2009 June 16 « Entertainment Today and Beyond

NOAH WYLE to HEADLINE new Spielberg ALIEN invasion series for TNT

Noah Wyle 1 According to Entertainment Weekly’s Michael Ausiello, Steven Spielberg is pursuing actor Noah Wyle (ER) to star in his untitled alien invasion pilot for TNT. The plot of the show begins six months after evil extra-terrestrials decimate mankind. Wyle would headline the series, playing the leader of a surviving group of citizens who try to bring down the aggressors. While I’m all in for this, it certainly sounds a lot like the classic NBC miniseries (later a series) V which ran during the 1980’s. Interesting enough ABC is bringing back V as a mid-season replacement next season. It will star Elisabeth Mitchell (Lost) and Scott Wolf (Party of Five) and the trailer the network released looks really good. As for this new Spielberg series, I like Wyle in the lead as he has a solid presence and is a heck of a good actor. I loved his work during the five episode stint on ER this season, reprising his long running role of Dr. John Carter. Spielberg and Wyle already have a working relationship as the director of “War of the Worlds” was one of ER’s founding producers. As for TNT, they are becoming a force in scripted television shows with programs like “The Closer” attracting a solid 7 million viewers a week. This should make their stable of programming even stronger.