We all watch a lot of TV. We all think we are pretty original thinkers.
OK, come up with an original idea for a TV program. It is an interesting and difficult problem.
After weeks of contemplation, I have come up with exactly one…
Take news reporters, celebrities or even men-on-the-street from some far-off exotic land (say Japan or Saudi Arabia) and have him do a one-hour report on some part of America. A Japanese view of the American West. A Saudi in Las Vegas.
What are you ideas?
I think that could be very enlightening. Just so long as there was a disclaimer that their views did not necessarily represent the country they were from.
Any idea what channel you’d like this to be on?
So, kind of like Borat from Da Ali G Show, only without the comedy aspect?
Probably not the most original, but at least a somewhat clever use of standard cliches:
A black comedy/action/adventure type thing involving an ex spy on the run from both his former colleagues and the opposition, both of whom he screwed over majorly during his exit from the business. Although this final transaction(not to mention a few small larcenies throughout his career) has made him extremely wealthy, but he is too busy watching his back to do much with the cash. Every week he is called forth for “one last mission” by various forces and for whatever reason(blackmail, paying off old debts, favor to a friend, a situation he can’t ignore, etc.) he must accept. All the while fighting off any persuers who cross his path.
Throughout this you also get his views on things like why Q type gadgets are more trouble than they’re worth(with humorous examples), why you just can’t kill everyone that gets too close(“dead men may tell no tales, but they do have a habit of attracting unwanted attention”), and other tried and true spy cliches.
Johnny-
Sounds like a one-man ‘A Team’ with some ‘Shaft’ thrown in.
I wonder what could be done to appeal to Hispanics?
I have one for a crime show, like a new CSI, maybe CSI: Los Angeles. Similar to standard CSI only little more realistic (forensic techs don’t have detective duties, for example) and episodes last longer, like ninety minutes per episode, a la BBC, two cases per episode. First episode, in my mind, would involve a case where teenage girl and boy (friends) are attacked by a masked gunman while hiking (girl is murdered and boy is injured) which leads to a murder of a dangerous criminal and a case where a guy is found stabbed to death with an ice pick in a toilet in a bar where he was on a date. Although it is not very original, cases are but not concept. I just think that it would be interesting.
I was going to jokingly say “You have two cops and they’re in the city solving crimes but… one is a horse! And… the other is a horse! And… everyone is else are all horses!”
Then I realized my joke idea had hit Poe’s Law and was totally derivative. Now I’m a little worried.
I had an idea shortly after I took a job that required a lot of travel. A workplace drama set at a big international airport, say JFK. There is ample room for drama: conflict between the grizzled Port Authority police chief and the inept TSA bureaucrats; a ground controller who’s been hitting the sauce, all the social interaction between the various merchants in the terminal, labor issues, and all the weirdness of eleventy-billion people passing through every day.
That show has been made, and it was called Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. 
Wagon Train to the stars!
What about a show featuring a message board thread that has been in cryogenic suspension for over ten years, then suddenly revived?
It’s been done. Rick Mercer, a Canadian comic, did exactly that on The Mercer Report.
Would there be a sassy little robot sidekick?
What if it’s one crime that spans the whole season? CSI and L&O shows burn through so many murders, speed through the investigation, and shortcut us to the end that it doesn’t seem all that realistic.
I guess this sounds kind of like the Wire, but I think it could be interesting to show the detectives working the case, the CSI guys working the lab, and throw in a little personal stuff without it having to be all that close to the Wire.
I do like that idea…kind of like a dramatic version of “Wings”. Though weren’t there a couple of flight attendant dramas recently? I didn’t watch them, but I wonder if they covered similar ground.
I think I’ve mentioned this idea on the board before:
Titanic, the TV series
Every week the boat sinks. There’s a cast of regulars in major roles like the captain or the head purser. But every week there’s a new group of guest stars and a new story that unfolds aboard the sinking ship. Sometimes the guest stars live and sometimes they die – you never can be sure how an episode will play out. And you plan the episodes out in advance so sometimes you see something happening in the background that doesn’t make any sense until you see a later episode.
It’s like The Love Boat. But it sinks.
Yes, I was thinking about making something similar to that. I think there should be two cases for each episode but some sort of a subplot going through the season, some sort of a case that isn’t solved until the season finale, specific type of crime commited repeatedly by that one character, villain, while as a main plot, they are solving two cases per episode- a la Wire. Of course, in season finale, that subplot case should become more than a subplot in order to be solved, but until that, it is a subplot slowly developing into something more.
I was thinking about that, I think season one should have child abuse as a subplot, season two domestic violence, season three forgery, season four drug related crimes etc… And yes, it would explores character’s personal lives more and explain science better than most of CSIs do, show forensic procedures etc…
It’s true that every original idea in television is recycled.
This is an old short story titled Crossroads of Destiny, by H. Beam Piper. In it several people are discussing the idea for a rather unique television show. I won’t spoil the ending, it’s worth a read.
We’ve had shows about US Presidents, US Vice Presidents, US Members of Congress, etc, etc. I think it may be interesting to have a show about a disgraced former President, ending his term with low approval ratings, and figuring out how to live the rest of his life (kinda like the Richard Nixon or George W. Bush post-Presidency story).