1/4 Life: Interview mit Herskovitz & Zwick
In einem Interview mit der NY Times äußern sich die beiden Produzenten Ed Zwick und Marshall Herskovitz über ihre neue ABC Dramaserie „1/4 Life“, die voraussichtlich im Herbst starten wird.
The pilot episode of „1/4 Life,“ written by Mr. Zwick and Mr. Herskovitz, revolves around a young couple (played by Shiri Appleby, who was a regular on „Roswell“ and who appeared in an episode of „Thirtysomething“ when she was 9, and Austin Nichols, who had small roles in the movies „Wimbledon“ and „The Day After Tomorrow“) trying to reconcile her desires for a long-term relationship and his focus on his career. Their five roommates and friends include Lisa, a bartender in love with a married man; Eric, an ambitious entrepreneur; and Andy, who is living away from home for the first time in his life. There are secret crushes, struggles for sexual identity, humbling encounters with ex-lovers who seem to have gotten on with their lives. It’s not unlike an episode of „The Real World,“ only with better dialogue and less expensive furniture.
As with all Zwick-Herskovitz television projects, „1/4 Life,“ will be character-driven and dialogue-filled. There will be bedroom conversations about failed expectations and the meaning of life. And although there may or may not be acoustic guitar music in the background, it is virtually guaranteed that when the series debuts, a large chunk of critics will immediately label it „Twentysomething.“
„I understand the temptation to think of it generationally, to try and target it demographically, but that’s something that tends to be done more by marketers and journalists than by us,“ Mr. Herskovitz says. „We’re more interested in telling the stories of these particular people, individuals with unique issues and stories that will be revealed over time. For us, the minute we try to think of something in a grand generalization, that’s when there’s a risk of the work getting pretty bad.“
„When you go on the air with a show that’s supposedly not doing well, you still have 8, 9, 10 million people watching every week,“ Mr. Herskovitz says.
„I just think of them as sort of like James Dean,“ he says of the loudly lamented „My So-Called Life“ and „Once and Again.“ „Killed before their time. And the legend is helped by that.“