 UTC ]