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Eli Stone

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Eli Stone
Eli Stone title screen
GenreMusical legal dramedy
StarringJonny Lee Miller
Victor Garber
Natasha Henstridge
Loretta Devine
Sam Jaeger
Laura Benanti
James Saito
Matt Letscher
Julie Gonzalo
Jason Winston George
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons2
No. of episodes26 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producersGreg Berlanti
Marc Guggenheim
Ken Olin
Production locationsSan Francisco and Los Angeles, California
Original release
NetworkABC
ReleaseJanuary 31 –
December 30, 2008

Eli Stone was an American television comedy-drama created by Greg Berlanti and Marc Guggenheim, who also served as executive producers alongside Ken Olin who directed the pilot, with Melissa Berman producing.[1]

The show starred Jonny Lee Miller in the title role of attorney Eli Stone. In the first episode, Stone is discovered to have an inoperable brain aneurysm which is causing hallucinations. His acupuncturist, Dr. Chen, suggests that his hallucinations are actually divinely inspired visions of the future. These visions often foreshadowed future cases and events, including an impending earthquake.

Produced by ABC Studios, After Portsmouth and Berlanti Television, the series was officially greenlit and given a thirteen-episode order on May 11, 2007,[2] and it aired as a mid-season replacement in 2008.[3] Eli Stone premiered on Thursday, January 31, 2008 at 10:00PM Eastern/9:00PM Central, following the return of Lost;[4] its first season finale aired April 17, 2008.

On May 13, 2008, ABC officially announced that the show had been renewed for the 2008-09 season.[5] Moreover, in Canada, CTVglobemedia announced that they will send down the series to CTV's relaunched "A" television system for the 2008-2009 season.[6] Season 2 premiered on Tuesday, October 14 at 10:00PM Eastern/9:00PM Central.[7]

On November 20, 2008, ABC told the show's producers that it had opted not to order any new episodes, signaling that the series would be cancelled once all the episodes were used up.[8]

The last scheduled episode of Eli Stone aired on December 30, 2008. Four episodes remain unaired and it is currently unknown whether ABC will air these episodes, or what happens to customers who prepaid for a full season on services such as the iTunes Music Store.

ABC is in negotiations to bring unaired episodes of Eli Stone to ABC.com without broadcast rights.[9][10] Some overseas networks may air these episodes.

The first of these unaired episodes, Sonoma was broadcast in Ireland by RTE on March 13, 2009 with the further three episodes due to be aired in the following weeks.

Premise

Greg Berlanti, who co-writes the show with Marc Guggenheim, described Eli Stone in Variety as "a Field of Dreams-type drama set in a law firm where a thirty-something attorney, whose name is the title of the show, begins having larger-than-life visions that compel him to do out-of-the-ordinary things."[11] Eli suffers from an inoperable brain aneurysm that causes him to have realistic hallucinations which often relate to the plot of that episode, and he may in fact be a modern day prophet.

Pop singer George Michael figured prominently throughout the first season of the series, and each episode was named after a song of his.[12] Berlanti is a fan of Michael and tried hard to get him to appear on the show, and it turned out that Michael is a TV junkie. This led to the singer agreeing to do several episodes, including one in which Stone represents him in the case of a teen girl who plays the song "I Want Your Sex" in protest of an abstinence-only sex education program in her school.[13]

In Season 2, Episode 21, Eli reveals he is a graduate of UCLA and Stanford Law School.

The show's legal setting, mixture of comedy and drama, and use of fantasy sequences has drawn comparisons to the series Ally McBeal from some critics.[14]

Autism controversy

The debut episode attracted controversy due to its plot line, which depicts the hypothesis that autism is caused by a mercury-based preservative formerly used in common childhood vaccines,[15] and treats the hypothesis as being credible and legally compelling.[16] This hypothesis is not supported by scientific evidence, but has contributed to decreased vaccination rates that endanger children.[17][18] The American Academy of Pediatrics asked ABC to either cancel the episode or include a disclaimer emphasizing that mercury is not used in routine childhood vaccines, and that no scientific link exists between vaccines and autism.[19] ABC instead decided to present a written notice and voice-over after the episode saying "The preceding story is fictional and does not portray any actual persons, companies, products or events",[20] with a second card directing viewers to the autism web site[21] of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.[20]

Cast

Eli Stone is a successful attorney in San Francisco who is diagnosed of an inoperable brain aneurysm which is causing hallucinations. The hallucinations caused Eli to become alienated by his peers and soon his life took a detour. Despite that he is not religious, he takes his hallucinations as signs, he helps people in accepting lawsuits in hopes to better their lives.

Taylor Wethersby is Eli's ex-fiance who is also an attorney. She formerly works in another company, and later joins in Eli's firm after they broke up. Although taken aback by Eli's episodes of hallucinations, she is determined to help him at any means. She is the daughter of Jordan Wethersby, the head of Wethersby, Posner & Klein.

Patti is Eli's helpful and sassy assistant. She considers Eli as a dear friend of hers and she is always blatantly honest to Eli.

Nathan is Eli's caring elder brother who is a doctor. He is the first who discovered Eli's conditions and he is also skeptical about his visions. Nathan dated Beth, a girl who Eli lost his virginity to in college after Eli introduced each other at his engagement party.

Matt is Eli's co-worker and rival in the law firm. He is described as sarcastic, arrogant and having a frat-boy personality.

Dr. Chen is an acupuncturist who explains Eli's conditions as a prophetical message. He helps Eli to analyze the visions Eli has and advises Eli to pursue them. He studied acupuncture in Beijing as well as holistic medicine. It is revealed that he is not a Chinese descent, and "Dr. Chen" is merely an alias.

Maggie is a junior attorney who is ambitious and enthusiastic to her work. Much to Eli's dismay, she often assists him in his cases in hopes of moving up the career ladder. She is considered a religious person who is the first person to believe in Eli's visions without hesitations. She was engaged to Scott, who is in Eli's visions of the earthquake.

Keith is a criminal law attorney who sued an employer for racism. After Keith lost the lawsuit, Jordan hired him as he saw Keith's potential.

Jordan is the co-owner of the firm and Taylor's father. He is often skeptical of Eli's imaginations. However, He is a father figure to Eli and represented Eli when Eli is prosecuted for illegibility to perform his work.

Recurring characters

Beth is a friend of Eli back in college who has an autistic son. She is currently dating Nathan.

Martin is one of the co-owners of the firm. He had a relationship with Patti in the past.

Marci is one of the co-owners of the firm. She is unfriendly and is more interested of the financial benefit of the firm. She is not fond of Eli's intentions of helping more individuals than major cooperations.

The late father of Nathan and Eli, he also had a brain aneurysm which causes hallucinations. He suffers from depression and is an alcoholic, which causes Nathan and Eli to resent him. He died from an heart attack 10 years ago.

Casting news

On November 6, 2008, TV Guide reported that Jamey Sheridan will guest-star as an evening news anchor. [22] On December 1 2008, TV Guide reported that Gregory Smith will make a guest appearance on the show's finale.[23]

Episodes

Main article: List of Eli Stone episodes

US Nielsen ratings

Season Premiere Final Timeslot U.S. ratings Network
1 2008 January 31 2008 April 17 2008 Thursday 10:00 PM EST 7.68 million ABC
2 2008 October 14 2008 December 30 2008 Tuesday 10:00 PM EST 6.43 million ABC

DVD release

On September 2, 2008, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment released the complete first season of Eli Stone on DVD in Region 1.[24] ABC Studios will release the First Season in Australia, which may not include the commentary on the 9th episode.

DVD Name Ep # Region 1 Region 4
The Complete First Season 13 September 2, 2008 March 18, 2009[25]
The Complete Second Season TBA TBA TBA

International broadcasters

  •  Australia || Channel Seven 8:30pm Tuesdays and Thursdays timeslot for Season 1, Season 2, which is currently airing, has been scheduled in the Tuesday 10:30pm timeslot.[26]
  •  Ireland || RTE the first of the unaired Season 2 episodes, Sonoma was broadcast on March 13, 2009
  •  Israel || Yes Stars Drama Season 1 premiered on October 21, 2008. Season 2 premiered on January 20, 2009, with all 13 episodes (including those not aired in the US) confirmed to air.

and on Sony in Latin America.

References

  1. ^ "Devwatch: Eli Stone". The Futon Critic. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
  2. ^ "ABC adds 20 newcomers, renews 'Notes', 'Road'". The Futon Critic. 2007-05-11. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
  3. ^ "ABC unveils 2007–08 primetime schedule". The Futon Critic. 2007-05-15. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
  4. ^ "ABC unveils midseason primetime schedule". The Futon Critic. 2007-12-14. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
  5. ^ "ABC upfront, take one". The Star Ledger. 2008-05-13. Retrieved 2008-05-13.
  6. ^ "Fall 2008 Schedules Announced for CTV and A". CTV. 2008-06-03. Retrieved 2008-06-05.
  7. ^ "Eli Stone - Home". ABC. Retrieved 2008-09-08.
  8. ^ Levin G (2008-11-21). "Life on Mars saved, but Daisies and Eli Stone shelved". USA Today. Retrieved 2008-11-22.
  9. ^ ABC Likely to Give Up on Unaired Episodes, Post-Gazette, January 17, 2009
  10. ^ ABC Drags Out Finales?, Hollywood.com, January 16, 2009
  11. ^ "Berlanti sets series at ABC". Variety. 2006-08-03.
  12. ^ George Michael Signs Up For New US Sit-com - Entertainment News, Movie Reviews, Competitions - Entertainmentwise
  13. ^ From The Futon Critic
  14. ^ Review by Tim Goodman, San Francisco Chronicle
  15. ^ Wyatt E (2008-01-23). "ABC drama takes on science and parents". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-01-29.
  16. ^ Kruskal B, Allen C (2008-01-31). "Perpetrating the autism myth". Boston Globe. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
  17. ^ Offit PA (2007). "Thimerosal and vaccines—a cautionary tale". N Engl J Med. 357 (13): 1278–9. doi:10.1056/NEJMp078187. PMID 17898096.
  18. ^ Doja A, Roberts W (2006). "Immunizations and autism: a review of the literature". Can J Neurol Sci. 33 (4): 341–6. PMID 17168158.
  19. ^ Jenkins RR (2008-01-25). "Letter to Anne Sweeney, President, Disney-ABC Television Group" (PDF). American Academy of Pediatrics. Retrieved 2008-01-29.
  20. ^ a b Wyatt E (2008-01-29). "ABC show will go on, over protest by doctors". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-01-29.
  21. ^ "Autism information center". National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2008. Retrieved 2008-01-29.
  22. ^ Scoop: Criminal Intent Alum Needs Eli Stone 's Help" TV Guide. November 6, 2008. Retrieved on November 7 2008.
  23. ^ Exclusive: Everwood Alum Gregory Smith Returns to TV Which ABC show grabbed him?" TV Guide. December 1, 2008. Retrieved on December 3 2008.
  24. ^ "Amazon.com: Eli Stone: The Complete First Season..." Amazon.com. Retrieved 2008-07-21.
  25. ^ http://www.ezydvd.com.au/item.zml/804443 Eli Stone R4 release
  26. ^ "New US shows set to hit Aussie TVs". Australian Associated Press. 2007-06-01. Retrieved 2007-06-11. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  27. ^ "Eli Stone". TVSA. 2008-12-14. Retrieved 2008-12-14. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  28. ^ Brendan Kelly (2007-12-04). "CTV banks on U.S. fare: Network acquires 'Terminator,' 'Eli Stone'". Variety. Retrieved 2008-01-31. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  29. ^ Emiliano de Pablos (2007-10-09). "Antena 3 takes ABC trio: Pact includes 'Dirty Sexy Money'". Variety. Retrieved 2008-01-31. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  30. ^ AXN
  31. ^ AXN
  32. ^ AXN
  33. ^ AXN
  34. ^ AXN
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