Legend of the Seeker Craig Horner in CW Pilot

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After Legend of the Seeker went off the air in 2010, many of the show’s actors have not been in the public eye. Legend of the Seeker star Craig Horner has been on hiatus, having done nothing since the show’s end. This break for the actor however, is about to change.

Deadline has let us know that Horner has been recruited to play a lead role and title character in a drama pilot called Joey Dakota which would be airing on the CW. Joey Dakota is based on the Israeli show Danny Hollywood. The romantically based time travel show invokes elements of Smash with the male lead being a rock star. Joey Dakota will however center on Maya, played by Amber Stevens (Greek), who is a documentary filmmaker in the process of creating a film about her rocker idol Joey Dakota. Dakota meets his untimely death way back in the 90s which prompts Maya to make the documentary. At some point, and in some as of yet unknown way Maya travels back in time (to the 1990s) where she meets and falls in love with Joey. When she unexpectedly returns to present day she begins her quest to find her way back to the past in order to reunite with Joey and prevent his death.

Television networks have tried the musical thing before with little success – Viva Laughlin anyone? There has been some moderate success with musicals on television with shows like Glee but most American audiences want to save their musicals for the stage or films. Joey Dakota features a rock star so there will likely be some kind of singing – probably the popular 90s tunes within the program. As long as it’s not a full-fledged musical TV show, Joey Dakota might have a shot at being picked up as a series. Another question audiences may be asking is, can Craig Horner sing? And will networks be using his voice or a stand in for any songs that might crop up in the show. Horner might have the look but not the voice of a rock star.

The adaptation of Danny Hollywood comes from producer Mark Harmon – yes, we’re talking about Gibbs from NCIS – and he will be aided in his endeavor by Bert V. Royal who wrote Easy A. The original (Danny Hollywood) ran for 200 half hour episodes while the American version is aiming for a lofty 60 minutes. Will American audiences be able to handle 60 minutes of sing songyness? Danny Hollywood is a mash-up of magical hope chests, dramatic face slaps, and an overall mix of elements from every TV show ever created and thrown into a blender. Watch a trailer for Danny Hollywood then make up your mind about whether Joey Dakota will make it to televisions across the nation.

2 Comments

1. 

   Deanna

   March 13, 2012 at 11:54 am

   Craig can sing and play the guitar. He fronted a rock group in Australia before he made Legend of the Seeker and recently he appeared in a gig in LA. He’s since left the band “Earth For Now”, presumably because of this pilot.

   Reply
2. 

   derascal

   March 22, 2012 at 1:40 am

   Looking forward to seeing this pilot… Joey Dakota…because
   it has been too long since Craig was on the screen!! (Wish we were hearing that Legend of the Seeker was back in production…) ras

   Reply