Emerald City (TV series)
Emerald City is an American fantasy drama television series developed for NBC by Matthew Arnold and Josh Friedman based on the early 20th century "Oz" book series written by L. Frank Baum, set in the fictional Land of Oz. Directed by Tarsem Singh and starring Adria Arjona, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Ana Ularu and Vincent D'Onofrio, "Emerald City" received a 10-episode order by NBC in April 2015, which premiered on January 6, 2017, with a two-episode debut, and concluded on March 3, 2017. On May 5, 2017, NBC canceled the series after one season. Premise . After being transported from Lucas, Kansas, to the Land of Oz by a tornado, 20-year-old Dorothy Gale sets out to find the Wizard, unaware that she is about to fulfill a prophecy that will change everyone's lives forever. Production. The series was created by Matthew Arnold who pitched an alternative telling, a dark, edgy version of "The Wizard of Oz" to Universal Television. Arnold wrote the pilot script, which then received a 10 episode direct-to-series order on NBC. Josh Friedman was brought on as showrunner. The series was originally slated to air in 2015, with  filming scheduled to begin in 2014. However, it was cancelled before entering production due to creative differences between Friedman and the studio. On April 15, 2015, NBC reversed course and decided to go ahead with the series. On July 14, 2015, it was announced that Tarsem Singh would direct all ten episodes, with David Schulner as new showrunner, replacing Josh Friedman, and Shaun Cassidy coming on board as executive producer. Episodes. Special. A special episode, titled "Oz Reimagined: The Making of "Emerald City"", originally aired on December 16, 2016, and detailed the behind the scenes of the series including locations , effects, costumes and interviews. Broadcast. The series premiered on January 6, 2017 in the U.S. on NBC. The series launched on 5Star in the UK on February 8, 2017 to 670,000 viewers, the TV station's largest audience to date. Reception. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 38% approval rating based on 42 reviews, with an average score of 5.2/10. The website's consensus reads, "Dark and brooding, but also confusing and contrived, "Emerald City" is the "Game of Thrones/Wizard of Oz" mashup nobody asked for." Metacritic reported a score of 47 out of 100 based on  31 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".