Battle Creek - Vince Gilligan/David Shore Detective Drama Gets Series Order

[Sawyer]

http://www.deadline.com/2013/09/vince-gilligandavid-shore-detective-drama-gets-series-order-at-cbs/

Vince Gilligan/David Shore Detective Drama Gets Series Order At CBS
By NELLIE ANDREEVA

In a dream pairing, the man of the hour, Vince Gilligan, coming off a best series win on Sunday for his hit AMC drama Breaking Bad, has teamed with House creator David Shore for Battle Creek, which has closed at CBS with a series production order for the 2014-15 season. The drama project, which I hear has a 13-episode commitment, was originally created by Gilligan a decade ago. It comes from Sony TV, which produced Breaking Bad and has an overall deal with Shore. Sony will co-produce with CBS TV Studios, with Gilligan, Shore and Breaking Bad EP Mark Johnson executive producing. Shore will serve as showrunner, with Gilligan interested in directing. Battle Creek centers on two detectives with very different world views who are teamed up. They must answer the question: is cynicism, guile and deception enough to clean up the semi-mean streets of Battle Creek, Michigan in the face of a complete lack of resources; or is the exact opposite true – it takes naïveté, trust and a boatload of resources?

The deal brings Battle Creek back to CBS where Gilligan, pre-Breaking Bad, developed it in 2002. While the script didn’t go forward at the time, I hear it stayed on the entertainment president Nina Tassler’s radar as she considered revisiting it multiple times. Meanwhile, after Breaking Bad wrapped production on its final season, Sony TV paired its marquee drama creators Gilligan and Shore, who also are repped by the same agency, ICM Partners. (Gilligan’s overall deal at Sony TV is up but there are discussions for a new one.). Gilligan and Shore took a pass at the original script and the project was taken to CBS.

This is Gilligan’s second post-Breaking Bad series; he also is executive producing ABC/Sony TV’s Breaking Bad spinoff Better Call Saul. It’s been a very strong last few days for Sony TV, which scored a best drama series win on Sunday for Breaking Bad, a strong opening for its new NBC series The Blacklist on Monday, followed by the series order for Battle Creek today. Shore is also with the Shuman Co.

Gilligan not showrunning is somewhat disappointing, but goddammit, they have my attention.

 

[Blitzkrieg Bop]

I'll finally watch CBS for something other than Jeopardy.

 

[Shifty]

I'll finally watch CBS for something other than Jeopardy.

I'm with you there. Though I would rather see the project on cable.

With Gilligan just helping develop the pilot it frees him up to be a showrunner on another show. He may have another failed pilot that will get a second look.

Things are getting competitive with another straight to series order after yesterday's Gotham order.

 

[Sawyer]

Plus the Tina Fey comedy that FOX ordered about a month ago.

 

[Sawyer]

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/breaking-bads-vince-gilligan-reveals-648425?page=3

The first test will come with his police drama, Battle Creek. He wrote and developed the hour-long entry a decade ago for CBS, which passed at that time. Now, in what is a testament to Gilligan's clout, the network has made a rare 13-episode straight-to-series commitment, and House creator David Shore has been brought aboard to write, produce and run. Gilligan says it'll very quickly become known as Shore's show -- "and rightly so," he adds -- admitting he has little desire to return to a broadcast schedule. "Twenty-four episodes would kill me," he says, acknowledging that he isn't even sure he'll be able to go back to cable's 13-episode schedule after doing Bad's more recent installments of eight. (Those close to Gilligan suggest his next TV creation likely will land at an HBO or a Netflix given his experience and desire to push the boundaries; Bad was able to get away with language and violence five years ago that AMC, now a higher-profile, advertiser-friendly programmer, would not allow of a new series today.)

 

[Sawyer]

http://insidetv.ew.com/2013/12/31/breaking-bad-vince-gilligan-better-call-saul-community/2/

You’re developing the drama Battle Creek with David Shore. What has that experience been like, and where are you guys in the process?
I feel lucky to be working with him. Battle Creek is a pilot script I wrote for CBS 11 years ago, and for various reasons it didn’t go. But now it has been resurrected and I can’t wait to see what he does with it. Boy, if there’s anyone I would want running a show with my name on it, it would be David. This is a gentleman who took this great idea for House and made it a reality and ran that show beautifully for eight years. He really created something special with that. There’s no reason to think he can’t do that again here for CBS and take this little idea I had over a decade ago and really run with it and make it his own.

And the show is about two detectives with opposing philosophies and personalities who are paired together?
The small town of Battle Creek, Michigan, has a police department that tries very hard but is financially a bit stretched, and the local detective winds up working with an FBI agent out of the Detroit field office who is perfect. He is a handsome, wonderful guy who men all want to have a beer with and women all want to be with. This guy is just fantastic in every regard, and our local detective is insanely jealous of him, and nonetheless has to work with him. That’s sort of the engine of it all.

 

[Sawyer]

http://www.deadline.com/2014/02/kal...ince-gilligandavid-shore-series-battle-creek/

Kal Penn To Co-Star On CBS’ Vince Gilligan/David Shore Series ‘Battle Creek’
By NELLIE ANDREEVA

EXCLUSIVE: House alum Kal Penn is reuniting with hit medical drama’s creator David Shore on Battle Creek. Penn is the first actor cast in high-profile CBS series from Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan and Shore. The project, from Sony TV, centers on a detective and an FBI agent with very different world views who are teamed up to clean up the semi-mean streets of Battle Creek, Michigan. Penn will play another local detective who initially has reservations about the newly arrived FBI agent. Penn, repped by Gersh, Industry Entertainment and Michael Fuller, explored multiple pilot offers before setting on Battle Creek because of his relationship with Shore on House where Penn co-starred for two seasons before leaving for a position in the White House. Battle Creek brings him back at CBS where he starred on comedy series We Are Men this past season and previously recurred on How I Met Your Mother. Originally created by Gilligan at CBS in 2002, Battle Creek was tweaked by him and Shore. The two executive produce, with Shore serving as showrunner.

John Cho as the FBI agent!!!

 

[Sithborg]

I wonder how many cereal puns will be in the show...

 

[Sawyer]

http://www.deadline.com/2014/02/janet-mcteer-joins-cbs-battle-creek/

Janet McTeer Joins CBS’ ‘Battle Creek’
By NELLIE ANDREEVA

Janet McTeer is set to co-star opposite Kal Penn in Battle Creek, CBS’ high-profile CBS series from Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan and House creator David Shore. The project, from Sony TV and CBS Studios, centers on a detective and an FBI agent with very different world views who are teamed up to clean up the semi-mean streets of Battle Creek, MI. McTeer, repped by The Schiff Co and Curtis Brown in the UK, will play Commander Guziewicz, Commander of the Battle Creek Police Department. This marks the first major role for Oscar-nominated British actress McTeer on a U.S. broadcast series. Her recent series credits include Starz’s The White Queen and FX’s Damages. She can next be seen in Hugo Blick’s Honourable Woman for the BBC.

 

[Sawyer]

http://www.deadline.com/2014/02/dea...battle-creek-from-vince-gilligan-david-shore/

Dean Winters To Star In CBS Series ‘Battle Creek’, From Vince Gilligan & David Shore
By NELLIE ANDREEVA

Oz alum Dean Winters is set as one of the two leads cast in Battle Creek, CBS’ high-profile CBS series from Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan and House creator David Shore. Also cast in the project, from Sony TV and CBS Studios, are Aubrey Dollar and Edward Fordham Jr. It centers on Detective Russ Agnew (Winters) and FBI agent Milton Bradley who have very different world views but are teamed up to clean up the semi-mean streets of Battle Creek, MI. Winter’s Russ Agnew of the Battle Creek PD is a smart, tough, impatient, and pragmatic guy who gets results but whom no one wants to partner with because he prefers to cut through any nonsense, and this has earned him a reputation for being mean and gruff. Dollar plays Holly, the office manager who shares mutual attraction with Russ. Fordham Jr. plays chubby detective Aaron Funkhauser. They join recently cast Kal Penn and Janet McTeer. Creator Gilligan and showrunner Shore co-wrote the script and are executive producing with Mark Johnson for Sony Pictures TV and CBS TV Studios. Winters, repped by UTA, Bill Butler and Sandra Chang, is joining recently cast Kal Penn and Janet McTeer. Winters, whose series credits also include Rescue Me and 30 Rock, has been recurring on Fox comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine and will next be seen in John Wick opposite Keanu Reeves.

Love that guy.

 

[Shifty]

Good for him. Though this may end his appearances as The Vulture on Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

 

[Sawyer]

http://www.deadline.com/2014/03/bry...battle-creek-from-vince-gilligan-david-shore/

Bryan Singer To Direct & Exec Produce CBS Series ‘Battle Creek’, From Vince Gilligan & David Shore
By NELLIE ANDREEVA

Bryan Singer directed the pilot for David Shore‘s hit Fox medical drama series House, which the two executive produced for its entire eight-season run. Now they are reuniting on Shore’s follow-up series, CBS’ Battle Creek. The straight-to-series project, written by Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan and Shore, centers on Detective Russ Agnew (Dean Winters) and FBI agent Milton Bradley, who have very different worldviews but are teamed up to clean up the semi-mean streets of Battle Creek, MI. Gilligan, who created Battle Creek several years ago, and Shore, who will serve as showrunner, will executive produce with Singer and Mark Johnson. Jason Taylor of Singer’s banner Bad Hat Harry will serve as a producer alongside Erin Gunn of Shore’s Shore Z. Singer is the second House alum to join Battle Creek, along with co-star Kal Penn. This is the second straight-to-series drama WME-repped Singer is executive producing; he also serves in the same capacity on ABC’s upcoming Black Box. On the feature side, he is putting final touches on his third X-Men movie, X-Men: Days of Future Past.

 

[Spider-Man Luvr28]

Duhamel's in:

Josh Duhamel is returning to television with a lead role in Battle Creek, CBS’ high-profile series written by Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan and House creator David Shore and directed by Bryan Singer. The straight-to-series drama centers on Detective Russ Agnew (Dean Winters) and FBI agent Milton Chamberlain (Duhamel), who have different worldviews but are teamed up to clean up the semi-mean streets of Battle Creek, MI. Duhamel’s Milton is a clean-cut FBI agent; a sincere, humble, even naive guy who heads from Detroit to Battle Creek to set up a satellite FBI office. Gilligan, who created Battle Creek several years ago, and Shore, who will serve as showrunner, will executive produce with Singer and Mark Johnson, with Janet McTeer and Kal Penn co-starring. ICM Partners-repped Duhamel started in daytime, on staple All My Children, before segueing to primetime with Crossing Jordan and Las Vegas, in which he played the co-lead opposite James Caan, and then features.

http://www.deadline.com/2014/03/jos...battle-creek-from-vince-gilligan-david-shore/

 

[Sawyer]

Not crazy about him, but he's not bad.

 

[Sithborg]

I just have to laugh about "semi-mean streets". Although, Battle Creek has turned a bit nasty over the past few years.

Also have to laugh, as the actual police department is apparently having a lot of real life drama.

 

[Sawyer]

 

[Sawyer]

CBS gives this a series order only to hold it for midseason?

When has midseason ever worked out for one of your shows, CBS?

 

[Hunter Rider]

So it's getting the Intelligence treatment, no trailer?

 

[Sawyer]

http://insidetv.ew.com/2014/08/28/patton-oswalt-battle-creek/

Patton Oswalt to guest on Vince Gilligan's 'Battle Creek'
By Mandi Bierly on Aug 28, 2014 at 3:49PM

Battle Creek, CBS’ upcoming buddy cop drama co-created by Breaking Bad‘s Vince Gilligan and House‘s David Shore may not have a premiere date, but it does have a noteworthy guest star.

Patton Oswalt joins stars Josh Duhamel and Dean Winters as the unorthodox mayor of Battle Creek, Mich., in the freshman season’s sixth episode, “Cereal Killer,” EW has learned exclusively. The character’s full name? Mayor Scooter Hardy. There really was no other casting choice.

Duhamel stars as Milton Chamberlain, a handsome, charismatic FBI agent with unlimited resources, who opens a field office at the underfunded police station in Battle Creek and chooses a gruff local detective, Russ Agnew (Winters), to be his partner. Janet McTeer, Kal Penn, Edward Fordham, Jr. and Aubrey Dollar also star.

Oswalt, who’s become a go-to guest star, is also set to reprise his role as Fire Marshall Boone on Fox’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine this fall. Other recent turns include appearances on Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Modern Family, Drunk History, Justified, and Parks and Recreation.

 

[tzarinna]

Okay, Vince has me interested, as does the sexy pic of Josh and I adore Patton.

 

[BestGirl]

I just have to laugh about "semi-mean streets". Although, Battle Creek has turned a bit nasty over the past few years.

Also have to laugh, as the actual police department is apparently having a lot of real life drama.

At least that ought to give Gilligan some plot ideas.

 

[Man in the Suit]

Premiering March 1, 2015.

As for the decision to put Battle Creek on Sunday, I hear it came after CBS brass saw more episodes of the buddy small town crime drama starring Josh Duhamel and Dean Winters. It was deemed a sophisticated show that fits with what CBS considers its upscale night on Sunday, Research indicated that test audiences who liked Battle Creek also watch The Good Wife, leading to the decision to pair the two up.

http://deadline.com/2014/12/battle-creek-csi-cyber-premiere-date-stalker-cbs-1201309990/

 

[Sawyer]

First Look

 

[Hunter Rider]

First Look

I can dig it!

 

[Hunter Rider]

Battle Creek - Series Premiere Preview

[YT]9esEjX02m4I[/YT]

This looks great.