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In her morning session, CBS Entertainment Chairman Nina Tassler called Angel From Hell an “offbeat quirky script.”
Creator and Executive Producer Tad Quill goes one step farther, saying that his original idea for the show was inspired by Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie.
“What would be the updated version of a show like that?” he said at TCA’s summer press tour Monday morning. “You would probably think that person was crazy but there might be a small part of you that hoped it was true. Who wouldn’t want a guardian angel?”
The basis of the comedy, said Quill, is that there’s no clear, immediate answer whether Jane Lynch’s Amy is really a guardian angel or if she made it all up in her head.
“Is she a guardian angel, or is she nuts?” said Quill. “It’s up to the audience to decide.”
One thing is for sure, though, Amy certainly believes she is a guardian angel.
Co-star Kevin Pollak says the uncertainty is part of the charm of Angel From Hell that drew him to the show.
“It’s OK that we don’t know,” he said, referencing the movie Miracle on 34th Street. “He’s an incredible spirit. I don’t want to know, I enjoy both sides of the argument. It’s easy to be skeptical but the hope behind ‘What if she is?’ is just a little too wonderful.”
CBS’ TV sequel to the movie Limitless also debuts this fall, using “the format of the police procedural to tell a fast-paced story,” according to Executive Producer Craig Sweeny.
The show’s panel Monday afternoon addressed the series, with Bradley Cooper’s involvement and a fictional drug that mirrors real life.
The producers worked with the team from the movie to create the pilot, using Cooper’s input as well. The main character in the series, Brian Finch (Jake McDorman) takes the NZT pill and gets expanded cognitive abilities. The FBI puts this to good use with a deal that he can take one pill every 12 hours to help them week to week.
McDorman said that one attraction for him to the show was that there are “two different versions of the same character,” with 12 hours on the drug and 12 without it.
Executive Producer Alex Kurtzman added that the movie ended with a “lot of open-ended questions,” which appealed to him. “If you’re going to make a TV show out of a movie, it has to be more than just because it was a successful movie.”
“And while the pill is fictional,” said Sweeny, “it’s not far off,” speaking about certain pills and prescriptions popular in Silicon Valley to be able to work in overdrive for a brief time.
“The idea that you may not want to stop taking this pill is very important,” Sweeny said, “and that’s why it’s important we see him on the pill as much as he’s not on the pill. The changes he’s going through is reckoning with ‘How can you stand being a normal person after being extraordinary for half of your day?”
Limitless premieres Sept. 22 following NCIS and NCIS: New Orleans.
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