CBS and ABC have clinched a deal in which the latter network’s studios will produce a TV adaptation of this summer’s surprise hit film, Source Code.
Honestly, I don’t pretend to know much about the business end of the agreement. It obviously has something to do with the producer of the film being in some kind of exclusivity contract with ABC, so a deal had to be made between the networks to allow the show to go forward. Of course, the big news is the show itself.
When I reviewed the movie earlier this year, my only complaint about the outstanding film was that the concept behind the plot was more interesting that the plot itself.
Frankly, I would really like to see more expansion of the technology and mythology of the world in which Source Code takes place. Fortunately, television is the perfect place for this kind of exploration.
The series will not follow Jake Gyllenhaal’s character from the film, nor will he be in the show. No word as to the other actors from the film, but it’s unlikely.
There are precedents for these things, after all. The show will follow three new characters, all knowing agents (as opposed to Gyllenhaal’s wool-eyed agent) of the Source Code project, which sends people’s consciences back in time to the important moments of traumatic events, essentially possesing other people’s awarenesses, in an attempt to understand them, and perhaps prevent more from happening.
Likely this will take the form of an action oriented, plot-heavy, procedural with time-travel elements (Think Quantum Leap meets 24). Procedurals are very popular on television right now, and action shows are almost always a safe bet if the other elements are right, so the only question is whether audiences want to see some paradoxes and stuff, and how forgiving they will want to be of plot-holes, of which this show will likely have many (as any series about time-travel will).
If the show’s production stays on schedule, we’re likely to see the pilot for Source Code in fall 2012.
