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HBO Development Slate: THRILLSVILLE

by Jef Dinsmore
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This-american-life-HBO-Thrillsville-300x200Rob Thomas, creator of such shows as “Veronica Mars” is adapting a work tentatively titled THRILLSVILLE for HBO. The source material comes from programming that has often used by Showtime but now finds a place on HBO Watch’s favorite channel.

The concept comes from “This American Life” which is a weekly radio program, hosted by Ira Glass, on National Public Radio, NPR for short.  The program is an examination of the myriad lives that shape this country and the specific piece that gives rise to Thomas’ work is entitled “Midlife Cowboy.” Thomas along with Glass and Owen Wilson, who could possibly play the lead, I’m guessing, are to develop this drama about a 40-year-old San Diego meth smuggler turned ad writer who deals with a midlife crisis by rescuing two kidnapped young girls in Mexico.

According to the transcript I found about the piece, the protagonist is James Spring who makes it clear that his life was quite unremarkable in every way. To become a worthy individual he decides he needs to help someone. To get started on that mission he types into Google’s search two words, “missing” and “Baja” and that leads to a journey to save the endangered children. His heroic deeds since has led him to find other missing children throughout the country. It is now his calling; traveling the back roads to THRILLSVILLE to save lives and redeem himself.  I’m speculating, of course, on the title’s meaning. From what I’m gathering he is clearly not doing this for any adrenaline thrill. Good thing it is a tentative title because maybe it should change.

owen-wilson-HBO-Thrillsville-225x300I can see Owen Wilson being James Spring just fine. The first episodes of this show could be about his corrupted lifestyle and the epiphany he has to make a change for the better then, the rest of the first season could be about that first case and how it played out. Each season could even be a different missing person case. It could develop in many different ways. I also will admit that I like the notion that HBO has tapped into a different fountain of information from which to  draw stories from in the NPR.

No premiere date in sight for this one.  We’ll update our series premiere page when we have any idea when this series might hit the silver screen. So, we leave it there for now but there will be more as this story develops.

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