Right after ABC picked up The Forgotten they got rid of the lead actor, Brit Rupert Penry-Jones. Today's query ... will ABC plug in Slater, just off the ratings dog the abysmal My Own Worst Enemy on NBC?
(And another thing, somewhat related. Penry-Jones, pictured right, and countryman Richard Coyle were both cast in pilots this season and then cut once those shows were picked up. I know that the nets are trying to cut payroll on pilots save money. Would it surprise you to find out that one of the ways the US networks are doing that is by hiring English-speaking actors from other countries for pilots at a lower cost? It certainly wouldn't surprise me. BTW, Penry Jones would have been a great replacement for Douglas Henshaw on Primeval had it survived the ITV ax.)
In The Forgotten, Slater would fill the lead role of a former cop who heads up a team of amateur detectives. Among the character's baggage is the fact that his 11-year-old daughter was kidnapped three years prior.
(snip)
British actor Rupert Penry-Jones (BBC's Spooks) played the role in the pilot. The Forgotten is also recasting one of the detectives, originally played by 24 alumna Reiko Aylesworth.
An ABC source says that Slater's casting is only a rumor at this point, and that no deal has been made.
About the series from an ABC press site:
For those of you who didn't get to see My Own Worst Enemy before it was pulled from the schedule, I've embedded an episode after the jump for your review.
I'm not gonna subject myself to it again, however. I remember clearly asking for that hour of my life back at the time.
I didn't like the premise for the show, I didn't like him in it, and in general when I think about Christian Slater I get a bad feeling. He hasn't done anything to help himself over the years, either. I keep going back to that incident when he grabbed some middle aged woman's ass outside a bodega in Manhattan a few years ago and the dust up after that.
He's just not someone I would tune in to see. Whadda you think? Leave a comment below.
One more thing ... you know who the show DOES have, it's Bob Stevenson (image left) ex of Jericho and currently of every commercial that you see on TV.
Yes, they're still running, all those ads that Bob shot during the writers strike are still airing. Guy must be cleaning up, and now a new series to boot. Good for you, Bob.
