After years of neglect, miniseries are heading back to network television in a major way. Fox has already announced an upcoming “24” miniseries to go along with other “event series” in development. Now NBC is making a big push into the miniseries game as well.
During the NBC presentation at the Television Critics Association press tour, Entertainment Chairman Bob Greenblatt revealed that NBC has four new miniseries in development. Foremost among them is a remake of Ira Levin’s “Rosemary’s Baby;” which was previously adapted as a feature film directed by Roman Polanski in 1968.
The updated “Rosemary’s Baby” will be a four hour miniseries that relocates the story to Paris, as a young wife named Rosemary begins to suspect that her husband and their neighbors are part of a Satanic cult that has dark plans for both Rosemary and her unborn child. “Rosemary’s Baby” previously received a sequel TV miniseries in 1976 called “Look What’s Happened To Rosemary’s Baby.”
Also up for a remake at NBC is Stephen King’s “The Tommyknockers,” which was adapted as a miniseries at ABC back in 1993. The update will once again follow a small town in Maine that is changed forever when an unearthed alien spaceship begins transforming the town’s residents. Considering that the novel took place in a town called Haven, that name will probably be changed to avoid confusion with the Syfy series, “Haven;” which is also loosely based upon King’s works.
NBC also announced a Hillary Clinton bio-miniseries with Diane Lane attached to portray the former First Lady, Senator and Secretary of State. The other new project is “Plymouth;” which will explore the story of the first Pilgrims to cross the Atlantic and make a new life for themselves in America.
