TV SHOW MEME

[sabotabby]

The meme:

1. Comment to this post with "I surrender!" and I'll assign you the basis of some tv show idea. (Science fiction show, medical drama, criminal procedure, etc...)
2. Create a cast of characters, including the actors who'd play them
3. Add in any actor photos, character bios and show synopsis that you want.
4. Post to your own journal.

princealberic gave me "political drama," thus unleashing the special sort of hell where I can't stop giggling.

Okay, so my show is called Party People.

The Premise
A small, unnamed country in Latin America has been in the grip of a corrupt caudillo since the 80s. His death shakes the country into chaos, at the end of which the ragtag band of Marxist guerrillas who have pledged to bring democracy and social justice to the nation for decades suddenly find themselves in power. This surprises them as much as anyone else; they have a very detailed political program but are ill-equipped to keep the promises they've made, especially with the US not especially keen to have another functional quasi-communist state in their backyard. To complicate matters further, just as they're setting up camp in the shelled ruins of the Presidential Palace, it's revealed that they're sitting on a massive oil reservoir...and everyone wants a stake in it.


The Cast


Pam Grier as The President
A aging agitator and intellectual, the new President is a brilliant guerrilla leader but doesn't have the first clue of how to run a country. She's torn between the leftist ideals she went to prison for and the demands of international realpolitik.


Michelle Rodriguez as The General
Che Guevara to the President's Fidel Castro, the head of the nascent democracy's military is badass, idealistic, and media savvy—the face of the revolution. A populist right up until she has to call in the troops to suppress the first counterrevolutionary rally, she tries to push the new government ever leftwards, no matter how impractical.


Roxann Dawson as the Minister of Finance
In order to secure their victory, the new government had to make some concessions to the country's existing elite. This meant inheriting the old Finance Minister, who has the IMF and World Bank contacts that they need to not go immediately broke. The Finance Minister's job is to roll her eyes a lot and say, "do not do that cool thing" while butting heads with the President and the General.


Kirk Acevedo as the Minister of Education
The most bleeding heart of bleeding hearts, the Minister of Education is the conscience of the new government. Tasked with bringing revolutionary ideals to a mainly impoverished, illiterate population, this former rural schoolteacher is the guy who says, "um, maybe that person doesn't need to go up against the wall just yet" and then gets overruled.


Zoe Saldana as the Venezuelan Ambassador
The best frenemy an emerging Marxist state could have. Ostensibly an ally against US incursions, the Machiavellian diplomat has her own mysterious agenda.


Danny Trejo as The Chef
The aforementioned ragtag band of guerrillas weren't the only opposition to the old regime. The new government's leadership is largely urban, educated, and middle class; the peasantry isn't so sure that land redistribution is actually going to happen or that indigenous rights will be respected. Some of militants continue to hold out for FULL COMMUNISM, chief among them a charismatic badass with a fuck-ton of knives.


Tatiana Maslany as the American Ambassador


Tatiana Maslany as the Canadian Ambassador


Tatiana Maslany as the Ukrainian Ambassador

(Do I really need to explain this?)


Russell Harvard as the Foreign Correspondent
A freelancer for Al Jazeera sent to report on the outcome of the first election who gets swept up in the various political dramas. Basically I just think this guy needs to be in more things.

AND STARRING


Alexei Sayle as himself Grigor Pirozhkov Olegovich
A Russian oil tycoon whose ebullient demeanour masks a wicked intellect and a hunger for power. Sent in to assess the state of the country's oil reserves, he ends up hanging around to guide them on the world stage/do hilarious Alexei Sayle things.

Comments

[springheel-jack.livejournal.com]

ok i surrender

[sabotabby]

Period drama.

[springheel-jack.livejournal.com]

is the early 1970s too late in time for this?

[sabotabby]

Not at all!

[princealberic.livejournal.com]

BY THE DROWNED GOD, THIS IS AMAZING

I would watch the hell out of this show (especially if you were the one writing it). BRB setting up a kickstarter.

Just so you know, my favourites would be the Machiavellian ambassador and The General (though I love all the characters here), and I'd ship them together because of course I would.

I love how Tatiana Maslany would play three different ambassadors.

P.S.: I surrender

[sabotabby]

You are meant to ship the Venezuelan Ambassador and The General. That's why I cast Saldana and Rodriguez. :)

I love how Tatiana Maslany would play three different ambassadors.

She'd actually be playing more than three but I couldn't find enough gifs where she looked suitably professional. Basically if there is a country where it is likely that the ambassador would be a white lady, she would play that role and everyone would just basically act like it was a different person and not comment at all.

OKAY crime/gangster drama.

[princealberic.livejournal.com]

But the question is, would it be canon or would you be the sort of cruel, cruel person who would just give us lots of UST and subtext and more feelings that my poor heart can cope with?

She'd actually be playing more than three but I couldn't find enough gifs where she looked suitably professional.

I really like the idea of her being all the ambassadors and nobody commenting on it.

You know, if you ever decide to go into TV writing, you should try to pitch this to someone. If I hadn't lost my fortune that one time, I would seriously fund this thing.

I... am not actually sure what crime/gangster drama is. Is it like The Godfather?

[sabotabby]

But the question is, would it be canon or would you be the sort of cruel, cruel person who would just give us lots of UST and subtext and more feelings that my poor heart can cope with?

A combination of both. It would be all of the UST and power games and manipulation and genuine concern when shit gets dangerous and longing glances for the first few seasons (yes I have lofty ambitions) and they'd finally fuck, because this is how I roll.

I... am not actually sure what crime/gangster drama is. Is it like The Godfather?

Any sort of drama where the main characters are criminals. So Godfather, but also The Wire, Peaky Blinders, The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, Leverage, Boardwalk Empire, etc.

[beam-oflight.livejournal.com]

Why is this not a thing! I would watch the shit out of this. The casting and premise is just fantastic. Love the idea of Tatiana Maslany as all teh forign diplomats and no one batting an eyelid.

[sabotabby]

I have a strong feeling that this would not get greenlit by any major network. For reasons.

[beam-oflight.livejournal.com]

You may be right there. Esp. If you were allowed creative control. Maybe netflix.

[sabotabby]

Quite possibly! I'm amazed at what gets allowed on Netflix.

[ironed_orchid]

I have seen more strap-ons on tv in the last month than I thought possible. (It's a low number, but I didn't expect to see ANY)

[smhwpf.livejournal.com]

OMG, this would be the best show ever. Love TM as all the ambassadors. Pitch it to Netflix and Telesur!

I surrender.

[sabotabby]

I want it to exist, dammit!

Okay, fantasy.

[smhwpf.livejournal.com]

I it cheating if the concept is based on an existing series of books? (I have a non-cheating alternative in development also, but needs work...)

[sabotabby]

Nah adaptation is totally cool.

[rohmie.livejournal.com]

I surrender on the condition that I post it here because nobody reads my LJ.

[sabotabby]

Hey, I read your LJ. But fair enough.

Sitcom.

[khalinche.livejournal.com]

Jesus Christ please make this be real.

[sabotabby]

If it was I'd hire you to be the showrunner.

[khalinche.livejournal.com]

Awesome, but tbh I'd be happy with "Assistant to Mr Sayle".

[sabotabby]

Wouldn't we all?

[karinmollberg.livejournal.com]

I defy and deny unless forced. If you ask, please only for information. However, I am starting on my first ever Barbara Cartland novel (in French, langue de la mort) to cover a big black hole in my education. Let this be your warning (and not mention how Firebrand comes to many a mind addicted to yours;) I can also be my own double for I am making at least one or further cameos.

[sabotabby]

Who is Barbara Cartland?

[karinmollberg.livejournal.com]

A clear Role Model: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Cartland (yes, I mean it;) just look at that cover (Fwänch): http://theboringclub.livejournal.com/161168.html

[sabotabby]

The picture in the second link does not load, but the picture in her bio is enough to make me think I would love her.

[karinmollberg.livejournal.com]

She is (well, was, sadly, they don't make'em like that anymore) just the kind of actual role model today's grrrls don't get for lack of funky grans (though I admit, some have some and I'm so jealous, I could cry out loud). Just what she says on that niece's reading habits, her (own( hairdo&clothes), her attitude toward the male species, and then, just silently, what she actually did for those in ditto need but evidently without mentioning and no reason to not show off her diamonds though I read, she said one time, she stopped buying them because they all looked grey on pics so she might as well wear fake ones (and spent the rest for a good purpose such as poor girls in need of, I like to think). Gawd, if they'd only let her guide her county...

Well, don't put me in charge of IT in your soap even if I say, I know how to use it!

[karinmollberg.livejournal.com]

Je suis desolée! It loads just fine when I look in the door but probably that's just (because it's) me. No idea, how to fix. Anyway, we must all read Dame Cartland, then we get to marry Prince Charming...and we know how that ends!

[resonant.livejournal.com]

This would so be an awesome show!

[sabotabby]

I need it to exist. This is sad.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

I WOULD DONATE TO THIS KICK-STARTER HOLY SHIT

[sabotabby]

:D If only.

[bitter-crimson.livejournal.com]

I surrender, with the caveat that whatever the genre is I'll probably make it into an anime haha. (And there's no way it will be as good as yours.)

[sabotabby]

:) Because I was going to say sports anime if you wanted to do this.

[bitter-crimson.livejournal.com]

hahaha yessss, twist my arm! XD I am going to think long and hard about what kind of sports anime I'd create if I had complete control...

Holy shit

[ed-rex.livejournal.com]

That was/is fucking awesome. With others, I would watch the fuck out of it.

I'd surrender but (a) I'm not on summer holiday and (b) I don't think I could come close to matching yours.

Re: Holy shit

[sabotabby]

Aww, I dunno. I think it'd be good.

Space opera if you do decide to do it.

[ironed_orchid]

Kirk Acevedo as the Minister of Education

ilu so much right now

Tatiana Maslany as the American Ambassador
Tatiana Maslany as the Canadian Ambassador
Tatiana Maslany as the Ukrainian Ambassador

I LOLLED so hard I scared the cat.

This needs to be a thing. I would totally watch this thing.

[sabotabby]

I'm glad you approve.

Kirk Acevedo needs to be in more things. I mean, he is in a lot of things (after I wrote this, I went back to my Agents of SHIELD marathon and there he was!) but he needs to be in more things where he doesn't play a tough angry guy.

And Tatiana Maslany needs to be in ALL THE THINGS, in multiple roles. It is known.

[ironed_orchid]

My brain seemed to think that Kandi Alexander needs to be in all my fantasy casts. My brain makes soem very convincing points.

[sabotabby]

Your brain is correct. Among other things, she is my fantasy cast for one of the main characters in that novel I'm kinda working on with the wereraccoon.

[ironed_orchid]

1. OMG!
2. So glad you are still working on that

[sabotabby]

Well, I haven't touched it in a year. But it's still in my head.

(She is the suicide prevention helpline operator who gains the power to bend people to her will.)

[ironed_orchid]

P.S. Now that I have finished the assignment that princealberic gave me, I surrender.

[sabotabby]

Action.

[ironed_orchid]

OMG!

[maeve66.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow. Why aren't you writing for Netflix series? I'd so love this series, even though I don't get the Tatiana Maslany joke.

[sabotabby]

OMG you need to be watching Orphan Black. It's about clones except it's about much more than that, and is the best thing on TV right now IMO. Tatiana Maslany plays half the lead cast, all of whom are very distinct people.