Preacher pilot picked up by Sony and AMC


Television

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Sony Pictures Television has ordered a pilot episode for a TV series based on the controversial, violent PREACHER comic series by Garth Ennis. If it goes to series, it will air on AMC in the United States.

Interesting. I think they're going to have their work cut out for them on this one. Both HBO and Sam Mendes have had goes at doing this and not gotten anywhere. I'm not sure if, erm, Seth Rogen (yes, that one) is going to have better luck.


Woo hoo... Let's just say I'll believe it when I see the first trailer. Preacher is a work of art, and doing it justice is going to be complicated beyond belief... that is, if you even get that far in a world full of religitards with lawyers.


Yay!!

I, also, will believe it when I see it.

Sovereign Court

I will be psyched if this actually comes into being.


Meh...it started great...and ended great...the middle was kinda of dull and pointless.

I don't think AMC could do it justice.

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

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I read the entire Preacher series while stuck at home with a high fever.

I think that may have actually been the ideal way to experience it.

Sovereign Court

Count me in...err wait did you say Seth Rogen?


HBO, maybe.

AMC, not a chance.

Once this starts picking up any steam at all, religious groups are going to come down on AMC like a hammer, producers will cave to executives under public pressure, and that's going to pretty much ruin any chance of this being any good.


Jesse Custer's adventures in America, along with his trusty sidekicks Jody, TC and Cassidy, and the woman he chastely loves, Tulip. It's a daily eye-opener for how much the good God has meant for everything bright and positive in human life. Together, these stalwart heroes face down perverts, drug-dealers, prostitutes and nazis, protecting the American way of life (tm), secretly aided by the benevolent secret organization, the Grail...


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I'm cutting open a fish to celebrate.


I try to read it once a year like Christopher Lee reads LOTR.


AMC and Sony have confirmed they are moving forwards with the project, with AMC now formally on board to fund and broadcast the show if it goes to series.


See my November 21 post. Still don't believe it will happen in any form that's worthwhile. If it does happen, though, it will be amazing news.


{dusts off thread} Has anyone seen the first episode?


Ambrosia Slaad wrote:
{dusts off thread} Has anyone seen the first episode?

Indeed so far so good.

I have not read it in forever so I don't remember it as well as I thought I did but hoping it stays as true to the comic as it can.


Never got to read the original comic but I gotta say, this was interesting. Not at all what I was expecting

Going out on a limb here

Irish guy = Vampire?


Mphhh! Mphhhhh!


Greylurker wrote:

Never got to read the original comic but I gotta say, this was interesting. Not at all what I was expecting

Going out on a limb here

Irish guy = Vampire?

Yep.


I don't know how the show is going to go. The comic was kinda stuck in a certain time period, maybe it'll be in the same vein?


There are definitely some changes from the comic. It looks like the first season at least will focus on Annville, which is by itself a significant change. The changes don't bother me, as this is a different medium with different priorities.

The first episode was promising, although a bit gory. I imagine, based on the comic, that the series will continue to be gory. Fortunately, I can deal with gory. :)

I am going to hold off making any serious judgments until I see all ten episodes, however.


Plus gross. Ennis gotta have his meat woman sex.


not a bad 2nd episode, Preacher seems to have clued in that he's got a new trick, although I probably would have ...I don't know tested things a bit before trying a miracle.
Cassidy vs. the two mystery gentlemen was fun and messy as heck

I imagine he's going to be as surprised as I am next time he sees those fellows.

just a guess....not government?

There seems to be a number of different plot points scattered about the place. They don't seem to be related but they feel like they will be down the line. Storytelling is a little confusing but over all I like it.


I believe the mystery men are

Spoiler:
angels.

Also some bits: Introduced Odin Quincannon really early (saw the Quincannon Meat & Power building model in the first episode, then saw Odin himself in the second).

Also, leading with

Spoiler:
the Saint of Killers' origin
was interesting. They definitely picked a good guy for the role.

There are a lot of plot points, not all of them from the comics - like the hunters trying to get Cassidy are new, but I wonder if they're

Spoiler:
Grail.
It's interesting to see how the TV series has been put together in comparison to the comics.

One thing I think was a good choice was to keep the first season in Annville, whereas it was barely a blip (a fairly important blip) in the comics.


I'm finding the main character pretty interesting. Here is a guy who has clearly done nasty stuff in his past and wants to turn it around. In his head he has this image of how it's supposed to be and it's almost like the real world wants to kick him in the gut and laugh at him for it.

He wants to make a difference, wants to make things better

but the "right" way of doing it just doesn't seem to work, and the world keeps rubbing his face in it until he decides "if the right way won't work, maybe the wrong way will"

(How he handled the school bus driver...I can't disagree with that. It's the wrong way to solve that problem but I just can't disagree with it)

and now, suddenly he has this ...power.

It's damn hard not to see it as a sign from God that he's on the right path. At least until he realizes how wrong it can go with the wrong turn of phrase.


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Like a poorly worded Wish spell in D&D the Word can certainly do more harm than good!


One interesting difference is that in the comics, Jesse has a good chunk of "knowing what's really going on" either as soon as or shortly after he gets the power.

Having him gradually discover the power, and the story behind the power, works better in a non-infodumping TV series, however.

I wonder how much of Jesse's past will be in the show. There was a brief hint of it when he dodged telling Cass who taught him how to fight, and another hint when he saw his father shot in a flashback.

I think there's definitely some seriously bad stuff in Jesse's past. Some that he did, some that was done to him.

Liberty's Edge

Why would AMC put this on as same time as Game of thrones? Both are genre shows that appeal to the same audience.


Well they also showed it like three times last night, and HBO also has repeat showings of Game of Thrones, so it's not impossible to watch both.


plus PVR and internet means most folks can pretty much watch it when ever.

Heck they had ads during the show telling people you can watch for free online if you would like.


Ah yeah, new episodes of Preacher go up on the AMC website - that's where I watched the pilot last week.


So the two mystery guys were revealed (to Cassidy) as being from Heaven.

And "Grail Industries" gets a mention.

And Jesse is getting comfortable with using his new voice.

The bit with rabbit-sound guy (I forget his name) and Odin Quincannon was a bit strange. He was going to have Ms. Oatlash pick up the tray, and in the comic Ms. Oatlash was Quincannon's attorney, not his secretary. Eh, this thing's been changed so much from the comic nothing should surprise me. It doesn't particularly bother me, either.

And the pay off for the miracle was the girl opened her eyes, but that was it. She's still comatose. Jesse left without experimenting further - possibly a good thing, given how it could go horribly wrong (like "open your heart" did).


This show is.... strange. I feel like I have no idea what is going on for most of it, but so far that is fine.


Yeah, it feels pretty unfocused and I kind of think a lot of it relies on context from the comics - like What does "Grail Industries" refer to? What's up with "Odin Quincannon?" What about that kid who blew off his face with a shotgun? What about Jesse and Tulip's history? What's up with those two guys and the can?

I don't think one needs to read the comics to understand it, but I think so far it makes more sense if you have read them. Given times things should clear up. Hopefully.


Belle Sorciere wrote:

Yeah, it feels pretty unfocused and I kind of think a lot of it relies on context from the comics - like What does "Grail Industries" refer to? What's up with "Odin Quincannon?" What about that kid who blew off his face with a shotgun? What about Jesse and Tulip's history? What's up with those two guys and the can?

I don't think one needs to read the comics to understand it, but I think so far it makes more sense if you have read them. Given times things should clear up. Hopefully.

On the other hand a lot of that stuff showed up without immediate explanation in the comics too.


thejeff wrote:
Belle Sorciere wrote:

Yeah, it feels pretty unfocused and I kind of think a lot of it relies on context from the comics - like What does "Grail Industries" refer to? What's up with "Odin Quincannon?" What about that kid who blew off his face with a shotgun? What about Jesse and Tulip's history? What's up with those two guys and the can?

I don't think one needs to read the comics to understand it, but I think so far it makes more sense if you have read them. Given times things should clear up. Hopefully.

On the other hand a lot of that stuff showed up without immediate explanation in the comics too.

They all showed up with more context. When the Grail first appears we find out fairly quickly what they're up to. When Odin Quincannon shows up it's in context with stuff about his employees. The kid is actually explained before we even see him. Jesse and Tulip's history took some time to explain but it was known from early on that Jesse disappeared and Tulip was pissed at him for it.

As for the two guys, the first time we see them in the comic (if they are who I think they are) we get their names, their jobs, and some of the backstory regarding the voice. Heck, the voice was explained very early on in broad strokes and we haven't even had that yet.


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I haven't read the comics (besides the back of the book synopsis and a TV Tropes fueled knowledge of the basics of how the Word works), so I'm enjoying the mystery.

It's definitely a WEIRD show, but in a good quirky way, not a bad one. It seems almost Pratchett-esque sometimes.


I read the comics after having watched the first two episodes and frankly I'm regretting that I did. The show is significantly different so far and since I am generally a purist when it comes to adaptations I'm having a hard time seeing past the changes they made. Cassidy is spot on, and Arseface is pretty good for what little we've seen of him, but the rest are slightly to very off. Tulip, for instance. Don't get me wrong, Negga's performance is exceptional and TV-Tulip was probably the thing that appealed to me most in the episodes so far but she isn't much like the comics. Plus while the pilot was good the second and third episodes kind of dragged. Nothing much happened and what little that did was really carried on the presence of Cass and Tulip.

The comic was not perfect by any stretch, and Dillon's art is an instant turn-off for me, but Ennis, despite the unfocused narrative and waffling about, did write compelling characters and captivating events, and so far that is lacking in the second and third episodes.


It's good to see him putting the power to the test now. and Damn it seems pretty potent. Even if you can't physically do what he asks you still give it a try.

I'm loving Cassidy, he's a fairly refreshing style of vampire.

Side plots still a bit odd. Guy in charge of the meat plant is giving me the shivers....what the hell kind of person willingly listening to the sounds of a slaughter house, like it's "good Oldies Radio music"


Bjørn Røyrvik wrote:

I read the comics after having watched the first two episodes and frankly I'm regretting that I did. The show is significantly different so far and since I am generally a purist when it comes to adaptations I'm having a hard time seeing past the changes they made. Cassidy is spot on, and Arseface is pretty good for what little we've seen of him, but the rest are slightly to very off. Tulip, for instance. Don't get me wrong, Negga's performance is exceptional and TV-Tulip was probably the thing that appealed to me most in the episodes so far but she isn't much like the comics. Plus while the pilot was good the second and third episodes kind of dragged. Nothing much happened and what little that did was really carried on the presence of Cass and Tulip.

The comic was not perfect by any stretch, and Dillon's art is an instant turn-off for me, but Ennis, despite the unfocused narrative and waffling about, did write compelling characters and captivating events, and so far that is lacking in the second and third episodes.

Yeah, that's one thing about the series that's getting me, is the slow start. I am hoping things pick up soon.

I don't mind the changes as long as what we end up with is good. I think that the changes are for the good (more time in Annville, for example - although TV Annville is clearly not comic Annville). But they're being a bit coy with some plot elements and dragging a few things out. I keep thinking of Jesse's first encounter with an angel in the comic and how quickly that went down.


....order the most powerful man in town to "Serve God"

...
..
I don't need to have read to comic to realize that is going to go wrong in a most spectacular way.


Worse than you think because that is pretty much the exact opposite of the core idea of the comic.


Bjørn Røyrvik wrote:
Worse than you think because that is pretty much the exact opposite of the core idea of the comic.

The most horrifying part is that I can imagine how this plays out in his head. Preacher thinks that if he can just get people on the right path they will stay on it and everything will turn out great.

He is going to watch this all go pear shaped and know it's his fault.
Spoiler:

But from what I've seen so far, while this power can certainly make people do anything (or at least try to) it doesn't change the fundamental nature of the person.

Pedophile is still a pedophile, he just forgot who his target was.

So when you tell the Nastiest SOB in town to "Serve God"
he's still a Nasty SOB
He's just a Nasty SOB who now Serves God
and history is full of those.


It's too bad he didn't learn from the "open your heart" thing. Of course he no doubt hasn't made the connection.

Noticed one of the angels call the other Fiore. Guess that one is DeBlanc.


Well.....that was a pretty low key episode until that last scene.....


Well I've watched the first two and frankly I can't understand what all the fuss was about. Glad it came free on Amazon Prime because I certainly wouldn't have wanted to pay for it.


Greylurker wrote:
Well.....that was a pretty low key episode until that last scene.....

I certainly am enjoying Jesse giving people vague orders with the Word and expecting them to interpret it the same way he does. Different form the comic without question but an interesting show nonetheless.


The fight in the hotel room was interesting, and going to need one heck of a clean up

Jessy is getting a lot of warnings that he is on the wrong path and he isn't seeing any of them.

and then that last scene

....oops


So is the Word getting more powerful?

Spoiler:

Or Genesisi, or whatever. Earlier it couldn't make Cassidy fly, but now it can poof Eugene into Hell?

Or is unassisted flight "impossible" but damning someone's body and soul not?


or maybe we should wonder how far Cassidy might have gotten if the wall hadn't been there


and tonight Season 1 of Preacher came to an end with a Bang and a bit of a wha..huh?

Our trio have begun their road trip to find God
They got a mystery cowboy out to kill them
and Heaven knows Jessy has Genesis even if they don't know WTH it is.

Looking forward to Season 2

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