Fox on Orleans beat

Net greenlights post-Katrina cop drama
By JOSEF ADALIAN


What was shaping up to be a flood of post-Katrina TV dramas set in New Orleans -- some with high-profile talent such as Spike Lee and Gary Fleder attached -- has turned into a trickle, with just one of four planned projects moving forward.

Fox on Monday greenlit production on "K-Ville," an hourlong cop show that focuses on the few police officers who stay put in the city following the hurricane. Jonathan Lisco ("The District") wrote the pilot and will exec produce via 20th Century Fox Television.

"K-Ville" is the only one of four New Orleans-themed drama scripts ordered this development season that will move forward to the pilot stage this spring.

ABC has nixed Fleder's project, a post-Katrina cop show penned by John Eisendrath ("Alias"). Net also passed on a collaboration between Stephen Godchaux ("Dead Like Me") and Cary Brokaw ("Closer") that was supposed to be a sort of "Hill Street Blues" set in New Orleans.
Over at NBC, net has closed drama development without picking up "NoLa," the Sid Quashie-penned hour that was developed as a potential directing vehicle for Lee. Lee is still expected to direct a pilot for the Peacock under the terms of a holding and development deal he signed with web last summer.

It's not a complete shocker that most of the New Orleans-themed projects didn't made it through the development process. Nets regularly develop between seven and 10 scripts for every one pilot they ultimately greenlight.

In addition, what looks like a trend early in development season -- say, comedies inspired by the book "The Nanny Diaries" -- can often fizzle out.

What is interesting is that the one project that did make it through is the one without a major film director (Lee, Fleder) or producer (Brokaw) attached.

Lisco said he tried not to think about the other projects when writing "K-Ville."
"It was daunting to know Spike Lee and some other big projects were out there," he said. "But the only way to do business is to try to forget about the noise and produce the best possible material."

Lisco said Fox Entertainment prexy Peter Liguori pitched him the idea of a New Orleans-set cop show last summer, after the net opted to not move forward with the Lisco-penned pilot "Damages."

Scribe spent nearly two weeks in New Orleans doing research and said he wasn't prepared for the level of damage done to the city.

"What I want to do is tell stories that are redemptive in nature but also informed by the bleakness of what happened there," Lisco said.

"K-Ville" will be centered around two cops of different racial backgrounds who have very different takes on how New Orleans should be dealing with its problems post-Katrina.

Pilot will also explore the schisms between the cops who stayed on the job during the storm and those who abandoned their posts, only to rejoin the force. It will also tell stories about "the heroism of (ordinary) people in extraordinary situations.

"The NOPD has gotten a lot of flak for being brutal and corrupt," Lisco said. "But there are still really committed, honest cops trying to make a difference."