Fox Broadcasting Co. is reaching back to feudal Japan and to more tabloid news history as fodder for two miniseries added to its development roster for limited-run “event” series.
Fox said it is working on a new version of “Shogun,” the James Clavell novel that previously inspired a miniseries that ran on NBC in 1980. The network will also develop a limited-run series about the infamous 1994 incident in which famous football player O.J. Simpson (pictured above) was tried for the murder of his ex-wife and her friend. The series has the working title of “The Run of His Life: The People Vs. O.J. Simpson.”
Fox last year revved up an initiative to program longform and limit-run skeins at various points throughout the year.
Fox has already announced its intention to develop “Wayward Pines,” based on a best-selling novel, and “Blood Brothers,” the true story of the West Point Class of 1861, which quickly found itself divided by the Civil War.
Fox will order its first event series later this season, with plans to debut it in 2014.
“Shogun” comes from from Academy Award-nominated producers Michael De Luca (“The Social Network,” “Moneyball”) and Nigel Williams (“Elizabeth I”). “The Run of His Life:” is from Nina Jacobson (“The Hunger Games” franchise, “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” franchise) and Brad Simpson (“World War Z,” “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” franchise) and is based on legal journalist Jeffrey Toobin’s best-selling book of the same name.
