4 Things We Learned From TCA: Day 9
By Variety Staff
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Fox took the stage at TCA on Thursday, bringing their most recent hit “9-1-1” as well as upcoming shows like “The Passage” and the revived “Last Man Standing.”
“9-1-1” star Aisha Hinds revealed a harrowing story from her childhood, while “The Passage’s” showrunner revealed how the show will handle the vast time jumps present in the book.
Here are four things we learned from Thursday’s session.
1. Fox Television Group co-CEOs Gary Newman and Dana Walden didn’t address their personal futures — aside from Walden joking “Not since my kids were little have I been asked so many times about going to Disney.” But they did talk about Fox Broadcasting’s programming strategy post-Disney deal. The impact will already be felt as the network heads into development for 2019-2020. Walden asserted that 50% of the network’s development for that season will come from 20th Century Fox Television and 50% from outside studios.
2. Aisha Hinds left jaws on the floor during the “9-1-1” panel when she revealed she had been shot when she was just 16 years old. Hinds thanked the first responders who ultimately saved her life, as the bullet grazed her aorta and ended up costing her a kidney. Hinds also joked that she made sure to arrange herself in a more dignified position than the one she originally fell in so that if she did die it would come off as more graceful.
4. Justin Cronin’s “The Passage” book trilogy spans 1000 years and 100 characters, but the first season of the Fox dramatic adaptation will be set solely in Project Noah. “The reason the beginning of the show is different [than the book] is an effort to give everyone a credible point of view,” executive producer Liz Heldens said. “That was an effort to make sure all of the characters had nuance and you could understand why everybody was doing what they were doing.”
5. The seventh season of “Last Man Standing,” which will premiere on Fox Sept. 28, will not “comment specifically on Trump,” executive producer Kevin Abbott said. While Tim Allen’s character is a conservative Republican, Abbott said they consider the show a family show, rather than a show that touches on news or issues of the week. However, they will bring in some more political discussion this season through the entrance of a foreign exchange student that the Baxter family takes in from China, which will cause new conflict and culture clashing for Allen’s character. This character has not yet been cast, and neither has Molly Ephraim’s replacement in the role of Allen’s on-screen daughter Mandy, though.
