City officials found out yesterday that HBO won't be picking up writer-director Mike White's set-here-shot-here Mamma Dallas, about a drag queen-turned-nanny for a wealthy conservative family that has no idea it's just hired Ms. Doubtfire. The rest of us found out today.
Deadline.com has the scoop: The cable network has passed on the series from the writer of Freaks and Geeks, Orange County and Enlightened for undisclosed reasons.
"Mike White is one of the most talented filmmakers working today and we feel honored to have worked with him on Enlightened and the Mama Dallas pilot," HBO programming chief Michael Lombardo told the site in a prepared statement. "The latter only reinforced our views of Mike's prodigious talents. Unfortunately, after much discussion we have decided not to proceed to series on this work. We truly hope that we will find another opportunity to work together. "
Too bad -- local crews who'd worked on Dallas, The Good Guys, Lone Star and other come-and-gones had hoped for a pick-up and a paycheck. A few locals worked on the pilot, which shot in Dallas in March, alongside folks from Los Angles and Austin. Now they're holding out hope for NBC's Frankenstein reboot, which shot its pilot here at the same time. But it's not looking likely: Even if the network does pick up the show -- which "we keep hearing is a decent take," notes Entertainment Weekly -- it'll likely go elsewhere, so we've been told.
The song remains the same: Ashley Judd's Salvation and the Jason Bateman-produced Two to Go shot their pilots here last spring, only to wind up never seeing the light of prime-time.
Janis Burklund, head of the Dallas Film Commission, found out yesterday about Mamma Dallas' premature death.
"I'm disappointed, but I do know HBO had a good experience here," she says. "They expressed that. But, it's unfortunate."
HBO's decision leaves Dallas series-less for now -- a shame, since the city spent a small fortune on a studio in the Cedars for TNT's late Dallas reboot. It's a nice space now in search of a full-time tenant. Says Burklund, we may still get one.
"Pilots that were shot elsewhere are looking at us for a series." She can't say which ones. Of course. "It's the usual mad scramble that happens this time of the year. "It's the dance."
And everyone knows it's not fun to dance alone.
