à l'avance ! DEK annonce lui-même que cela sera peut-être un flop !!!
http://tv.zap2it.com/tveditorial/tve_main/1,1002,271|82442|1|,00.html
Kelley Calls 'Brotherhood' a Risk for CBS
(Monday, July 21 11:30 AM)
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - Its unusual for a high profile producer like David E. Kelley to candidly admit that their new show presents a big risk for the network. Even more rare such oft-disingenuous creators to actually be telling the truth.
No matter how much CBS Chairman Les Moonves tries to protest, the business of television is governed by the whims of adults 18-49 and in turn by advertisers. In catering to that age range, it's rare to find a program on a broadcast network that doesn't offer up some form of eye candy to tempt viewers at home, that doesnt provide an assortment of younger main characters to encompass the full breadth of the demographic.
Kelley's new CBS drama "The Brotherhood of Poland, New Hampshire" is taking a big chance by giving audiences a cast laden with middle-aged actors who, heaven forbid, could populate a real blue collar New England town. The show's three titular brothers are played by Randy Quaid, John Carroll Lynch and Chris Penn, none strangers to the plus-sized section of the department store, but probably more representative of the viewing audience than, say, the cast of "Friends."
"I think in the original script it said 'Three brothers, 40 and fat,' and, by the way, that was in, I think, the second like of the script." Kelley explains. "FOX called me up after the second line of the script and said, 'Clearly you're not looking to write a FOX show' And it was true."
In "Brotherhood," which Kelley describes as a "character-driven franchise," the central siblings are former high school hockey stars who have never left their hometown. The stories chronicle their powerful place in the town (Quaid plays a police captain, Lynch the mayor), but also the frustration of living constantly surrounded by past glories. The actors were cast to fit Kelley's thematic purposes, but also for geographical verisimilitude.
"The idea was that we were not looking for leading younger men, that we wanted to find character actors, good actors, who were more believable in winter towns where they tend to get heavier in the winter," Kelley says. "We were joking on the set the other day that this is kind of like 'Bonanza,' except instead of Adam and Little Joe, we just have Hoss, Hoss and Hoss," kids Lynch, best known as Frances McDormand's stamp designing husband in "Fargo."
The women are a more obviously attractive lot, played by Elizabeth McGovern, Mare Winningham and Ann Cusak. Still the three sisters-in-law of Poland, New Hampshire constitute the only trio of women over 40 to help carry a new fall show.
Compare those three actresses to the distaff representation on recent Kelley efforts like "girls club" or "Ally McBeal" and add in their husbands and it's easy to see why Kelley has some reservations about his show's ability to become an instant hit.
"We're all older up here," Kelley tells reporters at the TV Critics Association press tour, examining his fellow panelists. "If the target audience is 18 to 49, much of our cast is at the higher end of that target audience. It's slow in pace. It's not a noisy show. It's not a show you can come in maybe the second or third act and immediately catch up to what's been going on before."
The show's ability to break out may also be hampered by a slightly unwieldy title and a Wednesday night 10 p.m. ET time slot opposite NBC's "Law & Order" and Kelley is hopeful that "Brotherhood" will be given a chance to slowly develop an audience. Since CBS has announced only one midseason drama (the futuristic "Century City" from Paul Attanasio), it may get that chance.
"I think that we will probably start with a sampling," says Kelley. "And hopefully that sampling will lead to word of mouth and we will build a constituency where we can survive. But it's not a high concept show and it will probably be a slow and difficult build for us."
