Yesterday -- a full week before networks officially begin unveiling their fall-season lineups to advertisers -- NBC said, yup, it's picking up Jerry Bruckheimer's Chase. Which comes as a surprise to exactly no one: Bruckheimer's a franchise-maker, and NBC no doubt hopes his cat-and-mouse procedural about U.S. Marshals runnin' down fugitives will do for the struggling network what C.S.I., Without a Trace and Cold Case did for CBS. Says Angela Bromstad, president of NBC's primetime entertainment division in The Official Release, "Chase has all the undeniable elements of a thrill ride that you would expect from a Jerry Bruckheimer action series."
The question now is: Will Chase continue to film in Dallas? No doubt you recall that the pilot was shot here in March -- surely, Woodrow principal Ruth Allen Vail has this picture of her with Jesse Metcalfe in her office. But now that it's officially going to series in the fall, is it coming back?
"I think we're going to end up with Chase, but I haven't heard anything official," Dallas Film Commission honcho Janis Burklund tells Unfair Park. "More than likely it will come to Dallas, but they haven't officially said anything." Which is all she's comfortable saying at the moment -- if you'll recall, Bruckheimer's office never officially confirmed it was shooting the pilot here either.
But Chase is far from the one and only thing Burklund's got to deal with at the moment. Matter of fact, she's got an interesting few days ahead of her.
Not only is she waiting to see if Chase is returning, but on Monday
FOX is scheduled to announce its fall lineup. Which means she's waiting
to see if Midland, the show with Jon Voight about the polygamist oilman, is also coming back to town. (Word is, if it winds up going to series, Midland may well end up on FX.) And don't forget: There's also ABC's Cutthroat, a Fox TV production that could also come to Dallas if it's picked up next week.
Maybe the question isn't: What's coming to Dallas? But, instead: Where in the heck are we gonna put all these people if they do show up?
"We're getting to crititcal mass," Burklund says. "But this is how we grow -- we stretch ourselves."
