This week, the creators of the acclaimed TV drama Damages, Daniel Zelman and Todd and Glenn Kessler. After three years on FX the show was canceled last year but is now having a second life on Direct TV. The satellite provider will produce two more seasons and hopes it will entice fans of the show to switch to their service. Damages stars Glenn Close and Rose Byrne and has had season-long guest-starring turns from a host of top-tier talent like William Hurt, Ted Danson, Martin Short, John Goodman and Lily Tomlin. Zelman and the Kesslers talk about how it's the serialized nature of the story telling that lures these actors to the show since they get to develop their characters over the course of many episodes. But they also lament that it's that same serialized story-telling that got it canceled by FX since it was hard to garner a large fan following.
Then we hear the winning story told from our Moth StorySlam. Told by Moth regular Bill Ratner, it reveals the dark side to I Love Lucy.
Today's Banter Topics:
- Budget issues with Disney's Lone Ranger, starring Johnny Depp, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by Gore Verbinski
- Latest in the Murdoch Empire's phone hacking scandal