The fall 2014 TV development season is just getting underway, but NBC has made its first major pickup.
According to Deadline, NBC has given a put-pilot order to “Paradise,” a new drama created by Seth Grahame-Smith and produced by Greg Berlanti. “Paradise” will take place in the late 21st century and focus on Dr. Matthew Turner, an innocent man accused of murder who finds himself locked away in the world’s largest maximum-security prison; which was once the city known as Las Vegas.
The description of “Paradise” also states that in order to prove his innocence and return to his family, “Matthew will have to find a strength he never knew he had, and stay alive long enough to do the one thing no inmate has ever done: escape.”
Grahame-Smith is best known for writing the horror mash-up novels Pride And Prejudice and Zombies and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. He also wrote the script for Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows feature film. Berlanti is one of the main executive producers of “Arrow” and “The Tomorrow People” at the CW, in addition to the possibly spinoff of “The Flash.”
The put-pilot commitment means that NBC must order a pilot episode of “Paradise” or else the network will pay a substantial fee. That alone will give “Paradise” an advantage over most of the series in contention for the fall 2014 schedule.
Who would you cast as Dr. Matthew Turner in “Paradise?” Share your casting suggestions in the comment section below!
