Best of 2014: ‘Hannibal,’ ‘Sons of Anarchy,’ ‘King of the Nerds,’ ‘SVU’ showrunners battle
Showrunners are the geniuses behind many of your favorite shows, but they rarely are the ones who get the attention of the public. This is what we’ve been trying to change with this category in the CarterMatt Best of 2014 Awards.
This category is an interesting one when it comes to criteria. Having a great show is only a part of the equation; Favorite Showrunner candidates are also involved in the fan community, and do something routinely to remind us of how deeply they care about their product.
Curtis Armstrong and Robert Carradine, “King of the Nerds” – It’s very hard these days to come up with a new reality concept, let alone one that actually has ratings. Just look at how many great competitions lately have aired one season and went away. “King of the Nerds” has luckily broken the trend by being innovative, celebrating its contestants, and having two people at the helm in Curtis and Robert who give it their all both onscreen and off. It’s hard not to salute these guys for their overall level of enthusiasm, which we cite, along with fan support, as the main reason why we’re getting a third season next year.
Bryan Fuller, “Hannibal” – One of the best artists working as a showrunner today. He has the challenge week in and week out of having to adapt an iconic source material, but also adding to that a visual style that is strictly his own while getting the most of everyone around him. He is an excellent captain of this ship, and remains very interactive and supportive of the show online.
Warren Leight, “Law & Order: SVU” – We imagine that sometimes, running a long-running crime procedural can be difficult. You’re doing up to two dozen episodes a year, and have to come up with new ideas constantly that are going to highlight the best of the show. Warren is one of many great people who work hard behind the scenes at “SVU” bringing you cases that are both timely to today’s landscape and especially poignant. Also, he is a part of what we would say is an excellent social-media strategy for the show, better than almost any other crime drama out there.
Julie Plec, “The Vampire Diaries” / “The Originals” – Julie is back yet again this year to defend her title, and she has a whole lot to be proud of. She has continued to be instrumental in an entire vampire universe on The CW, and has continually found ways to shake up this formula over the past few years. Also, she remains active online, though we sometimes do wonder how she ever finds the time to sleep working on two shows.
Kurt Sutter, “Sons of Anarchy” – Speaking of people who have no time to sleep, Sutter has a hand in writing just about every episode, he is working on a new series for FX, and he even directed the finale this year while dealing with emergency surgery at the same time. The man is a beast of a showrunner, and is treated in many ways like a rock star by the show’s fans. At this point, it’s well-deserved. This is one of the most influential shows of the past decade, not to mention one of the best. As someone so involved in every aspect, he deserves much of the credit.
Ugh
December 15, 2014 @ 8:51 pm
One thing I am curious about is the whole “baby daddy” saga. Hargitay talked up Meloni returning to the show as Noahs father in many television interviews leading up to the premiere but when asked about it on social media her response was “let it go” (on both IG & twitter). Was it all just a publicity hit for the show or was it something she genuinely wanted?
Whatever it was we all know it will never happen. The reaction from both “diehard” SVU fans & even Leight himself on twitter when Meloni responded to those interviews was disgraceful.
Why Leight feels the need to bash Meloni & his character on social media is beyond me. If that is part of his “Excellent social media strategy” then it is a worry.
Why would Meloni return if he has to put up with that kind of behaviour? He doesn’t need the money.
Fans of the show were cheated out of a proper goodbye to both him & his character. He has started before that he would have liked to do a final episode but was denied. Now admittedly that isn’t Leights fault, but it was his responsibility to write the character from the show & the way he did it was an insult. Stabler would never just walk away & never speak to Benson again. Also the fact that some dialogue has insinuated that he & Benson slept together before he left is an insult to the character. He was married & would never break his vows.
Leight needs to step away from the computer & stop trying to please his little fangirls & diehards & concentrate on bringing original storylines to the table & stop relying on “ripped from the headlines” scripts to keep the show going.
Michael Goldman
December 10, 2014 @ 8:53 pm
If SVU wasn’t doing well. Leight might not have a job. He’s very good friends with Dick Wolf(or so it seems) so he’s probably not going anywhere. The show continues to do well since Chris Meloni left. The next problem is re-signing everybody after this season(all their contracts are up). Kelli Giddish will be looking for REAL money this time, and Danny Pino and ICE-T will want more money. Would anyone be shocked to see Mariska try to get Meloni back in the show, with 2 of the other 3 being told that they are out? Stay Tuned.
Ugh
December 15, 2014 @ 8:39 pm
Meloni won’t return. Both he & Hargitay made that very clear.
Michael Goldman
December 15, 2014 @ 9:04 pm
I’ve heard that also. I like the cast that they have a lot, but money talks and Never say Never. Meloni has been doing both TV shows and movies since he left, and job security is a wonderful thing. There would also be a lot more of a positive response to Meloni returning than a negative.
Ugh
December 15, 2014 @ 9:38 pm
I agree, it would be more of a positive. The problem is, tge day Meloni tweeted a link to the Access Hollywood (?) story & responded “why not” the psycho diehard fans started shouting about him being “disrespectful” etc & Leight himself got involved & tweeted sonething about “here is the line….here is Chris”. That isn’t the first rude tweet Leight has made in reference to Meloni so ecen if he did want him to come back for a few episodes I wouldd say he has burned his bridges.
My issue is, and always has been, is Hargitay using him to promote the show four years after he left & then keeping silent when her fans bash him on social media. Surely the show should be able to stand on it’s own merits by now?
Even at Paleyfest Ice T said Meloni leaving was the best thing to happen for the show & she just sat there.
Michael Goldman
December 15, 2014 @ 10:12 pm
I’m sure that the Leight/Meloni relationship ended on very ugly terms after season 12. Is Mariska using Meloni’s name and the possibility of him returning to promote the show and possibly keep it going? Mariska gets $400,000+ an episode, and I’m sure She loves that. When there were articles last summer that Mariska was tired and wanted to leave. I wrote that if they didn’t want to promote Kelli Giddish to female lead, they should go get Connie Nielsen or Kristin Lehman, among others. People slammed me back and said that if Mariska left the show IT WAS OVER OR IT SHOULD END. The show should be able to stand on its on merits by now, but most of the fans won’t watch if Mariska isn’t there. If SVU had kept Donal Logue, they could have done episodes without Mariska. Donal was a great fit. Unfortunately, either they didn’t offer him enough to keep him or he already had a deal to go play Harvey Bullock in GOTHAM. There should be more episodes mainly about iCE-T, Kelli Giddish and Danny Pino, but Mariska is the star.
Ugh
December 15, 2014 @ 10:39 pm
Donal would have been a fantastic addition.
Leight came on board after they knew Meloni was leaving, even though it wasn’t publicly announced until a lot later. I think the problem he has is that he did bare the brunt of the fans anger over Meloni leaving. Totally not his fault but his response to some of those tweets, and even ones he still receives today, is wrong.
The other issue is Hargitay & some of her fans. A lot of the ones she follows on twitter are starting to border on psychotic. They stalk the set in the hopes of meeting her & I have seen threats of suicide if she doesn’t respond to them on twitter. Most of that is surely attention seeking but some of the fan accounts on twitter & now becoming more prominent on Instagram is actually quite scary. Unfortunately though the live tweeting & responding to fake “baby Noah” accounts is encouraging them. The person who runs the Noah acc is known to be one of the bigger stalkers & Hargitay has been told numerous times but she still responds. The normal fans who just enjoy the show for the show itself are being pushed away more & more due to this behaviour. It is even being mentioned in articles about the show. Leight does nothing to discourage the behaviour, in fact he seems to enjoy it.
Filming was postponed due to her being burned out over the Lewis storyline & she needed an extended break which has never happened in the previous years.
The Lewis storyline itself was horrific & has been said it was written purely to get the attention of the Awards committees l as she hasn’t had a nom for Golden Globes , Emmys etc since he took over. It didn’t work out how he planned though & a few days before the Emmy noms were announced Leight started tweeting about it being more of a popularity contest in high school. So it backfired on him because the show was completely ignored.
They also offered her the directing shot (one of Melonis points in his last contract negs) to keep her with the show as her contract was up & they did the same thing this time around plus a producer title because they know they need to keep her to keep the show. Fans haven’t warmed to the Rollins character the way they had hoped, the upcoming ep is a way for them to try & gain sympathy for her. Thry also know that Ice & Pino couldn’t hold the show on their own so they need to give Hargitay whatever she asks for. I do believe it is time to put the show to bed now. NBC no longer promote it the way they did so maybe that is what they are thinking too.
Michael Goldman
December 16, 2014 @ 2:03 am
Since Kelli is my favorite on the show, I will be extremely upset if SVU is cancelled. Mariska did get screwed over by the EMMYS. A lot of people are in love with Julianna Marguiles, and she constantly gets nominated even though her show gets crushed in the ratings every time it goes up against a new episode of The Walking Dead. As far as SVU goes, NBC has been cutting the payroll on the show since year 12 ended. Pino, Giddish, Scanavino and Esperaza TOGETHER maybe get the $400,000 that they were giving Melon per episode. They got rid of Richard Belzer and Dann Florek, so that’s at least $300,000 per episode they are saving(probably more). Everybody’s contract is up after this season, so NBC will have to give Kelli and Danny a lot more money. I think the 2 Together get between $175-200,000 an episode. I’ve never seen a TV network disrespect a show that’s made so much money for them the way SVU has. Other major shows like CSI, Criminal Minds, NCIS, The Good Wife have replaced major characters and just keep on going. I think it would be good to get SVU on another network they would be willing to spend the money on it and give it the respect it deserves. I buy The Blacklist and Grimm on DVD, so if NBC cancels SVU, I have ZERO reason to watch NBC, and I will hammer this channel via the internet until all the morons who are running this company are gone. I guess stories about our armed forces being murdered, butchered, slaughtered, etc. are AOK because there are 3 NCIS shows and NCIS+NCIS: LA have been on the equivalent of 2 years longer than SVU.
Ugh
December 16, 2014 @ 2:23 am
Isn’t Giddish appearing on The Good Wife this season? They would definitely want (and deserve) a payrise I had been told that the payroll was being cut again. They hardly promote the show, you don’t see much from them on social media. A lot of fans have commented on the silence.
It will be interesting what happens when the negotiations start.
Michael Goldman
December 16, 2014 @ 2:33 am
I will need to look that up. She was on The Good Wife for a couple of episodes in one of the past seasons. Now that Archie Punjabi is leaving at the end of the season, it could be a possible landing spot for her. If Mariska had left after last season, they could have gotten Connie Nielsen(who has been on SVU before) for $175-200,000 per episode and spread the remaining $200,000 per episode over Kelli Giddish, Danny Pino and Ice-T(and maybe the other guys). NBC got Kelli and Danny DIRT CHEAP and now it’s time to do the right thing and pay them. NBC is a disgrace.
Inandantia
December 8, 2014 @ 7:32 pm
Bryan, eat the competition! <3
Christine
December 8, 2014 @ 7:36 am
Warren has done a great job with a beloved show. On social media, he has wisely ceased to engage with the segment of the fan base that is intent on keeping disagreements alive. Under his leadership and direction, the character of Olivia Benson has grown and developed in ways not possible in seasons 1-12, and the subject matter explored in each episode is deep and meaningful and sheds light on issues no other show tackles. He’s kept a show that this viewer loves thriving, and has significantly contributed to the long overdue national conversation on issues of sexual and domestic violence in America. Bravo, sir!
Ugh
December 8, 2014 @ 9:05 pm
You have to admit though that this season most episodes have either victim shaming or “ripped from the headlines” storylines. Plus the baby has been a distraction & not in a good way. I know Benson has always wanted a child but the episodes that have featured the baby more have seemed weaker.
I understand he came on board when there was a huge upheaval in the cast so he was always going to get asked about Meloni/Stabler but what people have to remember is the guy was on the show for 12 years, he played a huge part in making it successful. Now if the show is still going in another 12 years & Leight is still being asked if Stabler is returning then I can understand him getting annoyed. A majority of people who do ask the question are normal fans who don’t really know how much in fighting goes on between the fans.
Look at all the “outrage” that both Meloni & Hargitay endured over her comments about Stabler being Noahs baby daddy & his reply to the interview. You have to admit that Leight fueled the fire with his twitter comments too.
I Just Don't Get It
December 8, 2014 @ 5:40 am
Warren Leight seriously does NOT deserve to be on here. He belittles and yells and threatens those who have honest valid opinions, but just because he doesn’t agree with you you are a bad person. You can’t bring up Elliot Stabler, a IMPORTANT character in the show for 12 YEARS, or Chris Meloni without getting yelled at. He has decimated characters that were well established before he showed up. He for some reason has a thing for torture and it scares me. Hell he used his own initials for a violent serial rapist who kidnapped and sexually assaulted Olivia Benson. I don’t understand what happens in most of the episodes, and he has his characters and pairing that make no sense what so ever. And let’s not forget him and his writing staff making rape jokes, not even a week after they said rape is no joke. And they continue to make this stuff look bad.
Ugh
December 8, 2014 @ 5:14 am
“Excellent social media strategy” for Warren Leight. …really? The guy abuses the crap out of people who don’t agree with the direction the show has gone & only interacts with people in his “inner circle”. You cannot have a healthy debate with him because he would rather shout you down & block or he encourages his followers to “take care of it” for him. He is a bully pure & simple.
liv
December 8, 2014 @ 5:23 am
Amen ^^
Tori Coop
December 7, 2014 @ 10:30 pm
But how is Warren Leight in this competition? Who the eff is he and what has he done besides ruin every show he touches.