Post by Naj on Mar 5, 2005 17:42:31 GMT -5
March 08, 2005
CBS' 'Cold' runs hot with Stiehm on case
By Cynthia Littleton
The production offices for the CBS/Warner Bros. TV drama series "Cold Case" are tucked away in a snow-white clapboard house in the Warner Village small-town street set on the studio's Burbank lot.
The bucolic setting is hardly a match for the gritty environs of the Philadelphia Police Department's cold case files unit, on which the show is based, but the orderly, welcoming atmosphere of the house is a good fit for "Cold Case" creator/executive producer Meredith Stiehm.
Sitting on a couch next to an open window in an office that is styled more like a drawing room, Stiehm exudes the confidence of a veteran showrunner, even though "Cold Case" is her first "created by" credit. She clearly possesses some of the tenacious-but-tender qualities of the show's central character, Detective Lilly Rush, played by Kathryn Morris.
"We've been pretty lucky to have a pretty grounded group of people here," says Stiehm, who served her apprenticeship for eight years as a writer-producer on such hits as "NYPD Blue" and "ER." "This show is not for the faint of heart. Because we're really telling two stories every week. It's grueling."
Indeed, the hook in "Cold Case" that piqued the interest of CBS during the pilot development was its use of flashback sequences to revisit the original crime and thus provide a sense of urgency, Stiehm says.
For the production team, that means double casting of characters that are to be depicted in flashback scenes, which also usually requires heavy set dressing, costuming and other touches to evoke the desired period.
And then there's the music.
"Cold Case" has developed a trademark montage scene at the end of each episode as images connected to the long-forgotten crime are set to a song from that particular moment.
The production on the show generally runs like clockwork -- the show's nine writers huddle for days to beat out stories and draw up detailed boards before shooting begins -- but the music for the montage scene sometimes isn't finalized until days before the episode airs, Stiehm says. The writers often have tunes in mind when they sketch out their episodes, but for all sorts of mysterious reasons, sometimes the best-laid-soundtrack plans go awry, Stiehm says.
"It's weird how it's almost mathematical," she says. "We'll go through song after song, and they just don't work, the beats don't work, the lyrics are fighting the dialogue ... and then all of a sudden, one just clicks."
They turned the formula on its ear, however, with an episode this season that was set entirely to the music of Johnny Cash's famed 1968 "At Folsom Prison" live album. Plans are in the works for episodes based on the John Cougar Mellencamp canon and a lighthearted installment featuring the soundtrack to "The Rocky Horror Picture Show."
Stiehm is unabashed in talking about the "formula" that fuels her show. But in the grand scheme of things, the real reason "Cold Case" has clicked with CBS' Sunday night audience is Morris, Stiehm says.
"She constantly amazes me with how much she has to offer that's new," Stiehm says of her leading lady. "She's in almost every scene, and yet she's always showing new sides. I feel like I haven't seen the limits of her talent."
And "Cold Case's" leading lady returns the compliment to Stiehm.
"She's just an engine," Morris says. "She and the writers have done a great job of using (Rush) as a vessel to make these cold cases come alive again."
CBS' 'Cold' runs hot with Stiehm on case
By Cynthia Littleton
The production offices for the CBS/Warner Bros. TV drama series "Cold Case" are tucked away in a snow-white clapboard house in the Warner Village small-town street set on the studio's Burbank lot.
The bucolic setting is hardly a match for the gritty environs of the Philadelphia Police Department's cold case files unit, on which the show is based, but the orderly, welcoming atmosphere of the house is a good fit for "Cold Case" creator/executive producer Meredith Stiehm.
Sitting on a couch next to an open window in an office that is styled more like a drawing room, Stiehm exudes the confidence of a veteran showrunner, even though "Cold Case" is her first "created by" credit. She clearly possesses some of the tenacious-but-tender qualities of the show's central character, Detective Lilly Rush, played by Kathryn Morris.
"We've been pretty lucky to have a pretty grounded group of people here," says Stiehm, who served her apprenticeship for eight years as a writer-producer on such hits as "NYPD Blue" and "ER." "This show is not for the faint of heart. Because we're really telling two stories every week. It's grueling."
Indeed, the hook in "Cold Case" that piqued the interest of CBS during the pilot development was its use of flashback sequences to revisit the original crime and thus provide a sense of urgency, Stiehm says.
For the production team, that means double casting of characters that are to be depicted in flashback scenes, which also usually requires heavy set dressing, costuming and other touches to evoke the desired period.
And then there's the music.
"Cold Case" has developed a trademark montage scene at the end of each episode as images connected to the long-forgotten crime are set to a song from that particular moment.
The production on the show generally runs like clockwork -- the show's nine writers huddle for days to beat out stories and draw up detailed boards before shooting begins -- but the music for the montage scene sometimes isn't finalized until days before the episode airs, Stiehm says. The writers often have tunes in mind when they sketch out their episodes, but for all sorts of mysterious reasons, sometimes the best-laid-soundtrack plans go awry, Stiehm says.
"It's weird how it's almost mathematical," she says. "We'll go through song after song, and they just don't work, the beats don't work, the lyrics are fighting the dialogue ... and then all of a sudden, one just clicks."
They turned the formula on its ear, however, with an episode this season that was set entirely to the music of Johnny Cash's famed 1968 "At Folsom Prison" live album. Plans are in the works for episodes based on the John Cougar Mellencamp canon and a lighthearted installment featuring the soundtrack to "The Rocky Horror Picture Show."
Stiehm is unabashed in talking about the "formula" that fuels her show. But in the grand scheme of things, the real reason "Cold Case" has clicked with CBS' Sunday night audience is Morris, Stiehm says.
"She constantly amazes me with how much she has to offer that's new," Stiehm says of her leading lady. "She's in almost every scene, and yet she's always showing new sides. I feel like I haven't seen the limits of her talent."
And "Cold Case's" leading lady returns the compliment to Stiehm.
"She's just an engine," Morris says. "She and the writers have done a great job of using (Rush) as a vessel to make these cold cases come alive again."
