JIm's Notebook: Almost Human, White Collar & Carrie Diaries Scoop!

at .

Think all the new fall TV series have premiered? Think again.

Not wanting to cut into any early momentum, Fox held off on the premiere of the much-anticipated Almost Human until after the World Series and, in this week’s Notebook, I’ve got an excerpt from a chat at the Bad Robot offices in Los Angeles with Executive Producer JJ Abrams, as well as Q&A with stars of The Carrie Diaries and White Collar.

Let’s dive in!

Almost Human: The new Fox drama, starring Karl Urban and Michael Ealy, premieres November 17 and with JJ Abrams (as well as creator Joel Wyman) on board, there are bound to be questions about their gone-but-not-fogotten series, Fringe. Are there similarities?

“I think that the overlap, the Venn diagram of these two might be that they’re sort of pushing the edge of technology and what might be possible in that regard,” Abrams said. "But I think the series themselves are completely different types of shows.”

In fact, Abrams said that there is something relatable for TV audiences in Almost Human. “I think what they’re dealing with in this show it’s much more of a kind of cop show that you might feel is familiar with a huge wrench thrown into that and a huge adjustment being that the cases themselves are things that are not quite what you’ve seen before and the reasons for and the trues of the differences between these characters are atypical because of the world in which it takes place.

There are other differences between the latest series and the previous fan favorite, which ended earlier this year.

“It feels very distinct and different from the world of Fringe,” Abrams said, “which was I think at its core a much more serialized show about this dysfunctional father/son, this sort of romance that went over not just years but different worlds and I think that this is a show that doesn’t quite get into that level of serialized storytelling.”

Karl Urban, Michael Ealy photo

The Carrie Diaries: If you’re like me, you were surprised that young Carrie Bradshaw had her oh-so-valuable Carrie bag stolen in Friday’s season premiere. Why did creator Amy B. Harris feel it was the right time for Carrie to lose something that was such a connection to her deceased mother?

“For me, when you’ve lost someone that’s very important to you that first year is all in direct connection to the person that you lost, so everything that’s happening is your first birthday without them, a Christmas without them, a Thanksgiving without them,” said Harris. “Then after that year has sort of past you have to start thinking about either moving on or sort of being stuck in a world I don’t think her mother would have wanted her to be.”

Hence, Carrie getting wisdom from Samantha Jones (Lindsey Gort), who says “A purse is not your mom."

Speaking of Samantha, she and Carrie may have bonded quickly but don’t expect it to be the same with everyone in Carrie’s circle of friends. “I think [Samantha] and Larissa have sort of a surprisingly, unsurprisingly instant dislike of each other which will be a lot of fun to explore,” Harris said. “She and Larissa are going to have very strongly different views about the universe…she’s Donna LaDonna’s cousin so Donna’s around and we have this nice, fun way if keeping them all together as a group without having to kind of force the issue too hard."

White Collar: On White Collar Season 5 Episode 2, we not only found out the real name of Mozzie, but Diana made a decision to not be honest with Peter about her knowledge of him – and that Mozzie is the one who delivered her baby! But is Peter truly in the dark?  

“Peter's on the outside of some big information about Mozzie,” Tim DeKay told me. “And it's interesting once Peter realizes. Nothing gets by Peter. Nothing. So, when he does realize something is amuck, it's interesting because we see what Peter decides to do about it. It's good, rich stuff.” 

But am I the only one who thinks Peter knows Diana was lying to him when she told him that a stranger helped deliver her baby? “You're reading it right,” DeKay said. “She's lying but he also knows that now's not the time. The guy helped you deliver your baby. Something happened there. I'm not quite sure. But I trust you, Diana.’”

I know I’ll be watching to see what happens next. Will you?

Jim Halterman is the West Coast Editor of TV Fanatic and the owner of JimHalterman.com. Follow him on Twitter.

Show Comments
Tags: , , , ,

White Collar Quotes

Burke: You look like a cartoon!
Caffrey: This is classic Rat Pack - this is Devore!
Burke: Oh, sorry, Dino.

Caffrey: How upset were the Canadians?
Peter: Oh, very... well, as upset as Canadians can get.