coyotesuspect (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
coyotesuspect) wrote2011-05-01 01:09 am
coyotesuspect) wrote2011-05-01 01:09 am
lol drunkposting tv meme
1. Comment to this post with "I surrender!" and I'll assign you the basis of some TV show idea. (post-apocalyptic scifi-fi drama, fantasy, noir gumshoe pulp, criminal procedure...IN SPACE, historical drama WITH WEREWOLVES, etc.).
2. Create a cast of characters, including the actors who'd play them.
3. Add in any actor photos, character bios, and show synopsis that you want.
4. Post to your own journal and/or the isurrendered community on DW or LJ.
Title: Saintly
Prompt: From![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
familiardevil : A young man who works with his mother as a fortune teller in a traveling circus is given a message from God through an angel.
Type: A supernatural drama in 22 episode seasons LIKE WE DO IN AMURRICA.
Setting: America, late 2030s.
Synopsis: In the year 2037, Despereaux's Traveling Circus is composed of a ragtag family of performers, misfits, and runaways. It travels across an America in the decline. Wealth is concentrated in pockets of gated communities and the country's slipped into a second Great Depression. The state of Heaven isn't much better. Christianity is hemorrhaging believers, there's in-fighting among the ranks, and nothing's getting done due to a bureaucracy that drives straight past byzantine and into Kafka-esque. When an angel delivers a message from God that no one approved of, it causes quite the paperwork snafu. Until suddenly it's more than a snafu when the angelic ranks begin to realize someone's dead who shouldn't be, and someone's alive who should be dead. Unfortunately, divine providence attracts a lot of interest from a lot of other supernatural beings...
Michael St. James
Played by: Lee Thompson Young
The protagonist, Michael or "Mikey" is twenty-one when an angel descends from the heavens and tells him to duck. He does so, and barely misses being killed by Effie the elephant when she goes on a rampage that kills the circus's ringmaster and owner, Mister Despereaux.
Michael's intensely curious, a voracious reader, and very argumentative. So after his initial shock and gratitude wear off, he's full of questions for the angel who saves him. And not very pleased when she doesn't answer them. Serious and blunt, Mikey isn't very good at anything particularly circus-y, despite having grown up in Despereaux's. So he ends up doing a lot of odd jobs- cleaning out the animal trailers, barking food and tchotkes, helping with repairs, etc. He also throws a mean tarot, but since he'll actually tell people the future, his mother rarely lets him sit in as a fortune teller. He takes being the center of a supernatural conspiracy rather in stride. His ambition is to be a doctor, but it's a rather impossible dream considering the state of the country and higher education.
River St. James
Played by: Gina Torres
Mikey's mom, River is a fire dancer/swallower as well as the circus's resident oracle. No one actually knows if she can tell the future, but she admits to the other members of the circus she never tells the future to actual customers. It's just bleak. Mysterious, beautiful, and fatalistic, no one actually knows where River is from. She showed up one day with Mikey and has been around since. Some days she grew up in Detroit, other days in New Orleans or San Francisco or New York... It's clear River's running from something. Her relationship with Milkey is complicated- she somehow managed to combine an off-hands approach to mothering with a deep wariness of everyone Mikey talks to.
Gabby
Played by: Michelle Rodriguez
Mikey's angel, and not much of one in his opinion. She swears, drinks, and hits on everything. Mikey wouldn't mind the last part, except she's always talking to the cute new mechanic who's recently joined the circus. She also has a mean habit of turning herself invisible whenever people Mikey knows are around, so it ends up looking like he's arguing with himself. She won't tell Mikey why she saved him, or what God's purpose is for him. Mysterious ways, and all that. She'll also disappear for weeks at a time and knows something about Mikey's father that she's playing coy about.
Fandom has three favorite pet theories about Gabby. The first is she's actually the archangel Gabriel, the second is she's not an angel at all, and the third is she's Mikey's father. Hey- it's not like divine beings have a gender identity.
Margot Goldman
Played by: Freema Agyeman
A few years older than Mikey, the two are like siblings. Margot's parents died when she was twelve, and her uncle ditched her at the circus not long after, not being able to afford to feed another mouth. Understandably, she has some issues. Mr. Despereaux took her in though, and she looked up to him like a father. She's been Mr. Despereaux's right hand woman for years now, helping to keep the circus afloat with her financial acumen. So she's a bit upset when Mister Despereaux's long lost son shows up out of nowhere to take the place over. Despite her past and her current sense of injustice, Margot's much more upbeat than Mikey is, even if her humor can tend to run to black. She's also fiercely protective of the circus and everyone in it and is a whiz with the knife. She even has a throwing knife show.
Jude Despereaux
Played by: Lee Pace
Mr. Despereaux's prodigal son, Jude shows up in the middle of his father's funeral. He's tall, gangly, and seems a bit hapless. But he only gives off the impression of being helpless- he's really quite competent and charismatic when he needs to be. Wry and cheerful, he's an excellent ringmaster and defers to Margot when it comes to matters of business and so begrudgingly earns her respect after a long period of bickering. He mostly ignores Mikey, but often seems to show up at just the right time. He also knows someone everywhere they go, generally people who are very grateful to him. And he finds lost objects just when you've given up on losing them.
Bridget Whelan
Played by: Greta Gerwig
Bridget shows up not long after Jude does, though the two give no indication of knowing each other. Except sometimes Mikey's gets the sense that's not really the case. She takes over after their mechanic mysteriously disappears. Great with machines, she keeps everything running smoothly. She also owns a large collection of poetry, which she shares with Mikey. The two end up working together pretty often, and he develops quite the crush on her. She's sweet, practical, and wise, good with her hands and quick-witted. There's a lot of anger and power in her though, which Mikey doesn't realize until he sees her in a confrontation with some of the other angels that have been stalking him.
She likes him too, but things get complicated when it turns out she's actually the avatar of a saint (different department than angels) who's keeping an eye on him. Oh, but more than that, she actually considers herself a Gaelic goddess who's been "demoted" due to the demands of history.
Atticus Frost & Neil Sparrow
Played by: Ben Barnes & Andrew Garfield
Angels, but very low ranking ones (think super junior associates), Frost and Sparrow are sent to the earth to figure out why Mikey's life was spared. There was no paperwork filed suggesting he should have been saved. As Sparrow likes to pun off the scripture passage he stole his name from, "Not one sparrow falls to the ground without God knowing about it nor one of his angels filling out the proper form in triplicate." Frost takes his duties rather more... seriously. Frost is intense, often to the point of humorlessness, and can be very intimidating. He's goal-oriented, detail-minded, and ambitious. Sparrow is very much the good cop- friendlier, funnier, and very curious about Earth and humanity. He's excitable and curious. Frost and Sparrow worry about each other a lot.
Morgan Gray
Played by Steve Buscemi
Sparrow and Frost's elusive and rather frightening boss, Sparrow doesn't trust him and Frost admires him deeply... until Gray starts ignoring their field reports and failing to give them new instructions. Gray starts off somber and thoughtful and almost over-friendly, but he gradually becomes more and more unhinged. The stress of something is getting to him.
Elle Sebastian
Played by: Morena Baccarin
Morgan's boss. Or associate. She's never quite clear on that. She starts taking a personal interest in Mikey's case. Calm, professional, and with a gentle demeanor, Mikey wishes all angels were like her. Until he mentions her to Gabby and sees Gabby's face drain of color. Elle is merciless and faithful. She won't stand for anything less in her subordinates.
Adam & Lily Cartwright
Played by: Nathan Filion & Amy Adams
The Cartwrights are a family of trapeze artists. Adam is handsome, gregarious, and dim. Lily is the beautiful daughter of man who used to be rich, and she doesn't let anyone forget either of those things. The two love each other dearly, but their profligate spending and demands for raises give Margot a constant headache. Lily is prone to spreading gossip and Adam's prone to fist fights. But they're family.
Brianna & William Cartwright
Played by: Abigail Breslin & Colin Ford
Adam and Lily's twin children, Bri and Billy are children of the annoyingly precocious kind. Mikey ends up tutoring them a lot, and in return, the follow him everywhere. Self-absorbed, loud, and natural rulebreakers, they're charming in spite of themselves and spoiled by everyone. Mikey ends up having to save them very often.
Santiago & Amy Kokowa
Played by: Daniel Dae Kim & Kelly Hu
The circus's second set of twins, Santiago and Amy are Japanese-Peruvians who emigrated to America when they were very young. Or that's the story Amy gives. Santiago rarely talks to anyone except River (and Mikey uncomfortably suspects there may be something going on there). Amy, on the other hand, is bubbly and sociable. Contortionist, high wire act, and juggler, Amy is also what passes as the circus's doctor. She's slowly teaching Mikey what she knows. Santiago is the animal handler, and while he's never really talked to Mikey, he seems definitely unfriendly ever since Effie went mad and killed the ringmaster. The twins don't get along, but they're rarely seen apart. Mikey's beginning to realize everyone has a secret, and that includes Santiago and Amy.
Show Notes:
+ Christianity is just one of many conflicting religions on the show.
+Bridget's not the only saint running around the circus, keeping an eye on Mikey. Jude's also been sent to look after this particular lost cause. More saints will pop in from time to time too; St. George definitely makes an appearance.
+The angel's names aren't their actual names. Human minds wouldn't be able to comprehend their actual names. That being said, Elle is a fan of twee Scottish pop.
+There are quite a few more members of the circus than just those listed here. These are just the characters who recur most often.
+ The show starts as a MOTW, with Mikey, et al dealing with whatever new weirdness is attracted to him, but there's also the day to day running of the circus and the larger, mytharc concerns. Was Mikey really meant to be saved? Is Gabby what she says she is? Is anybody what the say they are? What's going on among the ranks of angels? And why was Mr. Despereaux in the elephant tent that day anyway?
+ Jude/Margot looks like it may be endgame, Mikey/Bridget is more ambiguous, and Frost/Sparrow is the biggest fandom slash ship (and also ship in general). Femmeslashers are gleeful multishippers, and there's a small but active Santiago/Amy ship. People ship Mikey/Margot the same way people ship Harry/Hermione. Gabby is fandom's little black dress. But the cast is large enough and pretty enough that almost everyone has been shipped with almost everyone else.
+ The show doesn't get picked up after the end of season 3. Reasons cited are: the cost of paying for such a large cast and the elaborate sets and stunts were too high, considering the show was getting bogged down in its mytharc and losing viewers. Still, a very vocal core fanbase remains, and there are rumors there may be a movie in the making.
+ Cinematography is very desaturated, but with occasional bright pops of color- generally with things having to do with the circus: the big tent, Lily's dresses, Margot's knife throwing costume, etc.
2. Create a cast of characters, including the actors who'd play them.
3. Add in any actor photos, character bios, and show synopsis that you want.
4. Post to your own journal and/or the isurrendered community on DW or LJ.
Title: Saintly
Prompt: From
familiardevil : A young man who works with his mother as a fortune teller in a traveling circus is given a message from God through an angel.Type: A supernatural drama in 22 episode seasons LIKE WE DO IN AMURRICA.
Setting: America, late 2030s.
Synopsis: In the year 2037, Despereaux's Traveling Circus is composed of a ragtag family of performers, misfits, and runaways. It travels across an America in the decline. Wealth is concentrated in pockets of gated communities and the country's slipped into a second Great Depression. The state of Heaven isn't much better. Christianity is hemorrhaging believers, there's in-fighting among the ranks, and nothing's getting done due to a bureaucracy that drives straight past byzantine and into Kafka-esque. When an angel delivers a message from God that no one approved of, it causes quite the paperwork snafu. Until suddenly it's more than a snafu when the angelic ranks begin to realize someone's dead who shouldn't be, and someone's alive who should be dead. Unfortunately, divine providence attracts a lot of interest from a lot of other supernatural beings...
Michael St. James
Played by: Lee Thompson Young
The protagonist, Michael or "Mikey" is twenty-one when an angel descends from the heavens and tells him to duck. He does so, and barely misses being killed by Effie the elephant when she goes on a rampage that kills the circus's ringmaster and owner, Mister Despereaux.
Michael's intensely curious, a voracious reader, and very argumentative. So after his initial shock and gratitude wear off, he's full of questions for the angel who saves him. And not very pleased when she doesn't answer them. Serious and blunt, Mikey isn't very good at anything particularly circus-y, despite having grown up in Despereaux's. So he ends up doing a lot of odd jobs- cleaning out the animal trailers, barking food and tchotkes, helping with repairs, etc. He also throws a mean tarot, but since he'll actually tell people the future, his mother rarely lets him sit in as a fortune teller. He takes being the center of a supernatural conspiracy rather in stride. His ambition is to be a doctor, but it's a rather impossible dream considering the state of the country and higher education.
River St. James
Played by: Gina Torres
Mikey's mom, River is a fire dancer/swallower as well as the circus's resident oracle. No one actually knows if she can tell the future, but she admits to the other members of the circus she never tells the future to actual customers. It's just bleak. Mysterious, beautiful, and fatalistic, no one actually knows where River is from. She showed up one day with Mikey and has been around since. Some days she grew up in Detroit, other days in New Orleans or San Francisco or New York... It's clear River's running from something. Her relationship with Milkey is complicated- she somehow managed to combine an off-hands approach to mothering with a deep wariness of everyone Mikey talks to.
Gabby
Played by: Michelle Rodriguez
Mikey's angel, and not much of one in his opinion. She swears, drinks, and hits on everything. Mikey wouldn't mind the last part, except she's always talking to the cute new mechanic who's recently joined the circus. She also has a mean habit of turning herself invisible whenever people Mikey knows are around, so it ends up looking like he's arguing with himself. She won't tell Mikey why she saved him, or what God's purpose is for him. Mysterious ways, and all that. She'll also disappear for weeks at a time and knows something about Mikey's father that she's playing coy about.
Fandom has three favorite pet theories about Gabby. The first is she's actually the archangel Gabriel, the second is she's not an angel at all, and the third is she's Mikey's father. Hey- it's not like divine beings have a gender identity.
Margot Goldman
Played by: Freema Agyeman
A few years older than Mikey, the two are like siblings. Margot's parents died when she was twelve, and her uncle ditched her at the circus not long after, not being able to afford to feed another mouth. Understandably, she has some issues. Mr. Despereaux took her in though, and she looked up to him like a father. She's been Mr. Despereaux's right hand woman for years now, helping to keep the circus afloat with her financial acumen. So she's a bit upset when Mister Despereaux's long lost son shows up out of nowhere to take the place over. Despite her past and her current sense of injustice, Margot's much more upbeat than Mikey is, even if her humor can tend to run to black. She's also fiercely protective of the circus and everyone in it and is a whiz with the knife. She even has a throwing knife show.
Jude Despereaux
Played by: Lee Pace
Mr. Despereaux's prodigal son, Jude shows up in the middle of his father's funeral. He's tall, gangly, and seems a bit hapless. But he only gives off the impression of being helpless- he's really quite competent and charismatic when he needs to be. Wry and cheerful, he's an excellent ringmaster and defers to Margot when it comes to matters of business and so begrudgingly earns her respect after a long period of bickering. He mostly ignores Mikey, but often seems to show up at just the right time. He also knows someone everywhere they go, generally people who are very grateful to him. And he finds lost objects just when you've given up on losing them.
Bridget Whelan
Played by: Greta Gerwig
Bridget shows up not long after Jude does, though the two give no indication of knowing each other. Except sometimes Mikey's gets the sense that's not really the case. She takes over after their mechanic mysteriously disappears. Great with machines, she keeps everything running smoothly. She also owns a large collection of poetry, which she shares with Mikey. The two end up working together pretty often, and he develops quite the crush on her. She's sweet, practical, and wise, good with her hands and quick-witted. There's a lot of anger and power in her though, which Mikey doesn't realize until he sees her in a confrontation with some of the other angels that have been stalking him.
She likes him too, but things get complicated when it turns out she's actually the avatar of a saint (different department than angels) who's keeping an eye on him. Oh, but more than that, she actually considers herself a Gaelic goddess who's been "demoted" due to the demands of history.
Atticus Frost & Neil Sparrow
Played by: Ben Barnes & Andrew Garfield
Angels, but very low ranking ones (think super junior associates), Frost and Sparrow are sent to the earth to figure out why Mikey's life was spared. There was no paperwork filed suggesting he should have been saved. As Sparrow likes to pun off the scripture passage he stole his name from, "Not one sparrow falls to the ground without God knowing about it nor one of his angels filling out the proper form in triplicate." Frost takes his duties rather more... seriously. Frost is intense, often to the point of humorlessness, and can be very intimidating. He's goal-oriented, detail-minded, and ambitious. Sparrow is very much the good cop- friendlier, funnier, and very curious about Earth and humanity. He's excitable and curious. Frost and Sparrow worry about each other a lot.
Morgan Gray
Played by Steve Buscemi
Sparrow and Frost's elusive and rather frightening boss, Sparrow doesn't trust him and Frost admires him deeply... until Gray starts ignoring their field reports and failing to give them new instructions. Gray starts off somber and thoughtful and almost over-friendly, but he gradually becomes more and more unhinged. The stress of something is getting to him.
Elle Sebastian
Played by: Morena Baccarin
Morgan's boss. Or associate. She's never quite clear on that. She starts taking a personal interest in Mikey's case. Calm, professional, and with a gentle demeanor, Mikey wishes all angels were like her. Until he mentions her to Gabby and sees Gabby's face drain of color. Elle is merciless and faithful. She won't stand for anything less in her subordinates.
Adam & Lily Cartwright
Played by: Nathan Filion & Amy Adams
The Cartwrights are a family of trapeze artists. Adam is handsome, gregarious, and dim. Lily is the beautiful daughter of man who used to be rich, and she doesn't let anyone forget either of those things. The two love each other dearly, but their profligate spending and demands for raises give Margot a constant headache. Lily is prone to spreading gossip and Adam's prone to fist fights. But they're family.
Brianna & William Cartwright
Played by: Abigail Breslin & Colin Ford
Adam and Lily's twin children, Bri and Billy are children of the annoyingly precocious kind. Mikey ends up tutoring them a lot, and in return, the follow him everywhere. Self-absorbed, loud, and natural rulebreakers, they're charming in spite of themselves and spoiled by everyone. Mikey ends up having to save them very often.
Santiago & Amy Kokowa
Played by: Daniel Dae Kim & Kelly Hu
The circus's second set of twins, Santiago and Amy are Japanese-Peruvians who emigrated to America when they were very young. Or that's the story Amy gives. Santiago rarely talks to anyone except River (and Mikey uncomfortably suspects there may be something going on there). Amy, on the other hand, is bubbly and sociable. Contortionist, high wire act, and juggler, Amy is also what passes as the circus's doctor. She's slowly teaching Mikey what she knows. Santiago is the animal handler, and while he's never really talked to Mikey, he seems definitely unfriendly ever since Effie went mad and killed the ringmaster. The twins don't get along, but they're rarely seen apart. Mikey's beginning to realize everyone has a secret, and that includes Santiago and Amy.
Show Notes:
+ Christianity is just one of many conflicting religions on the show.
+Bridget's not the only saint running around the circus, keeping an eye on Mikey. Jude's also been sent to look after this particular lost cause. More saints will pop in from time to time too; St. George definitely makes an appearance.
+The angel's names aren't their actual names. Human minds wouldn't be able to comprehend their actual names. That being said, Elle is a fan of twee Scottish pop.
+There are quite a few more members of the circus than just those listed here. These are just the characters who recur most often.
+ The show starts as a MOTW, with Mikey, et al dealing with whatever new weirdness is attracted to him, but there's also the day to day running of the circus and the larger, mytharc concerns. Was Mikey really meant to be saved? Is Gabby what she says she is? Is anybody what the say they are? What's going on among the ranks of angels? And why was Mr. Despereaux in the elephant tent that day anyway?
+ Jude/Margot looks like it may be endgame, Mikey/Bridget is more ambiguous, and Frost/Sparrow is the biggest fandom slash ship (and also ship in general). Femmeslashers are gleeful multishippers, and there's a small but active Santiago/Amy ship. People ship Mikey/Margot the same way people ship Harry/Hermione. Gabby is fandom's little black dress. But the cast is large enough and pretty enough that almost everyone has been shipped with almost everyone else.
+ The show doesn't get picked up after the end of season 3. Reasons cited are: the cost of paying for such a large cast and the elaborate sets and stunts were too high, considering the show was getting bogged down in its mytharc and losing viewers. Still, a very vocal core fanbase remains, and there are rumors there may be a movie in the making.
+ Cinematography is very desaturated, but with occasional bright pops of color- generally with things having to do with the circus: the big tent, Lily's dresses, Margot's knife throwing costume, etc.