Potential Alec Baldwin series heading to HBO
For the first time since the end of “30 Rock,” it is looking as though you could be seeing Alec Baldwin back on TV. However, it will not be in anywhere near the same capacity that you saw him as Jack.
According to Deadline, HBO has picked up with a put-pilot commitment a drama series from executive producers Baldwin and Cary Brokaw that will focus on the politics and celebrity culture in New York. These are two things that Baldwin inevitably knows rather well. He would be playing Joe Byrne, an extremely successful man who somehow finds himself compelled to become the Mayor of New York City after the incumbent is a victim of tragedy.
For more on this particular series, why not listen to the star himself? Here is what Baldwin told the website (with a spoiler warning for those who haven’t finished “House of Cards” season 2 yet):
“The character is a philanthropist, a big businessman and well-known tabloid fixture in New York … He’s Trump without the baggage, Bloomberg but a Democrat, George Soros if he was in real estate, a left-leaning Democrat who is also a businessman who understands the reality of how the city has to be run to create the right climate for the business community. He’s drafted for this run because the alternative would be catastrophe. We’ve seen from shows like Kevin Spacey’s House Of Cards that you can go anywhere creatively. He throws Kate Mara’s character in front of a subway train and you think, what the hell is going on? You can create these Shakespearean character arcs, and pull the curtain back on how New York City is actually run and how political careers are made and lost in the city.”
There were multiple parties interested in the series, and if anything less than a full season of the show runs, HBO could face a major penalty. With that in mind, it feels like this is a show that will probably make it to air. We like the idea, mostly in that it seems to already know its focus. In keeping to New York, it should steer clear of the comparisons to “House of Cards” and the dozen other Washington DC shows that are populating the TV landscape.
Like the idea for the series? Let us know in the comments, and head over here to get some other TV updates sent over to you via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: HBO.)