CBS Abandons Early Edition Reboot
CBS' rebooted take on Early Edition isn't headed to print. On Thursday, it was announced (via Variety) that the new incarnation of Early Edition will not be moving forward at the network, after completing filming on its pilot. The series would have served as a reboot of the late-1990s drama series of the same name, which followed a man (played by Kyle Chandler) who magically began receiving tomorrow's newspaper today, and utilized his knowledge of the future to change it for the better. The rebooted and gender-swapped version of the series would have followed Beth (Star Trek: Into Darkness and Iron Fist's Alice Eve), an ambitious but uncompromising journalist who starts receiving tomorrow's newspaper today, and then finds herself in the complicated business of changing the news instead of reporting it.
Eve's Beth is the Executive Producer of KSEA, a local Seattle TV news station. A journalist/investigative reporter since she was a kid, Beth is very focused on getting the story no matter what – which sometimes puts her at odds with her beloved mentor, Tommy, who believes that the most important thing about a story is the people and its human toll.
The rebooted Early Edition pilot would have been written and executive produced by Melissa Glenn (Zoo, Beauty and the Beast), with DeVon Franklin and Bob Brush executive producing, and Jenna Nicholson co-executive producing. The series would be a co-production between Sony Pictures Television, AFFIRM Television, and CBS Studios.
The original version of Early Edition was a hit for CBS upon the time of its airing, and featured an ensemble cast that also included Shanésia Davis-Williams, Fisher Stevens, Kristy Swanson, Myles Jeffrey, Billie Worley, Ron Dean, William Devane, Constance Marie, and Tess Harper.
"I was pleasantly surprised," Chandler said of the show's success in a 1996 interview with the Los Angeles Times. "I think people like the show. It has got something that's different to it. It has got some smart writing."
"I think that, going in, there was kind of an expectation by the network and the people around it that what they needed was a [Touched by an Angel], so we didn't know if the little bit of edge the show has and the quirkier feel of it would play or not," Brush echoed at the time. "Astonishingly enough, people seem to be embracing it."
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