L.A.’s Finest almost has a home.
Deadline’s Nellie Andreeva is reporting that talks have advanced and “serious negotiations” are taking place for Charter Communications to pick up the Bad Boys offshoot pilot starring Gabrielle Union and Jessica Alba that NBC passed on in the biggest surprise of the pilot season. Andreeva first reported that Charter was in preliminary talks to pick the show up from Sony Pictures Television.
Charter Communications, which produced the cable product Spectrum, drummed up original content deals with AMC Networks and Viacom and also hired a seasoned TV exec, Katherine Pope, to head up original content. It would be Charter’s first move into this space and a big one at that.
Andreeva notes that with two A-list stars and title recognition, it would be a key move for Charter to make in introducing “high-end” original content on its Spectrum cable system.
As for the NBC pass, THR‘s Lesley Goldberg notes that NBC’s former entertainment president Jennifer Salke bought the $12M pilot with “elaborate” action sequences and was a champion for it, but after she left for Amazon Studios, so did their advocate.
Arguably the most high-profile pilot of the season, NBC passing on the series was a shock as it features two movie stars and women of color. Union, who fronted the spinoff from the start, wanted to land a big name as her co-lead and personally sought Alba.
Shadow and Act spoke to Union about the pilot recently. “We’re really excited. And to be able to co-executive produce with Jessica Alba..it’s like, we feel like boss bitches. It just really feels good that two women of color are the leads, are the executive producers, put the whole thing together and that we know that we are deserving of this opportunity. That nobody gave it to us, we took it. So hopefully NBC agrees. No pressure, NBC (laughs)…but we really hope we are on the fall lineup.”
The series would see Union reprising her character, Special Agent Sydney “Syd” Burnett, from the second Bad Boys film. Burnett was an undercover DEA operative and sister of Martin Lawrence’s Marcus Burnett and love interest for Will Smith’s Mike Lowrey.
Here’s her status in the show: “Syd Burnett, last seen in Miami taking down a drug cartel, now is a Los Angeles Police Department detective and can pursue all the pleasures Los Angeles has to offer and leave her past behind. But things will get complicated when her new partner, Nancy McKenna (Alba), learns that Syd’s unapologetic lifestyle might be masking a greater personal secret.”