A while back, ABC was all abuzz because they had penned a deal with the man who brought us Traffic and Syriana. Stephen Gaghan had a deal to bring some of his signature grit and intrigue to the small screen for a pilot that was said to be akin to The Wire, but with enough simplicity to hook a wider audience. When the power structure shifted at ABC, Gaghan's return to TV (he used to write for NYPD Blue and The Practice) must have gotten lost in the shuffle because NBC just announced that they've green-lit S.I.L.A. Someone may have just found their golden ticket.
So what's the big deal about this stroke of luck for the Peacock? Gaghan is not only an Oscar-winning screenwriter (because clearly that's not enough), but his pilot is an hour long drama that draws from Traffic in that it delves into the world of crime and politics (duh) and interlaces many story lines together, making for an engrossing premise. At least that's what the word is around town.
The only questionable aspect of all of this is that ABC big wig, Paul Lee, has had plenty of time to push the pilot through and for an unknown reason he simply let it slip away. This could be an indication that the show doesn't live up to it's big name scribe's resume, but that's somewhat hard to believe. Gaghan knows his way around a television script, and it's pretty much impossible to argue with an Oscar.
Source: NY Mag