Keith David is set to star in Spike TV’s two-hour backdoor pilot S.I.S. The show is from Sony Pictures TV and Original Films. It centers on a five-man elite secretive police unit - SIS, or Special Investigation Squad - within the LAPD that tackles major crimes and major criminals. David will play assistant chief Joseph Armstrong, head of the secret squad. Omari Hardwick, Matt Nable, Peter Stebbings and Colleen Porch already have been cast as the other members of the unit. John Herzfeld, who wrote the pilot, will direct as well as executive produce with Neal Moritz and Vivian Cannon.
Spike TV is turning to crime with a reality show in which amateur detectives try to solve real-life homicides. The male-skewing cable network has ordered 10 hour-long episodes of Murder, which is targeted to premiere in the summer between reruns of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and CSI: NY.
Each episode begins with the series’ host, Detective Tommy Le Noir, a 20-year Texas law enforcement veteran, escorting two groups of civilians into an exact replica crime scene pulled from the files of an existing homicide case. The teams assess the crime scene, collect evidence, receive a list of potential suspects and meet with a coroner who reviews the findings of the original autopsy report. The contestants are given 48 hours to complete their investigation and identify the killer. Each group makes a presentation to Le Noir, who then reveals what actually happened at the crime scene. Each week, the group that makes the correct case will have a donation made in their names to a selected victim’s charity.
Donnie Wahlberg has been signed to star opposite John Leguizamo in Spike TV’s new fast-paced, thrilling original scripted eight-hour dramatic event The Kill Pit. Additionally, acclaimed director Steve Shill has joined the production to direct the first four hours. Written by James DeMonaco and executive produced by David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and DeMonaco, the series follows a bank heist that goes terribly awry and the hostage negotiations that ensue. The Kill Pit is produced by Lionsgate in association with Mandeville. “Donnie is an incredibly versatile actor with a tremendous amount of soul,” says Pancho Mansfield, Executive Vice President of Original Programming, Spike TV. “He is a great addition to the show and we know that his character will resonate with our male viewers.”
The Kill Pit revolves around a downtown bank robbery by a team of American Iraqi-War veterans. More than a dozen hostages from all walks of life are taken, ranging from the daughter of a business tycoon to an adulterous couple. Throughout the eight-hour event, viewers will follow the escalating action as the volatile soldiers plot their way out, the negotiator anticipates their moves and the hostages desperately try to survive. Time is critical and the game intensifies with surprising twists at every turn. The Kill Pit will be filmed on locations in and around Pittsburgh and is slated to go into production during the first quarter of this year for a summer 2007 premiere. Bill McGoldrick is Spike TV’s Executive in Charge of Production.
Spike TV has picked up a comedic action series titled Wild World of Spike. The cable network has ordered seven half-hour episodes of the original series, which revolves around such “unheralded sports” as mop-jousting, blindfolded kickboxing and dirt skiing, focusing “more on the agony of defeat than the thrill of victory.”
The series is hosted by mixed martial arts fighter Kit Cope, skateboarding legend Jason Ellis and comedian Sam Tripoli. In each episode, the hosts screen bizarre sporting events from all around the world from the comforts of their living room and then select events to re-create, with comedic results. “Wild World” premieres in January.
“Our mission is simple with ‘Wild World of Spike’: to find the most ridiculous and outrageous sporting events, then aim to re-create them without killing our three hosts,” said Brian Diamond, senior vp sports and specials at Spike TV and co-executive producer of the show.
Lee Tergesen and Tony Curran have been tapped to star on Spike TV’s one-hour SciFi drama pilot A.M.P.E.D., from Fox 21 and co-creators/executive producers Frank Spotnitz and Vince Gilligan (The X-Files), according to The Hollywood Reporter. Steven Mitchell and Craig Van Sickle, who co-created and produced NBC’s The Pretender, have come on board the project as show runners and executive producers, while Rob Lieberman (USA Network’s The Dead Zone) will direct the pilot and serve as an executive producer. Also joining the cast are Sarah Brown, Josh Biton, Cynthia Addai-Robinson and Troy Winbush.
A.M.P.E.D. is set in present-day Minneapolis and revolves around a group of police detectives and officers as they deal with a small but growing percentage of the population that is falling prey to strange genetic mutations, causing them to do destructive things to the city and those around them. Tergesen has been cast in the role of Detective Brian Spicer, described as a sensitive, quick-thinking, fearless and level-headed homicide cop. Curran portrays Detective Mark Jacocks, a tough cop whose method clashes with Spicer. Production on the pilot is set to begin Monday in Vancouver.
Season 4 of The Ultimate Fighter has already started taping in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Boston Herald reports, “The Ultimate Fighter: The Comeback is set to debut Thursday, August 17 at 10 p.m. on Spike.
The fourth season will focus on veteran MMA fighters whose dream of winning a UFC title have never come true. There will be 16 MMA veterans (eight middleweights and eight welterweights) who will be competing for a UFC title shot and a “six-figure contract.” The fighters are already gathered in Las Vegas for production of the series, which began yesterday.”
The Boston Herald further reported that instead of having coaches, TUF 4 will have advisors for the 16 fighters, and these advisors will include Randy Couture, Georges St. Pierre, and Mark DellaGrotte.
Continue reading The Ultimate Fighter Season 4 Starts Filming
Blade: The Series is finally in production for Spike TV with a premiere set for July 5 (don’t forget the two-hour premiere on June 28). The new series will be based on the comic book about a half-man half-vampire who battles evil vampires.
The two-hour movie will focus on Blade’s new partnership with a woman mired in the world of vampires as she investigates the death of her brother.
Executives at Spike TV said recently that they may create a show that would be, according to Variety, “a sort of live-action take on the video game Grand Theft Auto.” Whether this means the show would be based on Grand Theft Auto or just use similar elements from the video game is unknown. In fact, pretty much everything about this is unknown since the idea is just that, an idea. Still, if anyone were going to attempt this, it might as well be Spike TV, since a show based on the violent and graphic video game I used to watch my roommate play for hours on end would be right at home on that network.
Spike TV—which had previously announced a two-hour TV movie based on the Blade movies and Marvel Comics franchise—has given the green light to 13 hours of the vampire drama as a TV series from New Line TV, Variety reported.
Continue reading Spike Picks Up Blade Series