Charlie, Charlie, Charlie

IT'S LIKE RUNNING into an ex-girlfriend on the street. Kinda exciting, but at the same time, a little weird.

A full four years after we made it, the first and only season of CHARLIE JADE is finally going to the Sci-Fi Channel in the USA. The show's site on SciFi is here.

Four years on, and five or six shows later (and those are the ones that got made) it's interesting to return to those days, the mindset of that writer. Who was that guy? He had a bit more hair, and said things like, "Here's why I hate that."

Nice room manner. Geez. Although I guess if you asked my intrepid colleague, she might tell you I haven't come all that far. Let's just say that there is a way to call someone's writing, "just like Shakespeare" and have it, um...not be a compliment.

That McGrath. What a maroon.

Anyway, I feel like a different writer now, that's the main thing. But it's been a couple years since I've seen Charlie Jade. I wouldn't mind checking it out again.

Alex Epstein has an entry on the show here. That's another reason to have great affection for CJ. I had to go to Cape Town, South Africa to meet another native New Yorker. Funny old world.

I'm pleased that, true to form, exactly ZERO of the publicity materials on the show mentions me as one of the writers. Typical. (To be fair, the EP did actually take steps to let them know that. Ah, whatever. They'd probably spell my name wrong anyway.)

If you're a U.S. viewer and are thinking about tucking into CJ from the beginning, it's a very challenging narrative. Ambitious. A little confusing. And if you're a writer, you should watch it just because of how instructive it is to a lot of the process that gets discussed on TV writer blogs.

Charlie Jade had a lot in common with Bionic Woman from a process standpoint. Through about the first eight episodes, you can see a struggle to try and decide, to frame, what kind of show it was going to be. There's flashes of about three shows in there -- it could be this, it could be this, nope... hmm.

Nail the template, folks. It's the hardest part of the heavy lifting. And (he said, self servingly) it's one of the most telling reasons why a show that's not writer-driven has such a hard time finding its feet. (vis Bionic Woman.)

I was part of the writing team that came on in Episode 9 -- so we're weeks away from having anything that I wrote show up on SciFi. In any case, I'm sure glad it's finally getting seen in the USA. I think there are real flashes of trippy brilliance in the show.

For comparison, here's one of the posts I wrote about the show when it aired in Canada.

Anyway, enjoy the show, Yankees. It's an interesting ride. I'll probably write more about the show as it unspools.